Blacklist?

Submitted by Lawrence Ricci (United States), Sep 30, 2002 at 23:18

The central, and dangerous, issue associated with a 'blacklist; is that it is- well, 'black' -- hidden, secret, unknown except to the few who use it to exclude others from jobs, debate etc.

Mr. Pipes' list is far from 'black'--- it is as public as the list of GOP contributors, as public as the directors of Enron ...

Why should a list of anyone who voices views hostile to American democracy be censored or restrained? Where is the limitation on freedom of speech?

What I would hope is we can do a better job of damning these bigots with the exact words from their mouths. Can we do a better job of just revealing the lunatic fringe--those who claim that the "Jews blew up the WTC." Indeed, I would like to see a simple list compiled under this giant lie of public figures who support it. Perhaps this would be a good format for a future list---not a list of names, but a list of screwball lies followed by a list of the people who support them, and their own words on the subject.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".