Islamic Opinion Be Damned! by Richard Winkler

This opinion piece was first published in www.capitalismnow.com on February 12, 2006 and is being reprinted here.

When a person is physically threatened for expressing an opinion the police should be called in to arrest those issuing the threat. When a nation or group threatens another nation or group with physical violence for having expressed an opinion, then the very principle of freedom of speech is threatened. The first amendment was designed to protect that very thing – the right of any individual to express an opinion without fear of physical retaliation. That freedom of speech forms the cornerstone of any civilized society should hardly be a matter of debate anymore.

If the issue holds any confusion for anyone, it is due to multiculturalism (or simple cowardice), the idea that all cultures are equal and all ideas, including the murderous ideas behind the Islamist’s death threats, should be respected equally. The Islamists certainly have no confusion on the subject; these threats show their ideas for what they are (as if that was in any doubt after the Salmon Rushdie death edict and the regular beheadings, and worse, of “non-believers” by the Islamists).

Multiculturalism is completely at odds with the U.S. constitution, which is a political statement of principles or ideas that apply to all men anywhere and at any time. “All men are created equal” does not include the caveat, “except if they run afoul of Islamist dogma”.

For the U.S. government to uphold freedom of speech against Islamists who are threatening to kill anyone who prints the Muhammad cartoons, and in the same breath to reproach those who print the cartoons, pleading with them to respect religion, is such an abject and transparent surrender of principle that it is difficult to call it anything less then cowardice. It places the right of free speech on par with the “right” to murder, and abandons those brave souls that print the cartoons.

There is a clear clash of principles here that cannot be evaded. Islamist’s believe that reproducing the likeness of their prophet is a blasphemy, punishable by death. Freedom of speech is the principle that ideas are protected against physical retaliation. There is no reconciling these principles; a stand has to be taken. After all, the principle of freedom of speech was not created to protect speech that does not offend anyone. Its purpose is precisely to defend the type of speech represented in those cartoons.