A slim volume offering large arguments for an activist government that protects and also promotes free speech. The premise presented by Yale Law School professor Fiss is that the purpose of the First Amendment is ``to broaden the terms of public discussion'' so that citizens can make the informed decisions essential to a democracy's ``collective self-determination.'' Fiss is concerned that, left on its own by the kind of laissez-faire government encouraged by numerous recent court decisions and legislative actions, much information and many viewpoints would be missing from a completely privatized marketplace of ideas, and America would suffer as a result. Opposition to government intervention comes from both the libertarian right and liberal left, but it is to the latter group that Fiss primarily addresses himself. Liberals, he writes, must reconcile their support for government activism to insure equality as demanded by the Fourteenth Amendment with their distrust of government on matters involving the First Amendment. The two constitutional guarantees overlap, he contends, because equality includes equal opportunities to be heard, and sometimes the only way such equality can be achieved is through state intervention: for instance, regulations that lower the volume of some voices and allocations that raise the volume of others. Fiss demonstrates how three specific issues—hate speech, pornography, and campaign finance—can be examined productively if it is assumed that the government has a positive, proactive responsibility derived from both the First and Fourteenth amendments to ``promote free and open debate.'' Fiss argues brilliantly and concisely for ``an improved sense of proportion.'' The state, he admits, ``can do terrible things to undermine democracy,'' but it can do ``some wonderful things to enhance it as well.'' Arguing cogently for an enhanced ``robustness of public debate,'' The Irony of Free Speech makes its own very robust contribution to that debate.
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1996
ISBN: 0-674-46660-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Harvard Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1996
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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