George,

About the Bill Maher item. I see two issues: censorship and the definition of courage.

Censorship is the easy one. Bill Maher had the right to say what he thought and the station had the right to pull it. It doesn't really matter whether it was inappropriate. I think it is ironic that the whole point of the show is say things which are controversial and then it gets pulled when he says something "inappropriate". Jerry Falwell's remarks made me sick but he had the right to say them.

In the future some of our existing freedoms are going to curtailed as a trade off to help prevent future terrorist attacks. I can go along with some of those ideas such as having to undergo more rigorous security checks at airports. But I can't accept censorship. I don't see how that will make us safer and can only make us weaker. I see banning flag burning as a form of censorship. I love this country but the flag is only a symbol of our freedoms one of which is the freedom of expression. It is the freedoms that make us strong not the symbols.

The second part was a lot tougher but I finally concluded the terrorists are cowards. Yes it does take courage to take an act that you know will mean certain death. If I knew that I could save my wife and/or children by doing something that would mean my own death I hope I will have the courage to do it. The firemen in New York who perished were brave. The people on the 4th hijacked plane who prevented it from reaching its target were brave. But the terrorist in their minds were doing something noble even if we don't agree with it.

What was cowardly was the act itself. It was the equivalent of shooting someone in the
back. Someone unarmed. Unprovoked. We aren't talking about a kamikaze corps crashing their fighters into warships. You might be able to argue the Pentagon as a military target but the World Trade Center was just plain murder and there is nothing brave about murdering thousands of innocent people.

Downing Smith (electronic mail, September 24, 2001).