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May 5, 2009

Banned from Britain: Michael Savage's Company

Monique Chartier

(... his real name is Michael Weiner?)

From the BBC News.

Islamic extremists, white supremacists and a US radio host are among the 16 of 22 excluded in the five months to March to have been named by the Home Office.

Since 2005, the UK has been able to ban people who promote hatred, terrorist violence or serious criminal activity.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said coming to the UK should be a privilege.

Certainly, Madame Secretary. And some of the people on the list seem to pose a genuine threat of violence. However, some appear to be banned solely for certain utterances - speech - that has been deemed unaceptable for reason of thought, emotion or other non-threatening content. And therein lies the problem. Take it, Christopher Hitchens.

What is at stake in all these cases is not just the right of the people concerned to travel and to take their opinions with them. It is also the right of potential audiences to make their own determination about whom they wish to hear.

* * *

The underlying premise of the First Amendment is that free expression, when protected for anyone, is thereby protected for everyone. This must apply most especially in tough cases that might raise eyebrows, such as the ACLU's celebrated defense of the right of American Nazis to demonstrate in heavily Jewish Skokie, Ill., in the late 1970s. One of the effects of the "war on terror," and of one of its concomitants, namely the attrition between the Muslim world and the West, has been an increasing tendency to make exceptions to First Amendment principles, either on the pretext of security or of avoiding the giving of offense. We should have learned by now that, however new the guise, these are the same old stale excuses for censorship. We might also notice that if one excuse is allowed, then all the others are mahde "legitimate" also. The risk of allowing all opinions by all speakers may seem great, but it is nothing compared with the risk of giving the power of censorship to any official.


Below is the list, excluding six whom the UK has declined to name. Details as to grounds for their banning here.

Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal

Yunis Al Astal

Samir Al Quntar

Stephen Donald Black

Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim

Erich Gliebe

Mike Guzovsky

Safwat Hijazi

Nasr Javed

Abdul Ali Musa

Fred Waldron Phelps Snr

Shirley Phelps-Roper

Artur Ryno

Amir Siddique

Pavel Skachevsky

Michael Alan Weiner

Comments

They aren't starting to call it Londistan for nothing.

Of course, with their "hate crimes" bill the Democrat quislings are working on transforming our capital into Washingstan.

Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at May 5, 2009 10:13 PM

There are some people at various local left wing sites who really hope for the same thing here.
What goes around comes around....

Posted by: joe bernstein at May 5, 2009 11:21 PM

Savage has got to be loving this. Talk about a ratings bonanza. Just as Nobama has elevated Rush Limbaugh by attacking him this will be a ratings boon for Mike Savage. Personally I think Savage was added to the list because he's a Jew and libs are known for their latent anti-Semitism.

Posted by: Tim at May 6, 2009 5:49 AM

Listening to Savage portray himself as a free speech martyr after his intensive campaign to deny those rights to others makes for entertaining radio, I have to admit.
The race card is so 1998. Let's play the Jew card for fun.

Posted by: rhody at May 6, 2009 2:27 PM

It' easy to take shots at "Savage"aka Weiner-he is unbearable to lsten to for more than a few minutes-whatever valid points he makes are better stated by others minus the insanity(he calls himself "a national treasure"-where's the Thorazine?),but the danger is that the censorship gang(Pelosi,Schumer,et al)want to shut down all meaningful dissent.Don't think for a minute that there isn't a desire by some in this administration and Congress to turn this country into a pod of obedient sheep.
Why else all the test balloons?AWB redux;cutting veterans' medical care;fairness dooctrine;amnesty for illegals,etc.They see what sticks to the wall,and what doesn't is put away for another day.

Posted by: joe bernstein at May 7, 2009 9:49 PM