tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15846426.post113909183542937816..comments2023-10-10T05:08:34.827-05:00Comments on A Crockhead Abroad: Laughing at MohammedCrockheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08410758631825372736noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15846426.post-1140442880259588042006-02-20T07:41:00.000-06:002006-02-20T07:41:00.000-06:00I haven't read the Wright piece, but I think I agr...I haven't read the Wright piece, but I think I agree with the bulk of it, or at least the bulk of your summary of it.Crockheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08410758631825372736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15846426.post-1140378332819314002006-02-19T13:45:00.000-06:002006-02-19T13:45:00.000-06:00ROBERT WRIGHT, in the 17 Feb New York Times, has a...ROBERT WRIGHT, in the 17 Feb New York Times, has an excellent op-ed about the need for self-censorship in a pluralistic society. <BR/>www.nytimes.com/2006/02/17/opinion/17Wright.html?incamp=article_popular<BR/><BR/>Among Robert Wright's points is the need to distinguish between what triggers and what fuels violence. The urban riots in US cities were triggered by specific incidents but were fueled by deeper social problems. He notes that in the wake of the mass urban violence, African-American issues got more attention. <BR/><BR/>The NAACP "had been protesting broadcast of the "Amos 'n' Andy" show, with its cast of shiftless and conniving blacks, since the 1950's, but only in 1966 did CBS withdraw reruns from distribution. There's no way to establish a causal link, but there's little doubt that the riots of the 1960's heightened sensitivity to grievances about the portrayal of blacks in the media. (Translation: heightened self-censorship.)"<BR/><BR/>Robert Wright's closing paragraphs:<BR/>"Most Americans tread lightly in discussing ethnicity and religion, and we do it so habitually that it's nearly unconscious. Some might call this dishonest, and maybe it is, but it also holds moral truth: until you've walked in the shoes of other people, you can't really grasp their frustrations and resentments, and you can't really know what would and wouldn't offend you if you were part of their crowd.<BR/><BR/>"The Danish editor's confusion was to conflate censorship and self-censorship. Not only are they not the same thing — the latter is what allows us to live in a spectacularly diverse society without the former; to keep censorship out of the legal realm, we practice it in the moral realm. Sometimes it feels uncomfortable, but worse things are imaginable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com