A Double-Helping of Double-Standards
Ideals are delicate and vulnerable creatures; they can be easily killed in a variety of ways, and even as they live, they are under constant threat.Take "Free Speech" - here is one of the West's greatest accomplishments, and yet its fundamental mission has been quietly abandoned by its most prominent beneficiaries - with the sole exception of the United States of America. In Canada, human rights "Tribunals" have the power to make connections between accusations and circumstantial evidence, while Europe, with the approval of the New York Times, makes it a crime to deny the Holocaust.
Much of the right to free speech is woefully misunderstood; for example, we do not have the right to yell "Fire" in a crowded theater, or to engage in libel or slander, whose definitions take into consideration the type of person responding to the speech - whether he or she is a "Public Figure" or not, which affects the standard by which speech may be considered libelous.
Those who believe freedom of speech to be somehow "Too" free would be well-served by studying the ramifications of libel law before making such pronouncements.
But the bigger picture now involves the freshly-reanimated calls for curbs on free speech in the name of - what else? - avoding "Offense". If a society believes that hurt feelings are more dangerous than self-expression, it is within that society's power to legislate such - but before we toss away our constitutional freedoms in the name of this purported "Good", we should be very clear on what to expect.
And what better places to observe this process than societies with no protection of free speech? Just look at the protection of Muslim sensibilities that pervades countries in the Middle East, where Christians and Jews enjoy no protection of their religion.
Back here in the West, while phony victimhood groups such as CAIR ask us to voluntarily give up our right to free speech, consider the glee with which "Art" such as "Piss Christ" is welcomed, and it becomes painfully clear that an egregious double-standard has emerged.
Dutch cartoonists and German opera producers are now expected to "Self-Censor", with the prodding and approval of Muslim agitators. If they mock Christ, the Torah, Buddha, or anyone else, it is immediately understood that no one will demand suppression of such works - but woe betide those who dare to poke fun at anything Islam, for an actual death threat will accomplish the goal immediately, as others further the work of enacting laws designed to suppress criticism.
Will the writers at the New York Times and such outlets agitate as feverishly to protect the speech and religious freedoms of Christians and Jews as they now do for Muslims? Or will Muslims strike their own anti-homosexual rhetoric? One instinctively knows not to hold one's breath.
posted by ET @ 11:29 AM
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