. . . And I did not speak out--because I was glad they came for them (Update)

Deborah Lipstadt gets Isaac Chotinered. It is not good. She becomes the latest Jewish thought leader to offer tepid criticism of Trump Administration excesses while blaming universities for bringing the attack on themselves and failing to distinguish antisemitic actions (she comes back several times to UCLA students unlawfully blocking parts of campus) from obnoxious-but-protected speech and generally unlawful actions (occupying buildings) for which any antisemitic motives are irrelevant to the unlawfulness. This is disappointing because Lipstadt is a lifelong academic and smarter than Jonathan Greenblatt.

I will flag two points:

    • She says "Freedom of speech is freedom of speech. Incitement is something else. I’m not a lawyer, and I’m not going to get into what that is." First, nothing that has happened on college campuses comes near incitement--harassment or threats maybe, but not incitement. Second, this is all about what unprotected speech is and is not. By punting on drawing the line, she allows (even requires) universities or government to eliminate some protected speech because it makes her group uncomfortable.

    • Chotiner asks about her comment to the Forward that “I don’t oppose many of the things that are being done. I just wish they would be done more deftly.” She responds: "'[D]eftly' was the wrong word. That sounds almost conspiratorial. They should be done according to law." What exactly should be done according to law? I doubt there is a "lawful" way to arrest and deport someone for their speech.

I titled the post as I did because what we are witnessing is not what Niemoller witnessed (or he described it wrong). People are not failing to speak out against the coming. People are actively cheering it because "they" are coming for those these people do not like and supposedly doing so in the name of protecting them.

Update: She is back-pedaling, somewhat.