Comments on: The Boogeyman Cometh http://demockracy.com/the-boogeyman-cometh/ Wed, 02 May 2012 03:56:19 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Kevin Van Dyke, Editor http://demockracy.com/the-boogeyman-cometh/comment-page-1/#comment-1504 Kevin Van Dyke, Editor Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:38:53 +0000 http://demockracy.com/?p=6494#comment-1504 Mark, very good piece. This must have been an interesting event to say the least. Your piece made me think about two disturbing trends in society that I'd like to comment on: 1. My free speech is OK, but not yours. Interestingly, this sort of audience disruption of events has become "normal" lately. This is very discouraging to me. Recently, there was a high-profile speech by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert sponsored by my Alma mater, the university of chicago. Here is a video of the event put up by some of the protestors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgN02ZTe5AU Overall, the prime minister did not have the chance to get more than a few lines into his speech. The same thing happened in a speech is San Francisco. In my opinion, this kind of protest is disgusting. Yes, disagree with someone, but for god's sake, let them speak. Free speech, is not free speech, if you in the process are limiting someone else's free speech. Let them speak, wait your turn, and then say what you want to say. This is the same kind of dynamic, where one side simply shouts the other down is, is becoming more and more common. Of course, the tea party events of this past summer are the most well known. But, as evident in your article and the link above, this type of tactic is being used more and more by the left as well. Right or left, it's not healthy for our democracy. 2. Process vs. outcome How such a well trained lawyer could totally ignore process is beyond me. Unfortunately, I think it's becoming harder and harder to underestimate the lack of attention to process in today's society instant-gratification society. As our attention spans become smaller and smaller and 30 second soundbites dominate our discourse, it's very easy for people at all levels, and yes even Harvard trained lawyers, to totally ignore process, in this case the process of the law, and come to ends justify the means type of arguments. This is also a very disturbing trend for our democracy. Mark, very good piece. This must have been an interesting event to say the least. Your piece made me think about two disturbing trends in society that I’d like to comment on:

1. My free speech is OK, but not yours.

Interestingly, this sort of audience disruption of events has become “normal” lately. This is very discouraging to me. Recently, there was a high-profile speech by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert sponsored by my Alma mater, the university of chicago. Here is a video of the event put up by some of the protestors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgN02ZTe5AU

Overall, the prime minister did not have the chance to get more than a few lines into his speech. The same thing happened in a speech is San Francisco. In my opinion, this kind of protest is disgusting. Yes, disagree with someone, but for god’s sake, let them speak. Free speech, is not free speech, if you in the process are limiting someone else’s free speech. Let them speak, wait your turn, and then say what you want to say. This is the same kind of dynamic, where one side simply shouts the other down is, is becoming more and more common. Of course, the tea party events of this past summer are the most well known. But, as evident in your article and the link above, this type of tactic is being used more and more by the left as well. Right or left, it’s not healthy for our democracy.

2. Process vs. outcome

How such a well trained lawyer could totally ignore process is beyond me. Unfortunately, I think it’s becoming harder and harder to underestimate the lack of attention to process in today’s society instant-gratification society. As our attention spans become smaller and smaller and 30 second soundbites dominate our discourse, it’s very easy for people at all levels, and yes even Harvard trained lawyers, to totally ignore process, in this case the process of the law, and come to ends justify the means type of arguments. This is also a very disturbing trend for our democracy.

]]>