speech and respect - College of Social Sciences and International ...

Taking Sides
commensurate with the harm inflicted. In 1986 the moderator of the
United Church of Canada told a gathering of native Canadian elders:
We ask you to forgive us. In our zeal to tell you about Jesus Christ,
we were blind to your spirituality. We imposed our civilization on
you as a condition for accepting our gospel. As a result, we are
both poorer. . . . These are not just words. It is one of the most
important actions ever taken by the church.
"[T]he happiness felt in the council teepee was almost unbelievable"
according to the chairman of the church's National Native
Council. When the church's biennial General Council reconvened
in 1988, however, the All-Native Circle Conference acknowledged
the apology but refused to accept it. 39
In the conversations just summarised the offender listens to the
victim's grievances, advances an account, and apologises. But what
about those who refuse to participate, proffer flimsy excuses and
hypocritical regrets, or repeat the offence? Some are emotionally or
ideologically committed, others motivated by political ambition or
greed. Communities can mobilise various forms of persuasion,
including publicity, withdrawal of privileges and benefits, and
ostracism. Universities have been particularly inventive. A male
student who called a female residence hall supervisor a "cunt" for
denying him entry without the requisite invitation was excluded
from women's residence halls for the rest of the semester and
ordered to perform 30 hours of community service. 40 UCLA students
who sexually harassed women were required to establish programs
to educate fraternities about sexual harassment. Two white Harvard
Medical School students who aped Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill
by attending a party in blackface had to prepare a course on
medicine in a multi-ethnic society. 41 Ultimately, however, no community
can survive without the ability to expel incorrigibles. 42
Schools and universities, employers, trade unions, and housing
estates all have done so.
This approach to the harms of speech leaves two intractable
problems: bad communities and extra-communal life. Many communities
are indifferent to status inequalities, and some affirm them.
Dominant religions oppose heterodoxy, religious conservatives condemn
homosexuals, patriarchal communities repress women, and
white communities assert racial superiority. Yet this fear may be
exaggerated. The liberal consensus against discrimination has been
growing, if its strength diminishes as we move from race through
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