‘Determined campaigns by noisy minorities’

J.J. Goldberg’s take on the Miami synagogue brouhaha and the “silencing of the liberal American Jew”:

Determined campaigns by noisy minorities or threats by a handful of major donors regularly silence voices deemed controversial. The most familiar flashpoint is Israel, a subject so charged for so long that we’ve come to take the suppression of dissent for granted, like a perpetual toothache.

The disinviting of Wasserman Schultz takes the stifling of free discourse into a new and alarming realm. In this case, a hugely popular elected official has been prevented from speaking on matters of national concern to an audience that overwhelmingly agrees with her, within the walls of an institution that is committed to the sorts of liberal views she represents. All because one donor objects.

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One Response to “‘Determined campaigns by noisy minorities’”

  1. Bob Schultz Says:

    The Miami synagogue matter was not “the stifling of free discourse ” as opined by J.J. Goldberg. Stanley Tate, a Republican activist and synagogue member, objected to the use of the sanctuary, instead of the social hall as the venue and the lack of ideological balance. Tate requested that he be added to the program to rebut Wasserman-Schultz. The synagogue refused Tate’s request, he resigned his membership and the synagogue disinvited Wasserman-Schultz under a security ruse.

    It is more than a stretch to describe this as the “silencing of the liberal American Jew”.

    You were correct in your May 31 blog entry, “The smartest thing would have been to couple the Wasserman Shultz (sic) invite with the announcement of an equally prominent Republican speaker at a later date.”

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