I would like to look at Butler's discussion of censorship and self-censorship in both Excitable Speech and Precarious Life, specifically her discussions of illocutionary force and the uninhabitable space of anti-Semitism, and her extension of Foucault's claim that censorship does nothing but amplify the subject matter being censored. I am interested in applying this to the current deployment of rhetoric on censorship of conservative ideas as seen in the discussion of political correctness surrounding Nidal Malik Hasan, the assailant of the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting at Ft. Hood. I contend that conservatives, by owning the political identification of "the Censored," and deeming PC as the source of that censorship, are able to amplify their contention that Hasan was a radical Muslim extremist and make the space of racism and anti-Islamism inhabitable again.
What I see (at the moment) as possible contentions:
1) Conservatives have been doing this forever. What else is new?. I couldn't think of many examples where this claim to censorship was heralded by conservatives before. I know there was a similar decry against PC culture/LIBRUL MEDIA!!!1! in the 90s, but I think post-9/11 the stakes of censorship are higher. Can anyone think of a time when conservatives similarly deemed themselves censored as a tactic that has similar stakes to a post-9/11 world?
2) Libruls do this tooo! Yes, liberals claim censorship, and they attempt to make controversial arguments inhabitable spaces (Butler cites her critique of Israel's policy and conflation with anti-Semitism as an example of an uninhabitable space that creates self censorship [boiled down that means it sucks to be a Jew who criticizes Israel and then have someone call you an anti-Semite, so you just shut your trap]). But does the liberal cry of censorship succeed in making their discourse inhabitable again? Am I complicating the simple fact that the party in power will always attempt to censor the other?
3) There's a better example than that. Sarah Palin, Lou Dobbs, and Carrie Prejean are all conservatives who have claimed censorship as a tactical device, but to me they seem lower stakes. Any arguments in favor of addressing one or more of these figures?
So yeah. Thoughts? Let's get some ideas bouncin'.
All I need is a wagon train and diphtheria! We'll ford this set!