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Our government makes me very, very angry.
The rightwing nutjobs of the current administration are trampling over our civil rights on a daily basis. I would not go as far as the chairman of the NAACP did recently, in comparing them to the Nazi party, but from the Patriot Act to the latest news of illegal wiretapping, I am disgusted with the direction our government is heading. The latest bit of news I read today seems like a small deal in comparison, but call it the straw that broke the camel's back.
US Backs Muslims In Comic Protest
As I said, on first glance it seems like a small deal. The religous right here in our country protests things constantly; just for example, the recent and short-lived sitcom "The Book of Daniel" led to calls for boycotts of NBC and flurried of angry letter writing.
That's all well and good...but some of the people that we are supporting in this statement have gone far beyond anything that should or could be tolerated. Boycotting Danish products, burning Danish flags, protesting...that's all well and good.
But Muslim extremist gunmen have assaulted EU diplomatic offices. Similar groups have threatened to kidnap citizens of any country that reprints or has reprinted the article. Others have called on al-Qaida, America's public enemy number 1, to attack Danish interests in vengeance for their blasphemy.
Maybe my reaction to this is stronger than it should be because of time spent in the Mass Comm department at Winthrop. But when our European allies - Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands - are standing firm in support of freedom of the press, and we philisophically turn our backs on them in support of those threatening violence against them, where does that leave us? I know that there is a need to undo the damage we have done to our image in the Muslim world, but is this really the way we should go about it?
If the recent Southpark episode involving the Virgin Mary offended you, and you started or joined a movement to have Southpark taken off the air or boycott Comedy Central, while I would not back you I would at least support your right to do so. But if you started plotting to kidnap Matt Stone and Trey Parker or blow up the Comedy Central offices, I would dial up the FBI right away. These people are threatening to attack people whose only offense is being citizens of a country whose media outlets - not even government entities - have offended their religous sensibility.
Do we really want to allign ourselves with people like that, even in a philosophical debate?
Update: Radicals call for Fatwa, Beheadings I do realize that the majority are not going to such extremes...but there has been too much violence for us to support the position we have backed. Update: Condemnation for Fires in Syria Apparently the White House is rethinking things...how refreshing.