In Defense of Free Speech

Everybody favours free speech in the slack moments when no  axes are being ground.
                                            Heywood  Broun

Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free  speech is life itself.
                                            Salman  Rushdie

One of the most critical freedoms Americans have is the freedom of speech.  In many other nations, offering an opinion can earn a fine, jail time - or worse.  Here, however, our Constitution protects our right to utter statements that are ugly, or unpopular, or offensive.

At least - prior to this administration we had these protections.....

        In the consensus view of modern American liberalism, it is hilarious to mock Mormons and         Mormonism but outrageous to mock Muslims and Islam. Why? Maybe it's because nobody has         ever been harmed, much less killed, making fun of Mormons.

Here's what else we learned this week about the emerging liberal consensus: That it's okay to denounce a movie you haven't seen, which is like trashing a book you haven't read. That it's okay to give perp-walk treatment to the alleged—and no doubt terrified—maker of the film on legally flimsy and politically motivated grounds of parole violation. That it's okay for the federal government publicly to call on Google to pull the video clip from YouTube in an attempt to mollify rampaging Islamists. That it's okay to concede the fundamentalist premise that religious belief ought to be entitled to the highest possible degree of social deference—except when Mormons and sundry Christian rubes are concerned.

And, finally, this: That the most "progressive" administration in recent U.S. history will make no principled defense of free speech to a Muslim world that could stand hearing such a defense. After the debut of "The Book of Mormon" musical, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded with this statement: "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ."

That was it. The People's Front for the Liberation of Provo will not be gunning for a theater near you. Is it asking too much of religious and political leaders in Muslim communities to adopt a similar attitude?

And - is it asking too much of our government to defend the First Amendment to the Constititution?