Sources & Extracts

Review this excerpt and then use the BACK key in your browser to return to the page you were on.

Ira Glasser makes a point similar to Dee's when he claims that the attempt to establish speech codes diverts resources from better uses:
The most damning critique of the new movement to restrict speech is finally not that it endangers the First Amendment, which it does, but that it diverts us all from meaningfully addressing the fundamental problems of racial injustice. Claiming to be motivated and energized by an intolerance for inequality, the new advocates for speech restrictions in fact have diverted themselves and others away from the central problems. Worried about being marginalized, they have chosen to fight on the outermost margins, focusing precious assets, media attention, and public awareness on an issue of little tangible relevance to the social realities of those whom they hope to help.
Reference: See Ira Glasser's introduction to Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex, p. 15.