I have often disagreed with Zbigniew Brzezinski (pictured), even though he served in a Democratic administration. But I have to say, his latest remarks (made on the MSNBC show Morning Joe) are not just conservative -- they are anti-democratic. Here is what he said:"We have to take a look more closely at the nature of the so-called satire."
"I've not seen what I'm about to say, but I've been told by some people that some of the cartoons were absolutely appalling and directed at the prophet himself. Now, is that really humor or is that an insult designed to provoke?"
Brzezinski could not be more wrong. Satire is not just humor, but is intended to provoke people into thinking -- and even though it is often necessarily insulting and offensive, it is a vital component of free speech.
The men who wrote our Constitution understood the necessity of guaranteeing free speech to all Americans. They understood that no democracy could survive without the free flow of ideas, and that free flow of ideas could not happen without the guarantee of free speech. The First Amendment guarantee of free speech was not written to protect inoffensive speech. Inoffensive speech needs no protection. It was included to protect speech that some (or even many) might think is offensive (or insulting).
If you do not protect and allow offensive speech, then you do not have free speech. And if you don't truly have free speech, then you don't have a democracy. Instead, you have some kind of controlled oligarchy (or police state) where only government-approved speech is allowed.
Brzezinski has fallen into an old trap -- that we must limit speech so we can be safe. But that only trades our democracy for a false sense of safety and security. There are also violence and terrorist acts in countries that limit speech (even giant countries like China). Limiting speech does not insure safety -- it just kills democracy.
Satire is always offensive to some and insulting to many, but it makes people think -- and thinking is a very valuable commodity in any democracy.
