Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Now it gets ugly

I see in Ha'aretz that the Israeli Parliament is looking for ways to punish Professor Toaff:
MKs seek to try Prof. Toaff over claims in blood libel book: "The committee also decided to examine the review mechanisms employed by academia in Israel, with the goal of finding ways to ensure that things 'that defy logic and morality,' in the words of MK Michael Melchior (Labor), are not published."
Jeez. This is getting Orwellian. Do we really want the legislature to be in the business of deciding what defies logic and morality? Let the market deal with bad ideas. Toaff was wrong, and better arguments carried the day. His book has been withdrawn and his reputation has been damaged. That's how it should be, and really it's enough.

Hat tip: The same special someone who's fed me almost all of the previous Toaf articles.

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