‘Hypocrisy’

Once again the hypocrisy of so-called “liberals” has been starkly revealed. The liberals who run the new city of West Hollywood have successfully suppressed the free speech of those with whom they disagree, and that by threats of prosecution and heavy fines.

Civil liberties groups were no more in evidence in the Barney’s Beanery case than they were when liberal feminists banned the sale of Playboy magazine at Cal State, Northridge. Imagine the outcry if a city government had tried to control the signs in a homosexual bar or if the “Moral Majority” had tried to have Playboy banned from college bookstores.

What these recent incidents demonstrate is that the commitment of American liberals to the First Amendment and freedom of expression extends just so far as their own interests extend. When they are in power liberals are more than willing to suppress opinions and publications at the demand of interest groups to which they are allied. Perhaps neo-facism is on the rise--but, if it is, it is rising on the left.

DENNIS MAHONEY Claremont