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The Hoffman Wire

June 26, 2012

Jeremy Waldron's sneak assault on the First Amendment is gaining ground among the American intelligentsia.

Here are some glowing reviews for his book from assorted luminaries, with the exception of a critical one by a radical of no repute.

The Harm in Hate Speech

By Jeremy Waldron

Harvard University Press, 2012 

Reviews

“To the (mostly white) liberals who say they hate the content of hate speech, but defend its right to exist under the First Amendment (often while patting themselves on the back for their tolerance), Waldron replies, in essence: easy for you to say. In this brief, eloquent book, he urges readers (at a bare minimum) to think about how hate speech feels from the point of view of its targets…”

—Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe

“A vigorously argued, intelligent challenge to the ‘liberal bravado’ of U.S. First Amendment scholars. In an eloquent reply to free-speech advocates, Waldron moves step by step in building the argument as to why hate-speech laws are good for a well-ordered society… The author argues that the damage caused by hate speech is like an ‘environmental threat to social peace, a sort of slow-acting poison’ that robs the intended victims of their dignity and reputation in society.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“[Waldron’s] book sheds light on a number of difficult issues, and occasionally exposes the difference between historical fact and fiction… He elegantly and convincingly advocates that our leaders should not only avoid the use of hate speech themselves, but also condemn its use by others… We should all do our best to preserve President Ford’s conception of America as a place where we can disagree without being disagreeable. An understanding of the arguments in Waldron’s book may help us to do so.”

—John Paul Stevens, Former Supreme Court Justice, New York Review of Books

“Waldron…challenges society and its legal system to do something about [the harm done by hate speech]. But the likelihood that something will be done is slim if Waldron is right about the state of First Amendment discourse: ‘[I]n the American debate, the philosophical arguments about hate speech are knee-jerk, impulsive and thoughtless.’ Not the arguments of this book, however; they hit the mark every time.”

—Stanley Fish, The New York Times

“This is a wonderful book. It conveys complex ideas in an accessible and convincing way… Jeremy Waldron has put together a clear and compelling rationale for hate-speech laws—the harm that it causes to human dignity.”

—Katharine Gelber, Times Higher Education

“We have plenty of free speech in this country, but not nearly enough free speech about free speech itself. In this elegantly written, fair minded, and carefully reasoned book, Jeremy Waldron raises important issues about the real harm caused by certain kinds of speech. His argument is certain to give even free speech absolutists pause.”

—Louis Michael Seidman, Georgetown University

"Mr. Waldron proceeds from the premise that 'hate speech' consists in stereotypical redneck bigotry and assorted 'anti-semitic' attacks. He ignores the deluge of Talmudic hate speech that has poured forth in recent years from Orthodox rabbis execrating Arabs and gentiles...The Harm in Hate Speech introduces, under a pretense of human rights for all, a means to gain legal advantage over one's political rivals and opponents — stigmatized as haters, they will be prosecuted and silenced, while rabbinic and Zionist haters will be portrayed as victims and gain relative immunity....Reading this book one gets the distinct impression that Talmudic megalomania is at work and that no amount of Arab-hating, West Bank settler racism, or Crown Heights, Brooklyn goyim-bashing, is ever going to qualify as 'hate speech.' Rather, what will be outlawed is the body of thought that forms the traditional consensus patrum of American society."

—Michael Hoffman, Amazon