February 10, 2006: Hello Pot? This is Kettle...

by Laura Mansfield

The headline on the website of the Council for American Islamic Relations says “Free Speech Doesn’t Mean Spreading Hatred”.

Hello!

They go on to say:

“Just because one has the legal right to say something doesn’t mean it should be said or it is the right thing to say. In a free society, we can publish speech that humiliates, slanders, and incites hate. But should we? Freedom of speech should not be used as a license to spread hatred.“

Dude, we’ve been trying to tell you this all along.

It has been said that Freedom of Speech is a double edged sword.

The Muslim community just got a nice little nick from that sword, and it looks like it may have been in a sensitive spot? Do I detect a bris here?

You’re 100% right. Just because you have the legal right to say something doesn’t mean you should. Just because you have the legal right to call for the murder of infidels, and to shout your support for suicide bombers doesn’t mean you should.

What in the heck kind of message do you think Muslim leaders like Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Zawahiri , Abu Hamza al Masri, and Abu Musa’ab al Zarqawi? I’ll give you a hint: it’s NOT a message of peace and good will towards all men.

The author of the article, Columbus OH pediatrician Asma Mobin-Uddin, went on to say:

In December 2005, when Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a myth, his comments were censured and condemned around the world, and rightly so.

Remember Parvez Ahmed? He’s the is the CAIR official who demanded that President Bush refrain from using the word “Radical Islam” and others in his State of the Union Address. The President ignored the request.

In a second article on the CAIR website, Parvez Ahmed says:

At the core of the reactions in the Muslim world are fears about Western motives, bolstered by lack of redress of ongoing grievances.

Right. The Iranian president got trashed in the media. But no one went out and burned embassies, attacked people, murdered religious leaders, or arrested those who reprinted his quotes.

The media basically said Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinzhad was a raving lunatic who didn’t have enough sense to come in out of a shower of rain. But nobody got killed because Iran’s president said stupid things.

That’s the difference.

The reason this so-called clash of civilizations is happening is because some bright soul in the Islamic community got the idea of using our civil liberties as a weapon against us.

Freedom for you to say and do as you like means that the other person, with the opposing view has the right to do and say as he likes. That’s why Islamic clerics still get away with preaching jihad in the mosques of America and Europe. That’s why member of CAIR can get away with making statements of support for terrorist organizations.

It’s because the minute you start infringing on the freedoms of those who disagree with you, when you deprive them of the same rights that you enjoy, freedom ceases to exit.

I suggest you learn to deal with opposition. You’re going to get a lot of it.

And in the meantime, dudes, I suggest you remember the old story about the pot calling the kettle black.