Protecting the Terrorist

Freedom of speech and press are in deep trouble when the American government thinks the best it can do to protect a journalist from death threats is to counsel her to go into hiding, and when the elite voices of American journalism can’t be bothered to say anything in her defense…

Imagine what they would be saying if white-hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan were threatening to kill Norris in Selma, Ala., instead of radical Muslims in Seattle. Would the FBI tell Norris she had to stop being a journalist and go into hiding? And would ASNE and SPJ look the other way as the First Amendment and freedom of the press were symbolically turned to ashes by flaming white crosses?

Perhaps everyone reading this has not heard of Molly Norris and Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.  The details are here;  The very short version is that Norris thought if loads of people drew Mohammed, then those who would threaten the lives of those who did so would be sunk.  How could they attack tens of thousands of people?

As it turns out, now Norris' life is in danger.  She has been told to go into hiding, as there are some who wish to see her dead because of her stand for free speech.

That journalists are virtually mum on this topic speaks volumes.  As the quote above shows, do you think theyd tell black folks to hide if their lives were threatened by the Klu Klux Klan?  Yeah; you know the answer.

The answer is to stand up to bullies who wish to take away your freedoms by force.  Placating them and pandering them and refusing to support the threatened instead of those doing the threatening never works.  Ever.

Have we really not yet learned that?  I guess so.

 

Comments

[jammen]

Peg, for once we agree completely. I would also include "pro-life Christians". These terrorist send their windup killers to murder and destroy doctors and clinics. A few of them, like the "Army of God" and the "American Coalistion of Life Activists (ACLA)" explicitly advocate violence. But most of these terrorists publicly condemn violence while privately encouraging their crazier members to do their bidding.

The parallels with "peaceful Islamists" (another oxymoron like "pro-life Christian")
are striking. Both use their religious beliefs as a basis for their terrorist acts while pretending that it is only a few extremists who are the problem.

[Peg]

For those few who do either commit violence or urge it to be done in the name of "pro-life" (something I find wholly repugnant, not to mention incredibly illogical) - I agree with you. I would not, however, tar more than a tiny minority of pro-life Christians with this label. Most pro-lifers - even activists - are committed to their beliefs and fight for it - but they do so peaceably.

I do not have an issue with anyone who wants to get their viewpoints heard and does so in a respectful and non-violent matter - whether I agree with their issue or not.

Sadly, however, there are far more radicalized Islamists these days than there are Christians of the same ilk. Simply fact - nothing of opinion there.