It’s not just the Danes in trouble over the Mohammed caricatures, now. No doubt the American Right, with no sense of self-irony, will take this as evidence to support their arguments for curtailing our First Amendment freedoms and fuel for the War on Terror. The AP photo accompanying the story in all the media outlets seems deliberately provocative of this effect, an upward facing perspective of two menacing goons. I’m certain the goons would be thrilled.
When I see stories like this, my impulse is in an opposite direction: to reaffirm my distance from thugs like these by embracing freedom of speech. Repeatedly, I’ve seen this debate characterized as a careful balance between "freedom of expression and respect for faith." Not only is this not even a close call, in my mind, it’s incoherent, since most monotheistic faiths do not respect each other, and certainly do not respect polytheistic faiths, or faith in non-theistic principles such as science…or freedom. In preemptive response to the inevitable "How would you feel?", I’ll add that I’m an occasional, but dogged, reader of anti-Semitic rants in fringe American journals, etc., linked to by Anti-Semitic webroom posts or by accident in response to some unlucky "I feel lucky" Jew-related search on Google (I read a real doozy in a Russian paper a year ago or so) and the answer is: I feel hurt and angry as a Jew, and glad that the system is working and these losers have a forum for their beliefs. I respect faith, but hardly think it’s an endangered species, particularly at this time and in this country. Thinking about the state of our civil liberties on the other hand, fills me with terror.
Accidental Blogger 
One response to “Freedom of Speech or Respect for Faith? Not Even Close.”
Here is a nice little example of
selective freedom of speech – closer to home.
Rep Young (R -FL) said this about the T-shirt fracas involving his wife and Cindy Sheehan. (see:http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/02/02/tshirts/index.html)
” According to the Post, Young said that he wouldn’t have minded if the police had limited their attention to Sheehan. “I totally disagree with everything she stands for,” he said. But by asking his wife to leave the House chamber, Young said, police clearly “acted precipitously.”
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