Another Seuss Cancellation Thread (Summer 2023)

[marshwiggle]

The AAUP rejects the characterization of pro-Palestinian speech or critiques of the Israeli state as invariably antisemitic.

Marshy????

I don't see a mention of whether they also reject characterization of pro-Israel speech  as Islamophobic. There are people on both sides of this issue who would label anything they disagree with as either antisemitic or Islamophobic. People who truly favour free speech should not accept either of those oversimplifications.

[Parasaurolophus]

The AAUP rejects the characterization of pro-Palestinian speech or critiques of the Israeli state as invariably antisemitic.

Marshy????

I don't see a mention of whether they also reject characterization of pro-Israel speech  as Islamophobic. There are people on both sides of this issue who would label anything they disagree with as either antisemitic or Islamophobic. People who truly favour free speech should not accept either of those oversimplifications.

I, for one, have not seen many accusations of Islamophobia being levelled at people for their pro-Israel speech. I have, however, seen quite a few people accused of anti-Semitism (and suspended from their jobs) for saying things critical of Israel (including a story on CBC this very morning). Among those making such accusations have been Israeli and American government officials. And, indeed, Israel's government has recently been pushing to have anti-Semitism equated with criticism of the state of Israel's actions.

So, it seems to me that the AAUP is prioritizing the right direction here.

[marshwiggle]

The AAUP rejects the characterization of pro-Palestinian speech or critiques of the Israeli state as invariably antisemitic.

Marshy????

I don't see a mention of whether they also reject characterization of pro-Israel speech  as Islamophobic. There are people on both sides of this issue who would label anything they disagree with as either antisemitic or Islamophobic. People who truly favour free speech should not accept either of those oversimplifications.

I, for one, have not seen many accusations of Islamophobia being levelled at people for their pro-Israel speech. I have, however, seen quite a few people accused of anti-Semitism (and suspended from their jobs) for saying things critical of Israel (including a story on CBC this very morning). Among those making such accusations have been Israeli and American government officials. And, indeed, Israel's government has recently been pushing to have anti-Semitism equated with criticism of the state of Israel's actions.

So, it seems to me that the AAUP is prioritizing the right direction here.

If you're arguing for freedom of speech on the basis of a "right direction", you're missing the point. It's like arguing against the death penalty for the possibly wrongly-accused; the important principle of the argument applies even for those who are clearly guilty.

[Parasaurolophus]

If you're arguing for freedom of speech on the basis of a "right direction", you're missing the point. It's like arguing against the death penalty for the possibly wrongly-accused; the important principle of the argument applies even for those who are clearly guilty.

This is confused. The AAUP is not advocating for free speech for only Israel's critics. It's trying to protect a class of speech that is the subject of active attempts at censorship. Because one side is actively doing virtually all of the censoring, that side is the focus of its protective attention.

I don't really see how this is different, in principle, from when any other group steps in to try to defend the free speech rights of someone or some group of people whom they believe is being actively censored. Is this not exactly what groups like FIRE claim to be doing? (If you ask me there's one important difference, which is that most of FIRE's cases are pretty dubious at best, whereas here, at least, the censorship is very real. But that's neither here nor there. I've seen you post approvingly about FIRE's interventions. How is this different?)