Hentoff's ability to speak both passionately and objectively makes The First Freedom a success. Readers are left with two valuable insights, each essential to a healthy tolerance for the role of free expression in our society. The first is that the First Amendment has never been static. The wording seems simple enough ("Congress shall make no law …") but the interpretation and application of those words to changing circumstances has been one of the great challenges to our society. It follows, then, that there will never be a time when answers to questions involving the First Amendment are easy. It is, rather, as Thomas Paine suggested over two hundred years ago, "… those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must … undergo the fatigue of supporting it." The First Freedom makes us aware that we should not expect an end to the fatigue.
The second insight is that the history of free speech, and the advancement of ideas in our society, has been a history of unpopular people with controversial ideas. The theme developed early in the book, and supported by example throughout, is that it is in times of greatest danger to our system that the right to speak and print dissenting views is most seriously threatened. People who have expressed minority views during times of crisis have done so at great personal risk. They may not have lived to see their views vindicated. Sometimes, as in the recent Nazi march case in Skokie, Illinois, their views have been repulsive.
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