Words of the Week: Matti Friedman

tablet“‘Censorship’ is a word largely devoid of meaning, one trotted out for use because no one wants to support it, just like ‘openness’ is a word used because no one wants to oppose it. The fact is that not only do we tolerate censorship every day, we expect it. We censor racists, for example, and other views considered beyond the pale. The idea that the world’s only Jewish country should be dismantled and its people once again rendered homeless – that’s ‘anti-Zionism,’ however skillfully it cloaks itself – is a morally repugnant idea linked to other morally repugnant ideas better left unmentioned. Let’s leave aside the question of whether this should be discussed anywhere at all. For a Jewish community to decline to make room for this idea is as understandable and healthy as it would be for an African-American community to decline to devote an evening to debating the merits of the Klan.”

Source: Matti Friedman, “In Praise of ‘Censorship’ at Hillel,” in Tablet