Welcome to Wonderland
When storming an embassy isn't a hate crime, but hurting someone's religious feelings is.
Welcome to Wonderland
A lot of troubling things have happened over the past week.
We already know that there was bloodshed in Libya, and that there may still be blood spilled in Cairo.
But beyond the actual incidents of physical violence, great violence has been done to the American psyche by both foreign vigilantes and our own citizens whose initial impulse is to always, and consistently, give the benefit of the doubt to our enemies.
In the hours leading up to the attack in Cairo, the State Department issued a communiqué on its website which I noted here, that essentially cautioned against exercising the First Amendment. The operative words were:
We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.
So Americans and others who find radical Islam to be offensive are warned to censor themselves, for fear of hurting the ‘religious beliefs’ of others.
And if that weren’t bad enough, we now have media types suggesting that the Justice Department should look into the film that sparked this horrible cascade of events in North Africa to see whether it constitutes a ‘hate crime’ and could be prosecuted.
Regardless of how you feel about someone’s views on Islam (or Catholicism, or Judaism, or Voodo, for that matter) no US tax dollars should be used to prosecute someone because they've exercised their First Amendment rights.
I’ll take James Madison’s view on the topic over Eric Holder’s any day.
Fortunately for Christine and philly.com, soph, most readers disagree with you. She has loads of new and interesting things to say. You just do not like hearing them. Tough.
Stirring the pot is what op-ed writers are SUPPOSED to do and Christine is an expert in that department.
She's not going anywhere. Get used to it.
— Gendres
dopey sopey, the OpEd was just fine. Factual, accurate, to the point. In fact I listed the points made and each was on the mark.
You are the prevaricator. Who would believe you are a tenured law professor. Perhaps a tenured garbage collector, actually a garbage dispenser.— PlumberJoe- Not every Muslim in the Middle East is a "radical Islamist. The "film" (which is only several poorly made clips referred to as a trailer) was made in the US, dubbed into Arabic and publicized online in order to provoke a response.
You clearly don't understand diplomacy and the benefits of calling for calm. Throwing fuel on a fire is not patriotism, it's stupid.
phunnyphilly.wordpress.com— InNane - The fuel on the fire is Obama barking at every chance to proclaim he killed Osama. There will soon be a movie, a real movie, in which Obama is heralded as the one who killed Osama. How calming will that be?????— PlumberJoe
- PJ, actually you have a good point. The more they talk about the killing of alQaeda operatives, esp. OBL, the more the crazies become inflamed. They not only understand the concept of revenge, it is as if they invented it.
The sooner we extricate ourselves from that region, the better.
Nitey night.— Gendres - I think it's pretty clear, Dumber and G, that you are Christine's only "fans"--and I suspect there is something fundamentally wrong with your brains...as in dementia? They say, Dumber, that the only people who are "conservative" are those with low-IQs (scientific fact) and those who are so concerned with covering their own butts that they choose to do so at the expense of others (e.g., cowards). As for you, G, there really is no excuse for the excuses and translations you constantly offer on Christine's behalf. You have been duped by a con artist. Shame on you.— sophistry
- LOL - thanks, sophy. Really, I needed that laugh.
First of all, I owe absolutely NO excuses or apologies to anyone for my opinion and support of this writer. She is a wordsmith of the first order. And a good person besides. You have no idea how many human lives she has saved in her asylum practice alone.
The only embarrassment I feel is being politically aligned with so called "liberals" who do not have a liberal bone in their bodies for thoughts not originating with them.
You talk about intellect. A true intellect knows how to think critically and DEBATE ideas logically, which you seem incapable of doing without senseless vitriol. How can you call yourself a teacher and not know that?
The shame is on you.— Gendres - Gendres, can you imagine the number of students who attend a lecture by dopey sopey. ZERO. Even sopey will stuff cotton in her ears to avoid the pain.— PlumberJoe
- PJ, most of the full time professors I know do not have the TIME to be so involved in baiting columnists on message boards.
I also noted that neither Philly paper had a word to say about the latest Romney gaffe caught on tape. Are they waiting for the full set of tapes to be revealed?
And as for the "Arab Spring" leading to "democracy," that is a real hoot. The tribal mentality of the ME views the resolution of any conflict as "winner takes all". It is zero sum game with them.
We are wasting time trying to do anything but separate ourselved economically, philosophically and physically from the whole kit and kaboodle - until they are ready to join the 21st century.
Those are the things we should be debating, not who is whose fan or bete noir.
Gotta go. Later, gator.
8-)— Gendres
Email Christine M. at cflowers1961@yahoo.com Reach Christine M. at cflowers1961@yahoo.com.
