20 years ago in reason

“NBC might as well have been the Nader Broadcasting Corporation on November 17. For its Dateline NBC segment on G.M. pickups, the network hired a trial lawyer’s advocacy group to crash the trucks. Testers overfilled one truck’s gas tank, used a nonstandard gas cap that popped off on impact, and strapped remote controlled model-rocket engines to the truck’s frame to guarantee a fire.”

â€"Rick Henderson, “Crash Dummies”

“A very dangerous principle is now being established as a social right: Thou shalt not hurt others with words. This principle is a menaceâ€"and not just to civil liberties. At bottom it threatens liberal inquiryâ€"that is, science itself.”

â€"Jonathan Rauch, “The Truth Hurts: The Humanitarian Threat to Free Inquiry”

â€"April 1993

#Politics