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

The Poverty of Civil Libertarianism
reviewed journal, asserting that the Patriot missile had been "almost
a total failure." He was promptly investigated by Pentagon officials
for revealing secret information. After refusing to meet with them
Postol said he was told: "I could not speak about any part of my
article in public without being in violation of my secrecy agreement."
Although Raytheon, the missile manufacturer, had claimed
100 per cent success, the Army eventually conceded that Patriots
had shot down only 70 per cent of Scuds in Saudi Arabia and 40 per
cent in Israel. 29 Following the bitterly contested Clarence Thomas
confirmation hearings, the special counsel of the Senate Rules
Committee subpoenaed the telephone records of /Vewsda/s
Timothy Phelps and National Public Radio's Nina Totenberg, suspected
of leaking Anita Hill's accusations. Although the Senate
withdrew the subpoenas under public pressure, the Reporters Committee
for Freedom of the Press reported 100 similar threats in
1991. 30
Governments retaliate against speech they view as lese majeste. In
his film "Grand Canyon," director Lawrence Kasden depicted the
city of Inglewood as a high-crime area, commenting at its release:
[CJities are supposed to be the hubs of civilization, not war zones.
In Los Angeles, we had the fantasy that we could run to our
neighborhoods and hide, but that illusion has been dispelled. One
wrong turn plants you in enemy territory. There is no safe place
any more, no sense of security. "Grand Canyon" is about the fact
that we're all interconnected. If people on the bottom suffer, we
all do. The world becomes an unlivable place.
In an open letter to Hollywood trade publications and the media the
city expressed strong displeasure, threatening to ban all filming until
the producers apologised and deleted all references to Inglewood,
and to require future directors to agree not to disparage the community.
The Inglewood Public Relations Director sought to soften the
message: "We're not talking censorship. There's no book burning or
movie burning going on. We're educating Hollywood about how
movies affect people." Several years earlier New Jersey Supreme
Court Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz, offended by a scene in "The
Bonfire of the Vanities" depicting riotous blacks chasing judges
down hallways, had prohibited Warner Brothers from shooting it
inside the Essex County courthouse. The federal courts rejected the
county's challenge for lack of standing. 31
Although schools may be constitutionally obligated to tolerate
42