Freedom For The Thought That We Hate by Anthony Lewis

From The Week of February 14, 2010

Freedom For The Thought That We Hate is a biography of the First Amendment, it's enshrinement in the American Constitution, its initial, conservative interpretation, and then, finally, its rise to unfettered dominance in the 20th century. Mr. Lewis sites Oliver Holmes as one of its most vigorous champions while covering other famous cases in which it played a preeminent role.

Freedom of Speech is a universally recognized right among enlightened nations, but that particularly unfettered strain of free speech practiced by Americans is comparatively rare. Most other nations, particularly those to have come out of the British Commonwealth, practice a more modest form of free speech which takes into account the greater good of society. If the speech is harmful to a great many people, then it can be justifiably censured. The manner in which such a system could be abused by government is obvious, but it seems to me that the American strain of free speech is not without its own flaws, for instance the Westboro Baptist church which pickets military funerals as a protest against the relatively permissive (for them) stance American society has taken towards homosexuality. This is considered protected speech because all speech is protected speech, but as Mr. Lewis points out, speech today has taken on a different meaning than the one originally intended for it. More over, an organization such as the Westboro Baptist church would have been unthinkable in the time when the American Constitution enshrined their first and least alienable amendment.

The debate will rage on which strain of free speech is better, safer, andfairer. However, that we can even have the debate is a sign that we possess the very right that the Founders thought so important. In writing this, I am practicing free speech, as was Mr. Lewis when he wrote his lovely book. A good biography of a difficult subject, least of all because it cannot defend itself. But that's well enough because millions stand ready, the world over, to defend it to the death. (4/5 Stars)