Asking More from Your Friends

There’s a good deal in David Hare’s speech to the Index on Censorship awards* with which I would disagree, but not this bit:

“The principal lesson of the new century is the following: that you must condemn censorship, intimidation, bullying, coercion, torture, encroachment on human rights and illegality in your friends with exactly the same rigour you bring to its condemnation in your enemies.”

And in fact, one might go further. It is precisely because we expect more from our friends than from our enemies that we must be vigilant in holding them to the standards they profess to believe in themselves. This isn’t a matter of moral equivalence, it’s a question of decency and there is, then, much to be said for the Awkward Squad even if, no especially when, they irritate and embarrass their “own” side.

*See also Brother Bright’s report from the award ceremony.

UPDATE: You might also watch Shepherd Smith’s excellent outburst on Fox News.