Islamophobia as free speech -- a notion that escapes many Muslims

Los Angeles Times ^ | September 13, 2012 | Carol J. Williams

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"..............................Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader elected Egyptian head of state after the fall of the 30-year autocracy of Hosni Mubarak, called on the United States on Wednesday to prosecute the makers of the purported film, "Innocence of Muslims,"from which a 14-minute trailer posted on YouTube was said to be taken...

The video clips, which depict the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a savage and a sexual deviant,set off a heated debate in the United States about the intersection of the 1st Amendment right to free expression and the dangerous consequences of hate speech and religious intolerance.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney brought the issue to the political fore with his criticism of the Obama administration for a U.S. Embassy statement in Cairo condemning "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.'' Romney cast the statement as "a terrible course for America to stand in apology for our values."

Among Egyptians and Libyans only recently liberated from authoritarian rule,the idea that Americans are free to express even outrageously distorted views "is really not understood at all,"said Isobel Coleman, a U.S. foreign policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"Reflect on how well Americans understand,when they are reading about extremists overseas, how representative that is of those societies. The answer is that it is not well understood at all,"said Coleman. "The fact that Morsi is calling for prosecuting the makers of the film indicates he really doesn't understand how our system works or that he is playing this naively............................................

The U.S. diplomatic venues were "caught in the crossfire of two ignorant armies: rabid Islamophobes determined to attack the prophet of Islam on the one hand,and the most extreme Islamists on the other, determined to avenge him,"[Michael Collins Dunn,editor of the Middle East Journal]................"

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

I beg to differ that Egypt and Libya have been “liberated from authoritarian rule.” They merely traded one dictatorship for another, and I do NOT believe they traded up.

[muawiyah]

The people this puke refers to as 'Islamaphobes' are Coptic ~ the Coptic church is one of the earliest Christian bodies in the world. They are currently under heavy persecution by Islamists and their running dog lackeys, including the Democrat party, throughout the world.

The idiot President of Egypt KNOWS who did the film, and he imagines that it's time to extend the Moslem Brotherhood's reach into the United States by getting his brother Salafist, Obama, to prosecute the man.

BTW, understanding the reality of the situation, it's pretty obvious this article is anti-Coptic propaganda designed to take the pressure off the Salafists.

Not at all surprising to find such garbage in the yellow pages of the LA Times.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Muslims just don’t seem to be able to process the fact that a lot of us in the West just aren’t that into them.

[A Navy Vet]

"I beg to differ that Egypt and Libya have been “liberated from authoritarian rule.” They merely traded one dictatorship for another, and I do NOT believe they traded up."

Exactly. Nothing left to be said on this thread.

[EBH]

The film didn't kill anyone...

Islamic extremists did. Want to really make the secularists crazy? Ask them this question.... When a 'christian' kills an abortion doctor for 'murdering' babies....do we give the 'christian' a free pass because they were so affronted that they would kill in the name of their own religion? Should the artist of Piss Christ be in jail for inflaming Christians? Who is going to go to jail if protests turn violent at the showing of Corpus Christie on Sept. 29th? (Gay Christ film/play). That's right...none of the artists in question go to jail for incitement. It is Free Speech afterall.

[Sirius Lee]

"caught in the crossfire of two ignorant armies: rabid Islamophobes determined to attack the prophet of Islam on the one hand,and the most extreme Islamists on the other, determined to avenge him,"

Equating the exercise of free speech to the acts of murderous terrorists. It's what liberals do.

[Yosemitest]

Remember what our Heavenly Father told warned us about going "after other gods".
To HELL with Islam!

[ctdonath2]

Nobody knew about the film until someone looked for something to get violently outraged about, dug hard, and found an obscure POS created by 0.00001% of a pointlessly hated population.

For those who WANT to be outraged, “freedom of speech” is irrelevant: they need it so someone else can say something they’ll get outraged about.
Kinda like devout atheists who _need_ “freedom of religion”: they can’t rebuke believers if there isn’t a God for someone to believe in.

[ctdonath2]

(nix the “is irrelevant” bit. They need the right so they can object to someone else exercising it.)

[Sirius Lee]

to attack the prophet of Islam

And how exactly to you attack a dead goat humper? He's dead Jim! Why, camels, donkeys and other two legged beasts routinely piss on the dust that remains of his long dead and desiccated carcass around Medina.

[dirtboy]

and the dangerous consequences of hate speech and religious intolerance.

Yep, it's all the fault of those saying the words. Not the fault of those who cut off the heads in resposne to the words.

[GOPJ]

Think of it this way - Scientologists 'punish' their own members who talk with reporters. They can get away with that idiocy because it's a free country. But they can't punish a Catholic or Jew... or anyone else. It's a free country for the rest of us too. We can say what we want about them or any other group that holds themselves out to the public. It's a free country - and Scientologist and Muslims are NOT that powerful - so the rest of us yawn - or think they're stupid etc. We know members have the right to walk away... here. If Muslimes 'walk away' in their own countries it's a crime. Not here.

But for a moment think what it would be like if Scientologists could call on the President of the United States to punish a private citizen for speaking badly about them. That's what Islam's like - they have delusions of grandeur based on living in small closed, tightly controlled cultures.

The rest of mankind thinks they're silly. And they are. But they're also powerful and in the process of acquiring nukes. We need to stop taking them spuriously. We need to take on the worst of their destructive ideas. And speak our truth to them. They feel they're right when we back down - and they're not right. We must say: 'No, you may NOT tell the rest of the world how to live and think' We can make movies about anything our culture allows - that's NOT your call" ... "No, you do NOT have the right to punish citizen who don't agree with you.' NO, you are not kings outside your little countries" etc. Loud and clear. It's the only way they'll start to grow up.

[Uncle Miltie]

"The video clips, which depict the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a savage and a sexual deviant"

Muhammad did rape Aisha when she was 9 years old.

So I guess it depends on your definition of "deviant".

I'd call Child Rape "deviant", but maybe raping children is okay in Islam.

[GOPJ]

I beg to differ that Egypt and Libya have been “liberated from authoritarian rule.” They merely traded one dictatorship for another, and I do NOT believe they traded up.

Ding, ding, ding. We have a thread winnah!

[RochesterNYconservative]

When “Life of Brian”, the Monty Python film mocking Christianity, was released, did Christians respond by killing people? Of course not.

Does anyone remember the 1977 hostage standoff in a Washington DC movie theatre when “Muhammed Messenger of God” was released to theatres here, because of the RUMOR that the face of Muhammed would be depicted (which is a mortal sin in Islam)?

[Irenic]

Ann Barnhardt HQ 1 of 2

Ann Barnhardt 2 of 2 HQ

We've been down this road and we will keep going down this road until we say NO and fight. Islam wants to take away or limit our 1st amendment rights and they will have won one for Islam and Sharia (from ANOTHER 9/11 terrorist attack). Yes, Islam wins if we let these gov't fools bow.

[fella]

Is it still a phobia when the people your afraid of are proven beyound a doubt to really be out to destroy you? When some one says they’re going to kill you, you should take them at their word.

[The_Reader_David]

the face of Muhammed would be depicted (which is a mortal sin in Islam)

Actually, depiction of Mohammed is only regarded as haram by Sunnis. There are a great many Persian (Shi'ite) lives of Mohammed with illustrations depicting him as a handsome (by Persian aesthetics) bearded young man.

Of course, our main enemies among the Mohammedans are the Sunnis -- yes, despite Iran having been taken over by the Ta'ajili Twelvers, it's still the Sunnis that are the main problem.