Defenders of laws against offending people shouldn't be so offensive. Note well, Mark Leibler Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz says those of us wanting to scrap section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 are dishonest: If people genuinely think it should be legal for Australians to harass others on the basis of race, then they are welcome to make that argument. What's troubling about the anti-18C campaign is its dishonesty... But then, being honest about 18C makes it harder to spin the provision as a threat to free speech, and nobody wants to openly defend racial harassment. Do they? Samuel J rebuts Meyerowitz-Katz's outrageous smear: It suggests that those who oppose section 18C are automatically supporters of racial abuse. That is a type of false dilemma. I support absolute freedom of speech, which is presently best expressed in the United States under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. But I do not support racial abuse. Meyerowith-Katz cannot comprehend the difference. For him, the State should regulate our conduct and our behaviour. Only someone with a blinker could argue.. Au contraire. Racial abuse of the type covered by section 18C is the province of good manners. I made a similar argument last week: Diversity Council of Australia CEO Nareen Young ... tries to scare gays and lesbians into believing the Abbott Government's planned repeal of parts of the Racial Discrimination Act will unleash a torrent of abuse - and against them, too: Will equivalent sections of the Sex Discrimination Act be repealed so that describing a co-worker as a âslut," âhagâ, âsilly cowâ or âbitch" is not deemed to be offensive? The latest line of defence of the RDA is offensive, false and, I suspect, not honest. It is an argument by vilification - reductio ad villainum - which is curious from people claiming we need laws to stop insults. And again: I believe Jewish community leaders now leading the charge to defend the RDA have seriously misread the lessons of their community's tragic history. The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, for whom Meyerowitz-Katz speaks, is profoundly wrong about this and is now publicly insulting people it privately supports. AIJAC chairman Mark Leibler is causing more harm than he realises by sanctioning this vilification of people whose free speech his community and organisation has relied upon. Mark, making me collateral damage in your campaign is something I cannot forgive.