It was quite a week for fanatics. A juvenile and insulting movie about the Prophet Muhammad that had drawn barely a dozen people when it premiered in Hollywood this summer hit the big time through YouTube. Muslim rioters went on rampages across the Islamic world, killing four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya. Broad brushes went to work, falsely painting that world by the colors of murderous minorities. Our own outraged candidate for president, always the faithful opportunist, contributed his own bit of fanaticism by falsely blaming the president for apologizing for the attacks.
Mitt Romney said something stupid. That’s nothing new. He’ll get over it and move on to his next blunder. He’s not the issue. Nor is President Obama’s response: there’s only so much you can do in the face of a mob short of becoming one against it, particularly when rabble masquerading as piety is fueling the madness—in the Islamic world and in the United States.
The man who made the film is a convicted felon with a taste for crystal meth, which is known to trigger delusions almost as powerful as those of religious fanatics, and sometimes almost as violent. His name is Nakoula Basseley, an Egyptian-American. At first he duped the Wall Street Journal enough to pass himself off as an Israeli-American who’d made the film with the backing of Jewish donors. That was a lie, relying on that outdated anti-Semitic standard of Christian theology: whenever anything goes wrong, blame the Jews. The man is in fact a Coptic Christian, from that Orthodox sect of Christians who make up roughly 9 percent of Egypt’s population, though he has closer kinships with mad Islamophobes like Gainesville’s Terry Jones of “Burn a Koran Day” fame.
This much is true: Copts don’t have it easy in Egypt. They’re treated the way blacks were treated in American’s pre-civil rights South. They’re frequently persecuted. The police give them little protection. They’re subject to arbitrary arrest and are often law enforcement’s default scapegoat. The former Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak was no more respectful of Copts than its Muslim Brotherhood successor regime. Copts’ exile community, including close to half a million adherents in the United States, can occasionally muster political pressure to ease their communities’ plight back home. Being hostage to religion’s natural effluents, they’re not without fanatics of their own.
It’s difficult to say what’s more offensive about Basseley’s movie: the acting and dialogue fit for a 1970s porn flick, the caricaturing of religion—poor persecuted Christians against bloodthirsty Muslims led by a prophet with a taste for pedophilia—or the insult to Islam.
But let’s be clear: Basseley had every right to make the movie. He has every right to ridicule the Prophet, just as he would have had every right to ridicule Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt if he so chose. He is an offensive moviemaker. He is not, in this regard, a lawbreaker. The wrong in this equation is the response of fundamentalists in the Muslim world, which is no less justifiable than the way it responded to the famous “Muhammad cartoons” in a Danish newspaper in 2005, or to The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie’s novel, in 1988.
The Satanic Verses, one of the great novels of the 20th century, made light of the prophet and some of his teachings, and ridiculed Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, who responded with a death sentence on Rushdie. Khomeini’s response was more offensive than the vilest parodies that could be written or play-acted about Muhammad, whose sacredness does not extend to those who don’t wish to believe in it any more than Christ’s or the Mormon angel Moroni’s do. It was a vile response for the bloodletting it incited: Riots broke out against The Satanic Verses, dozens of people were killed in several countries, including translators of the book, and Rushdie had to live in hiding for a decade. In the twisted way of fundamentalist thinking, repeated in the murder of the four Americans in Libya and a few rioters and bystanders since, the killing of a human being was more justifiable than a mere verbal or written insult to a cherished religious figure—an insult that does no more harm to that figure, or to its believers, than a change in weather over Lake Okeechobee or the mood of wildebeests in the Serengeti.
Rushdie wrote a great book. Basseley made an obscene movie. But quality and artistic merit are not the gatekeepers of free expression. Both had the right to do what they did. That right must be defended for both. That doesn’t mean the content need be defended, or reactions exploited for political gain. So before ridiculing only those Muslim fundamentalists, let’s not pretend not to have our own, who apply the same perverted sense of justice by murdering gays or abortionists in the name of God or forbidding flag-burning in the name of freedom. The United States would look like a union of degenerates, too, if it were painted by the colors of its reactionary gangs, or its occasional replicas on the American electoral theater. They give us plenty to apologize for.
Pierre Tristam is FlaglerLive’s editor. Reach him by email here, or follow him on Twitter.
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Eileen G. Miller says
People are going to say anything about any religion. I don’t see the Christians, Catholics, Jews or any other religion up in arms if they say something about their religions. The Islamic people need to take some chill pills cause God forbid if we do. All hell breaks out. But Obama shouldn’t have said anything about Egypt not being our ally but they not our enemy. I think killing Americans and burning the American flags means something..!!
Jim R says
All of that anger and hate for the US in over 20 countries is not just because of this movie.
Our CIA , military presence and missile attacks from our drones, may be the driving force behind such hatred. Maybe they are just tired of our meddling in their corner of the world, we call it ” Protecting our interests”
Our interests may not be the same as theirs.
DoubleGator says
Which is the reason why our foreign policy needs to be shaped by people/leaders with the depth and breath of understanding of the complexities involved. We pay a price today for the blunders of the neocans and their simplistic pejarotive view of the muslim world and perceived right to nationbuild.
Magicone says
This is truly sad. We lost our Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, our information management officer Sean Smith, and 2 former Navy Seals. There is no doubt that this was timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of 9/11/2001. Our city did not even lower their flags to 1/2 mast. Did anyone notice?? Even yesterday when Neil Armstrong was buried at sea; the 2 tallest flags in our county (Indian Trails Sports Complex and the Elks clubs flag, highly visible from I-95) were flying at the top of their flag posts. What does that tell you about the people running our city government???
Geezer says
I am reminded of Christopher Hitchens’ quote: “Religion poisons everything.”
Especially ISLAM.
Islam is (to me) the most virulent, and blind of major religions.
One-billion strong. All belonging to a global ideological pandemic that threatens all of us.
“The religion of peace” -my ass.
Ben D`s Fren says
Yes it gets a little old trying to protect them , we say its not the Islamic religion , its Islamic extremist , We`ll there`s a lot of them , and they are training children to hate America too, they have training camps in all them Muslim countries teaching children to use guns and bombs and asking them to strap on suicide bombs to kill our troops, and part of it is, they are tired of us policing their countries, , hell I`m tired of it too , that cost us trillions of dollars to fight wars over there, we got people in this country that need that bad, we have millions of homeless , hungry , sick, bring our troops home ,station them on our boarders, protect us from the lunatics here , there are sleeper cells over the united states , I don t know why they are so violent over there, but they have been since I was old enough to read , and if this country used all the money on our country, since the 60`s that we`ve spent over there policing and fighting wars in the middle east , we would have no deficit , many less homeless and hungry people , and a lot less hating us , but then, they hate each other too , its a lot of hate over there , maybe its because they got sand chaffing them in the shorts, who knows, just get our people out , and keep them out , take care of our own people for a change , we need it ……….bad
old surfer says
interesting that michael moore appears to be the most america hating human being on the planet,is loved and revered by the press,media, and public,yet when somebody (nut case as it were) makes a movie about muslims and terrorists (see 911) he’s hated and has his constitutional rights threatened by our own administration,press and media. unbelievable.
Samuel Smith says
Freedom is speech is an important backbone of American society and you are completely correct in stating that Basseley was totally within his rights to make the movie. You need to be careful, however, of mixing up “freedom of speech” with “freedom from consequences.” As an egyptian coptic christian, Basseley knew that his movie would absolutely antagonize devout muslims. To boot, he also pretended to be a Jewish filmmaker. The consequences of his free speech are rioting in several countries in the middle east, a number of attacked embassies and consulates, and dead americans.
Pierre Tristam says
Eileen, of course killing Americans and burning the American flag means something, but not the same thing: killing a human being is murder. You can burn the American flag all day long, it’ll never hurt a fly, let alone a human being, or make a difference about what we’re about (except to prove that we can do that sort of thing here without, one hopes, consequences). Only fools equate burning a piece of cloth, however symbolic, with actual harm–just as only fools think that making fun of Mohammed somehow diminishes him or harms the religion of his followers.
Lonewolf says
“Mitt Romney said something stupid. That’s nothing new. He’ll get over it and move on to his next blunder. He’s not the issue.”
He’ll become the “issue” if he is elected President. Please do not let this incompetent become president.
sam8131 says
Sorry Lonewolf, we need a leader. Obama must go!
FlaglerCtyresident says
I suppose you can’t wait to re-elect the blundering idot named Joe Biden and Obama that hasn’t done anything for the economy. He has never had a paying job and pretty soon no one else in America will either.
Karma says
I can not believe this administration is still blaming the movie for all this violence and hated.Jay Carney (Press Secretary) must think we are all fools. Even the press had a hard time with his answers. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/09/14/carney_mideast_violence_not_a_reaction_to_the_911_anniverary_or_us_policy.html
I still do not understand the issue with Romney. Last time I checked the Embassy in Cairo falls under the watch of the Commander and Chief(oversees State Dept) of this country. Funny how he takes credit for Bin Laden’s death and yet distance himself from what was put of from the Embassy.
NortonSmitty says
That is the funniest thing I have read with the word Karma in it since “My Karma ran over your Dogma” but not quite so profound.
‘
Bill McGuire says
I wonder, if Mohammad Mossadegh were still alive and the US could redo supporting The Shah in the 50s if history would be playing out differently today.
NortonSmitty says
If we’re playing What If, What If we had taken out Ayatollah Khomeini when he was just a loudmouth preacher in Paris?
Dorothea says
I have been following this story and even many pundits agree that Libya was the target of a terrorist plot, using the demonstrations against the movie for cover. The FBI is now investigating.
According to foreign correspondent Richard Engel, who covers the Mideast and North Africa, and I paraphrase, when the riots were unleashed in Libya it became clear that the embassies and consulates were not well protected and they then became targets of the unrest. Engel, who is bilingual, was photographed interviewing the rioters while the rioting was ongoing, not sitting around in armchairs making comments about that which they know little. Ditto for the numbskull of a presidential candidate who made up an entirely false story out of nothing, even doubling down on his comments when they proved to be untrue.
All of you who are now indicting an entire religion, there were Libyans who rushed to the aid of the Americans and were injured or killed in the process. I’m sure as the media continues to cover these events there will be much more to be learned on the subject.
We live in country where a university campus goes beserk because a coach who protected a serial pedophile is fired or because some team lost a football game with barely a nod, but some of these same good citizens are quick to condemn unreasonable violence when it happens in another country.
Yellowstone says
Freedom of speech allows you to say what you want??!!
Try yelling “Fire” in a crowded room; like a theater audience. Or calling the airport police and saying “There’s a bomb in my luggage”.
See how free you feel once they put you away in a cage; that is, barred room or fenced enclosure for confining prisoners
Freedom does not mean free!
jespo says
Yellowstone, your logic is flawed and without understanding of the matter at hand. Your examples of freedom of speech refer to making false statements meant to initiate an emergency response to secure the public safety; the falseness lessens the response capability to an actual emergency and could cause forseeable injury and that is what is condemned and punishable by law,
The matter at hand is about freedom of expression; of ideas, thoughts, and opinions and is covered under the freedom of speech we relish in this country and it should be protected and supported at all times. To do otherwise is to live in fear of ‘offending’ anyone and face dire consequences…much as a slave would. I, for one, will never live like that. And for the record, freedom means as much as you let it mean, as much as a nation allows it to mean. It can mean ‘free’ in the truest meaning of the word if a nation wants it, fights for it, holds it, lives for it, never lets it go, and is willing to die for it. Don’t be so quick to give it up.
DoubleGator says
Thanks for a thoughtful article. This is not a war to be won with military might or false bravado. It is not a quick war. A conventional war. Nor a war for the faint of heart. It is a different war than any previously fought. It really is a war within the Muslim world to determine their destiny. Peace or war?
NortonSmitty says
What we are being sold on this disaster is not plausible. It does not have the ring of truth to me. Our press is feeding us trivia about actors and poor production values. And stories about ungrateful Muslim hoards protesting against the US after all we’ve done for them! But ignoring the big picture. The facts of the what are distracting us from the why.
On 9/11 the news sources all over the middle east sent everyone to the ‘net to get inflamed, then as usual hit the streets to go nuts over the latest insult to the Prophet. But unlike the Egypt and Tunisian protests, the attack in Benghazi was a military pre-planned operation, Our embassy was attacked with sophisticated missiles that breached the embassy walls and followed by disciplined troops backed by heavy weapons fire. It was radically different from tall of the other protests before or since. The Ambassador was targeted, assassinated and the attackers escaped immediately. This was not the act of a mob protesting a movie.
Now this convoluted tale about who made the movie, first reported to be an Israeli named Sam Becile (Imbecile?) who doesn’t exist. Then a Coptic Christian who raised the $5 Million financing the film from the American Coptic community and distributed by Pastor Jerry Jones of “Burn a Koran Day” fame. To open our eyes to the Islamo-Fascist Threat to our American Way of Life or something. But it doesn’t add up.
First, according to The Guardian, the entire movie has never been seen and may not exist. Just the thirteen minute trailer. (A little long for a trailer, isn’t it?) It originally was titled “The Innocence of Bin Laden” (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/09/anti-muslim-film-poster.html) and was meant to draw Muslims into the theater thinking they were seeing a movie defending Osama and Jihad. Then they would see a movie where their prophet performs oral sex on his mother in between other perversions. Boy, it’s a good thing those Muslims have shown a great sense of humor regarding their Prophet in the past!
Does it make any sense at all that this was done by the Christian Egyptian Coptic’s? They have been an oppressed Egyptian minority routinely slaughtered as scapegoats by Mullahs since before Constantine put the Bible together. What would possibly make them decide now is a good time to poke the newly ruling Islamic Brotherhood in the eye? How have they lived by their wits since year 1AD and suddenly think “I know, let’s spend $5 Million on a sophomoric production of a semi-comedy depicting Mohammed as a simpering perverted pedophile! Surely that will help our cause!”. They were being attacked alreadyby the Islamacists. After this they are probably being slaughtered as we speak.
I cannot be the only one who smells some kind of intelligence operation here. This is so far out of the bounds of sensibility that I can’t believe we aren’t supposed to see through it. This is a textbook false-flag operation. By who is the real question.
Clint says
Ever time I read articles from this web site, I get a “GUT” feeling it has a not so American agenda. Calling an American a “FOOL” if he or she has a problem with our national symbol being burned or torn is WAY past what I would call journalism. As far as muslims and their prophet…they can stay over their and “ROT” until the ends of time. This old soldier will continue to fight for American, our Flag, and our Constitution until the twelveth of never.
Pierre Tristam says
You’re right Clint, that particular reflection about the flag is not journalism. It’s the law (the predominant agenda here–well, that and evidence-based arguments). From Justice Brennan’s decision defending the right to burn the flag: “We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.” And from Justice Kennedy’s concurrence: “Though symbols often are what we ourselves make of them, the flag is constant in expressing beliefs Americans share, beliefs in law and peace and that freedom which sustains the human spirit. The case here today forces recognition of the costs to which those beliefs commit us. It is poignant but fundamental that the flag protects those who hold it in contempt.” Incidentally, Justice Scalia, too, in one of his more constitutionally lucid moments, joined that majority. I hope that what you mean by continuing to fight for America, a sentiment we all share, is that you’ll also be fighting to uphold the law, and defending the rights of the likes of Gregory Johnson to burn the flag.
Anonymous says
Ah yes..Our beloved Supreme Court jesters. The ones that allowed the Ten Commandments removed from our schools and public places. And don’t you or the other jesters on this site tell me your fighting for America because your not. And the Law I will uphold will be the Law that stands for America and not for America’s corrupt government.
NortonSmitty says
Hopefully by the thirteenth you will come to realize maybe you were led around by your nose all these years and your patriotism exploited. Our flag and our constitution never started any war or conflict. The politicians, international banks and oil companies do. The fool is the one who lets them push their God and Country button to send our boys across the world to fight and die for their benefit, not ours. And yet they seem to convince many of us to do just that, over and over again.
Liana G says
Norton you are right, and there are reports pointing out several unusual occurrences. Another point worth mentioning that the foreign media have pointed out is that in Egypt there is no such thing as free speech. Speech is sanctioned and controlled by the US appointed Egyptian gov’t. Because of this Egyptians widely believe that same occurs in the US thus, in order for this movie to be given permission to be produced in the US meant that it had to be sanctioned by the US gov’t. Hence the attack on the US gov’t.
“In a free society some are guilty, but all are responsible.” Rabbi Abraham Heschel
Karma says
Maybe the one upside with the problems in the middle east for this administration is no one will be talking about what the treasury did last week with QE3. As the printing presses get fired up and print more money the value of your dollar becomes less. That means it will cost even more for things like oil. Did anyone know that another credit agency lowered our credit rating?http://www.cnbc.com/id/49037337 We are hated around the world and have some many problems at home. Whats even worse is that the deadline has passed to win a trip to NYC to hang with Obama,Jay-z and Beyonce Tuesday night.
Outsider says
Lone wolf: Romney the incompetent? Well let’s think about this for a minute. Obama takes sides in a civil war, bombing Qadafi loyalist into defeat. Now, you’d think after that the “O” would recognize there were some pretty pissed off, well armed former Qadafi loyalists running around the country looking for a little payback. So he sticks the ambassador and company in a lightly fortified consulate in Libya’s second largest city, with no, that’s ZERO Marines guarding the place. Apparently there was 48 hours notice given that something was in the air, and golly, it was almost September 11th. A well armed, well planned attack by trained militants is launched on the sitting ducks, and they are now dead. So after all this, the Great One heads to Washington, looks somber, gives a speech and still makes it to Vegas for a campaign stop and fundraiser by that evening. (Kind of reminds you of a few years ago, when he said “rich CEO’s shouldn’t fly private jets to Las Vegas,” two months after which he flew Air Force One to Las Vegas for a Harry Reid fundraiser.). So, it begs one to ask, who’s the incompetent here?
Anonymous says
If you think that our country is in such great hands and that the republican nominee for President is not ready for prime time, I got some prized palm coast real estate for sale from some of those brilliant investors who thought hope and change was a panacea. The experts, like the mainstream media (& the White House’s jay Carney0continue to advance the implausible cause to last weeks events on some immaterial film– Please, do not insult our intelligence—-Hilary C. is now the world’s leading expert on religious matters–The only thing she can claim expert in is world travel, keeping her husband on the sceneand positioning Chelsea for future political ambition—-I enjoy Flagler Live–It gets my juices flowing and reveals some unusual viewpoints—-A fair and balanced reader
NortonSmitty says
This election is like choosing between having cancer or a heart attack. This is the best we can do? Then our political system is thoroughly corrupt and unfixable.
Outsider says
Karma, you are dead on! QE 3 is a bigger threat to our country right now than the Muslim Brotherhood could ever hope to be. But, when readers of a publication think spending half a million dollars of “grant money” on a meeting place for bad parents is a good idea, they won’t get it.
Dorothea says
@ Outsider
President Obama did not “stick” Ambassador Christopher Stevens in a consulate in western Libya. The ambassador went there of his own accord because he believed that he could accomplish more in a section of Libya where there were more problems. Had he remained in Tripoli he would not be able to reach those Libyans in an area where there was more strife. In fact, Ambassador Stevens went out daily into the streets and was very much liked by the Libyans. Many of these Libyans tried to defend the consulate and after Stevens’ murder were photographed holding signs proclaiming their support for America.
http://www.freep.com/article/20120916/COL04/309160151/Editorial-Slain-ambassador-Christopher-Stevens-saw-the-Libya-that-could-be
@Anonymous
Jay Carney is not as a pundit who can make educated (or uneducated) guesses at will, but only to report that which has been established as fact. After the FBI has concluded its investigation and has more information about just exactly who is responsible for the attack, I’m sure we will know more. However, it would be nice if you Obama detractors could remove yourselves from the political arena and realize that the attack should not have been used as political fodder by your nominee with a statement that was not only a lie, but one Romney stuck to even after solid evidence proved that he had lied.
@Karma
Even before the attack on Banghezi was over, Romney was already touting his apology lies in order to make political hay out of a national tragedy. Shame on Romney for his complete lack of a moral compass and his willful lies in order to promote his own campaign. Had Romney any scruples at all, he would have at least waited a day or two so he could have a few facts to base his lies on.
Dorothea says
Consulate Attack Preplanned, Libya’s President Says
by Leila Fadel
Excerpt from this informative article:
The toll of this crisis is evident on Megarif’s face as we speak. He is in damage-control mode and expresses deep sadness and apologizes to the American people.
“What is helping ease our grief is what we saw from both the president and the secretary of state: the understanding of the exceptional circumstances that Libya is going through and that this act does not represent the Libyan people nor what they are longing for in the future,” he says.
Libyans, he says, should no longer feel they are at the mercy of these armed groups. But the reality is that until the government here exerts control, they are.
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/16/161228170/consulate-attack-preplanned-libya-s-president-says
Jim R says
Do the majority of Muslims look at Osama as a terrorist or a freedom fighter? If it’s the latter then maybe Obama going around beating his chest and claiming he killed Osama could help inflame their passions and lead to attacks on Americans and our out posts of Empire.
nehad ismail - London says
Muslim protesters are shooting themselves in the foot. They should protest against the mass killing in Syria (some 25000 have been killed since mid March 2011). They ought to protest against illiteracy, poverty, corruption and the war crimes in Darfur committed by Omar Bashir the Sudanese tyrant. I am a secular Muslim and I refuse to demonstrate and I refuse to give free publicity to an inferior video.
JL says
NortonSmitty- you are dead on with your comparison! I don’t like either choice for President. And I voted in the primaries. Little good it did. I want to first say I believe 100% in Freedom of Religion. But, I lived in Idaho for 3 miserably long years while my husband (at the time) served in the Navy. I had 3 sons and we were NOt granted freedom of religion so much there. Mormons ruled the roost there. They do NOT like anyone of other religions, and they told that to me on a weekly basis. They discriminated against my children in school. Yes, at school, the teachers asked them to raise their hands if you were an LDS, then raise your hands if you were a Non. A non. that’s what my kids were. Want to join Boy Scouts? Or you LDS or a NON. That’s what you’re asked. Will I vote for a Mormon President? Not on your life. My kids were mistreated, judged, yelled at, along with me, the whole 3 years I lived there. So do I think a Mormon President will do any better with the overseas problems with extremist Muslims? No. What I worry about is he could do worse than Obama has done.
I worry that Muslims here in America will be treated unfairly. I know a few Muslims and they are peaceful people. They are worried people will retaliate here against them. We need to remember the people doing this to Americans overseas are not REAL Muslims, no matter what they call themselves.
I do believe we need to take some sort of swift action. But I also believe our country is probably doing something now, as we speak, but I’m sure we are not aware of what it is. That’s what we have the Seals for. I love this Country and the fact our Freedom of Speech is protected by our military. But do I think people should be allowed to do something with only pure hate in mind? No, but our Supreme Court says otherwise. Personally, I believe whoever made this movie should be taken out of this country and delivered personally to the people in Libya.
Karma says
Should the White House stop the release of the movie “Zero Dark Thirty”? It’s inappropriate to make movies of the Islam religion but OK to promote killing Muslims.(Bin Laden) Didn’t the White House help with the information for the movie? Sounds like a double standard to me.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-28/entertainment/sns-rt-us-usa-binladen-filmbre87r188-20120828_1_bin-laden-raid-bigelow-film-osama
Outsider says
Norton, are you implying there is a sinister plot to create a crisis??? You are beginning to sound like one of us right wing nut jobs.
NortonSmitty says
The latest crisis of many lately. My thoughts in this area are just about the only subject I actually hold back my opinions of what is really happening in this country and globally. Because I surely don’t want to be one of those silly “Conspiracy Theorists” that has become shorthand for paranoid nutcase.
But isn’t there even a name for one or a series of FACTS that disprove the official story we are spoon-fed on the tube and the press and the net every day? I could give you many of them, but your better off just going along with what your told. But we all know something’s happening. And Facts are not Right or Left. Neither is propaganda and disinformation.
I could give you a lot of examples. Most of us could if we’d think about it, but then we would just be one more of those silly people everyone ridicules, and who want’s to go through that?
Maybe I will after all
NortonSmitty says
On reading many articles and re-reading Pierre’s, something hit me that I feel lays open our blindness to a double standard we have been so conditioned to accept as normal that not one published article points out a blatant hypocrisy. We have been so conditioned it has become invisible to all of us.
Every last writer made sure to rigorously defend the undeniable, bedrock right of the film maker to make this intentionally inflammatory piece of shit on the sacred ground of the Right to Freedom of Speech. Even though it’s purpose is undoubtedly meant to insult and inflame the entire Muslim world. Even after witnessing the rage at how Rushdie’s book, a cartoon and a charred Koran each led to the deaths of thousands of people across the globe. Even knowing that the sick twisted portrayal of the actions of their Prophet will cause rage on a scale that will bring down governments, kill thousands, poison relations between Islamic third of the globe and the rest of us for generations. We cannot let ANY religion start us down the slippery slope of censorship!
Really?
First, I think there are a lot on this site commenting that have never seen the Trailer. I encourage you to see for yourself the obvious solely inflammatory intentions of the Artist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RagKWM8ldk
All across the Muslim world, the repressive Governments they live under control almost all of the information they get. (Not like in the US!) So if they see it on a website or news, they assume that it has the sanction of the ruling class where it was made and distributed. They have a hard time fathoming that the US and European governments can not prevent the Press, Google, Facebook and all not to print any opinions they want about any religion. That is one of our basic and universal rules to protect our freedoms. Why don’t they believe that? Because it’s bullshit! Don’t believe me?
( I Googled for data to support my point and came up with one article by an Arab writer named Esam Al-Amin in CounterPoint. Much of the writings below are from that article. Highly recommended: http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/09/14/america-and-the-muslims/ He puts it better than I can and the site in general is a great source of info.)
Go to Facebook and print a statement saying that you believe that there were 2 Million Jews killed in the Holocaust as per the original post-war count instead of the much higher number that is the newer official estimate. Your account will be closed in less than 24 hours. On August 1st of this year, Google announced they removed 1,710 videos because they questioned the official version of the Holocaust or defended Holocaust deniers.
Furthermore, many European countries enacted laws in the past three decades that criminalize any speech or writings that question the official accounts of the Holocaust. In 1996 French philosopher Roger Garaudy published his book, The Founding Myths of Modern Israel. Critics charged that his book contained Holocaust denial and consequently the French government indicted him, and shortly thereafter, the courts banned any further publication of the book. In 1998 Garaudy was convicted, sentenced to a suspended jail sentence of several years, and fined forty thousand dollars.
“In 2005, English writer David Irving was apprehended in Austria on a 1989 arrest warrant of being a Holocaust denier. He was subsequently convicted of “trivializing, grossly playing down, and denying the Holocaust,” and sentenced to three years imprisonment.
Before you all start screaming and playing the Anti-Semitic card, I’m not saying these posts are true. But there is no denying the double standard. And the Islamic world can see it too. Because I’m sure they have it pointed out to them every day on their media. It’s common knowledge there. Out of dozens of articles I read, not one of our sources of information pointed it out in our media world until I dug really deep about a specific case. I want you all to wonder just why that is when we are told every day the entire world of information is available at our fingertips.. I sure do.
Outsider says
Your suspicions of a cover-up seem to be coming true, Norton. It’s looking like the ambassador was really working for the CIA looking for weapons, that, possibly we gave the rebels. Of particular concern are shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles. The ambassador was raped and killed before the so-called protests began. Does a “we gave them guns that they used to kill us with and now they have to cover it up” conspiracy seem in line with your original suspicions?
NortonSmitty says
Where did you get that information?
ANONYMOUSAY says
Nice double standard. Extremist Muslims have just as much dedication as U.S patriotic, nationalistic war mongers that think being a proud American is killing anything that doesn’t represent YOUR cause.
Clint says
An Arab Muslim enters a taxi cab in Dallas, Texas, and once he’s seated he asks the cab driver to
“turn off the radio because he must not hear music as decreed by his religion, and in the time of the
prophet, there was no music, especially Western music, which is music of the infidel’s and certainly
no radio.” So the cab driver politely switches off the radio, pulls over to the side, stops the cab and opens
the back door. The Arab asks him: “What are you doing, man?” The Texan answers: “In the time of the prophet there were no taxis. So get out, stand on the curb and wait for a camel.”
rthomp11 says
Close all the embassies that were attacked. Stop all foreign aid to those countries. Bring home all AMERICANS that are in those countries. They accept our aid but then kill our people. We built a friggin’ hospital in Irag with our tax dollars instead of rebuilding the one that was destroyed in New Orleans by Katrina. If my tax money is going to go somewhere I want it to go right back here on AMERICAN soil, for AMERICAN people, to better the lives of AMERICANS.
Reinhold Schlieper says
One of the most serious problems with violence on behalf of a deity is that the violence is distrustful of the deity itself. In other words, religious violence indicates a deep-seated lack of faith. Note that when a god really is upset with someone, s/he smites that someone. Thus, when Onan spilled his seed on the ground instead of fathering a child, the deity of the Old Testament smote him.
Now, deities that smite do not need some measly rabble-rousers to smite on the deity’s behalf. The deity is capable enough to do its own smiting. If I do the smiting for the deity, I don’t really trust that deity to be capable of smiting. And that clearly shows a lack of faith.
As Tacitus said so long ago: Deorum iniuriae, Diis curae. [Let the gods handle the injuries done to the gods.] And that’s the way I see people who shoot abortion physicians or people who tear up houses in response to some silly person’s wanting to burn books or wanting to make bad films or writing books that criticize religion. If someone really upsets the deity, it’ll smite. So far, no smiting–no real anger yet. Stay tuned, World.
But I also believe that what really irks these folks in the Middle East is the US unwillingness to play the game as other nations do. We really should critically examine the notion of US-American exceptionalism. For example, with so many nations having called for Bush and Rumsfeld standing trial at The Hague as war criminals, why is this country still not aboard for that way of settling strife between nations?