Pro-Muslim Posters Show "Heckler's Veto" Isn't Needed
It turns out you can fight offensive speech without using vandalism or government regulations
Oh, hey! It's that famous solution to bad speech: more speech. Via the Huffington Post:
Two religious groups have produced pro-Muslim advertising campaigns to be unveiled in New York City's subway system. The ads are meant as a response to the controversial anti-Jihad posters recently introduced to the subway.
The New York Times reports the two groups, the Rabbis for Human Rights North America and the Sojourners led by Christian author Jim Wallis, and the MTA have confirmed the new ads will hang in close proximity to the American Freedom Defense Initiative's posters, which have been widely condemned as Islamophobic.
That's certainly a much more useful way of responding to the poster than churlishly vandalizing one with spray paint. And it certainly sends a better message about our commitment to free speech than incentivizing violent responses in order to block people saying things some (or many! Or all!) may find offensive.
Here's the ad from the rabbis:
