2021年经济学人 自由无罪,审查无理(1)

（单词翻译）

Books & arts

文艺板块

Book review

书评

Censorship -- And be damned

这该死的审查制度

Dangerous Ideas. By Eric Berkowitz.

《危险的思想》。作者：埃里克·伯克维茨

This lively and wide-ranging history of censorship opens with a wise reminder². “The compulsion to silence others”, writes Eric Berkowitz, an American lawyer and author, “is as old as the urge to speak.” As a firm believer in free speech, Mr Berkowitz views censorship through the ages as mostly futile³, perverse⁴ or wrong. Yet he grasps that neither side in this ancient contest is pure or simple. Nor, in his engrossing⁵ account, do either free speech or its opponents ever win final victories.

这段鲜活而广泛的审查史开启了一次明智的提醒。美国律师兼作家埃里克·伯克维茨写道：“强迫他人保持沉默与说话的冲动一样古老。”作为言论自由的坚定信仰者，伯克维茨认为历代的审查制度大多是徒劳的、反常的或错误的。但他明白，这场古老竞赛的参与双方都不单纯。在他引人入胜的叙述中，言论自由或反对者都从来没有赢得过最后的胜利。

Mr Berkowitz focuses chiefly on the United States and Britain, with glances at other European countries—such as 17th- and 18th-century France, famous for libelles, scurrilous⁶ and usually sexual attacks on royalty⁷, clergy⁸ and other notables. He briefly⁹ widens the field at the end for a discouraging look at enemies of free speech in less liberal or less democratic places.

伯克维茨的作品主要聚焦于美国和英国，同时也关注了其他欧洲国家，比如17世纪和18世纪的法国，这些国家以对皇室、神职人员和其他知名人士的诽谤、造谣以及频繁的性攻击而闻名。他在书的结尾处简单地升华，对那些在缺乏自由或民主的地方反对言论自由的人并不看好。

Silencers of speech operate directly and indirectly¹⁰. The most obvious direct kind is state censorship. It may forbid speech unless cleared in advance (pre-censorship), punish it after the event (criminal libel) or burden publishers and media with undue¹¹ regulations or taxes. Speech here includes not just voicing or disseminating¹² words but proclaiming your faith as you wish, campaigning for your chosen causes and making art without interference.

言论消音器直接和间接地发挥着作用。国家审查是最明显的直接形式。它可能禁止言论，除非进行了事先清除（提前审查），事后惩罚（刑事诽谤），或以过度监管或税收施压出版商和媒体。这里提到的言论不仅包括发声或传播文字，还包括随心所欲地宣讲自己的信仰，为自己选择的事业奔走，以及不受干预地创作艺术。

Pre-censorship has often proved self-defeating. With the coming of print, books as a rule needed licence before publication. In Britain, where licensing¹³ was outsourced to the printers’ guild¹⁴, prior control proved ineffective and corrupt¹⁵, and was abandoned by the end of the 17th century. The papal Index of Forbidden Books (1559- 1966), backed by the law in many Catholic countries, gave publicity¹⁶ to works that would otherwise have remained obscure. The harder Soviet¹⁷ censors¹ worked, the stronger grew underground papers, political jokes and public disbelief.

事实证明，提前审查的做法常常是在自欺欺人。随着出版业的到来，书籍通常在出版前需要获得许可证。英国的许可业务曾经被外包给了印刷商协会，但事实证明，提前的管控无效且腐败，英国在17世纪末也放弃了这种提前审查的模式。在许多天主教国家的法律支持下，教皇的《禁书索引》（1559-1966）为那些原本不为人知的作品提供了宣传。苏联审查人员越努力审查，地下报纸、政治笑话和公众的不信任感就越猖獗。

Criminal libel, which replaced pre-censorship in common-law countries, might be seditious, obscene or blasphemous¹⁸. That threefold division tracked the silencers’ chief preoccupations: political dissent¹⁹, fascination²⁰ with sex and disregard for religion. Prosecutions²¹ continued even late into the 20th century. Especially before juries, they could backfire, as Mr Berkowitz recounts with relish²². In 1817 William Hone was charged in Britain with blasphemy²³ for parodying²⁴ church liturgy²⁵. In defence, Hone read out passages of his parodies²⁶ that so reduced the courtroom to laughter that acquittal was assured. Obscenity trials have commonly stumbled on the prosecution’s dilemma²⁷ as to whether to say the unsayable or primly²⁸ allude²⁹ to it.

刑事诽谤取代了英美法系国家的预先审查制度，它可能分为煽动性的、淫秽的或亵渎神明的。这三重划分拿捏了言论消音器的主要关注点：政治异议、性迷恋和漠视宗教。此类起诉一直持续到20世纪末。但在伯克维茨津津有味的叙述中，起诉可能会适得其反，尤其是在面对陪审团的时候。1817年，英国的威廉·霍恩因模仿教堂礼拜仪式而被指控亵渎神明。霍恩在辩护中宣读了他模仿的段落，法庭上的一片笑声保证了他的无罪。淫秽罪的审判通常会让检方陷入两难境地，他们纠结于犯人是说了不该说的话，还是只是简单地暗示。