October 14, 2006
Nice Try, Mr. Gordon Posted by Joshua Zeitz at 07:10 PM EST John Steele Gordon has a funny way of changing the terms of debate when the debate doesn’t quite go his way. In his original challenge to me, Mr. Gordon wrote, “I again invite Mr. Zeitz to provide a list of instances over the last 25 years when thugs of the right have prevented free speech, such as thugs of the left have frequently done over the last quarter century.” I provided Mr. Gordon with several cases of state-sponsored, anti-free-speech thuggery, including the false arrests of over 1,500 protesters at the 2004 GOP convention in New York City; the Secret Service’s controversial arrest of a man who approached Dick Cheney at a public, outdoor mall where the Vice President was shaking hands, and who said simply to Cheney, “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible”; the ejection of two people—Cindy Sheehan and Beverly Young—from the House gallery, for the high crime of wearing political messages on their T-shirts; and the Secret Service’s arrest of a West Virginia couple for wearing political T-shirts at a presidential rally in Charleston. I made the case—conditionally seconded by Fred Smoler—that state authorities who trample on the First Amendment rights of their citizens are no less “thuggish” than mobs of left-wing college sophomores who shout down visiting conservative speakers. What could have ensued was a nuanced discussion about state power and political repression, but Mr. Gordon doesn’t do nuance. Instead, Mr. Gordon modified his initial challenge. “I am looking for incidents that have three elements,” he writes. “(1) a mob (“a large or disorderly crowd; esp.: one bent on riotous or destructive action”) that answers to no authority other than itself; (2) a speaker who is trying to have his say peacefully and under the auspices of an organization such as a college, governmental agency, or political party; (3) the mob—or the threat of mob action—forcing the speaker to cancel his speech or be unable to finish it.” Ahhh. I met his original challenge—e.g., to present cases of right-wing “thugs” infringing on the free speech of other citizens—so he has shifted ground and changed the terms of debate. I’ll take the bait. How about this, Mr. Gordon: In November 2000 a mob comprising GOP Hill staffers and political operatives, but posing as grass-roots Floridians, interrupted the proceedings of the Miami-Dade County Canvassing Board, causing such disruption and civil disorder that the board was forced to halt its manual recount of presidential ballots. Mr. Gordon will no doubt issue a lame retort—something along the lines of, “counting ballots is not the same as giving a speech”—or again change the terms of debate. So I’ll preemptively challenge him to do a little better than that.
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