Heckler's Veto

Molly Klein replies:

9 January 1999

The Constitution does not guarantee anyone the right to an audience -- certainly not a quiet and polite audience. There is no automatic privilege of free speech in a silent environment attaching to a person behind a podium, and no right to speak only when the etiquette manual says to someone in a folding chair below.

The First Amendment says, "Congress shall pass no law . . ." etc. Clearly, this is about the limiting of state power and not about facilitating the circulation of information. It does not guarantee anyone the resources or means of distributing their speech -- no one is guaranteed control of a newspaper, talk show, publishing deal, microphone, megaphone, soapbox, powerful lungs or a quiet lecture hall to facilitate the expressions of his views.

The most powerful means of spreading speech are reserved for certain elites. Members of the public, however, have the right to project their voices, and there can be no more appropriate exercise of that right than to shout down a speaker whose views one detests in a forum in which that speaker has willingly entered with a view to reaching an audience.

The audience at Columbia University was no more interfering with the speaker's constitutional right of free expression than I would be interfering with that of a talk show host by turning the channel. The right to be listened to does not appear in the Constitution.

Booing bad performances is a cherished practice, going far back in our culture. Dinesh D'Souza makes his living as a special kind of entertainer. He writes, gives lectures or talks and makes television appearances for money. If he cannot please his audiences, he will have to find other work.

-- Molly Klein

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Heckler's Veto

Molly Klein replies:

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