On Monday Dec. 10, writer Claudia Lefko chided the Gazette for publishing columnist Ilan Stavan’s piece for his “calling on American Jews to arm themselves” in the “Friday Takeaway” section in Hampshire Life.
I must take issue with her criticism. There is deep grounding for the Gazette’s publishing of this column (which was, in fact, an expression of belief and not a “call to arms.”)
Our American tradition is based on the idea that “bad” speech should not be corrected by censorship, but by good speech. This idea originates to before the founding of our country, in the writings of John Milton. His famous pamphlet—studied in universities; “Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England.” Wikipedia says it is a “1644 prose polemic by the English poet, scholar, and polemical author John Milton opposing licensing and censorship. ‘Areopagitica’ is among history’s most influential and impassioned philosophical defenses of the principle of a right to freedom of speech and expression.”
Many of its expressed principles have formed the basis for modern justifications. such as our First Amendment principles of freedom of speech. As a (former) journalism professor, I taught this pamphlet in classes on history and ethics of journalism. It is a seminal work taught in journalism (and political science, history and philosophy) classes in universities all over this country.
In fact, Lefko’s own critique of the Gazette’s editorial decision in the pages of the paper, modeled the right to dissent from someone else’s speech.
For expressing her views in the paper for open debate, I applaud her. In my answer to her I exercise my right to disagree with her. And I applaud the Gazette for holding itself out as an open forum for the community as a great newspaper should do. Kudos.
Carolyn Toll Oppenheim
Northampton