Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Liberty: It's Lost on Progressives & Their Muslim Extremist Allies

The stupid boobs at the nuthouse known as MSNBC apparently have no understanding of freedom of speech:
Over at MSNBC, a riot of consensus broke out when contributors Mike Barnicle and Donny Deutsch as well as University of Pennsylvania professor Anthea Butler all agreed that the people behind the video should be indicted as accessories to murder. “Good morning,” declared Butler, “How soon is Sam Bacile [the alleged creator of the film] going to be in jail folks? I need him to go now.”

Barnicle set his sights on Terry Jones, the pastor who wanted to burn the Koran a while back and who was allegedly involved in the video as well. “Given this supposed minister’s role in last year’s riots in Afghanistan, where people died, and given his apparent or his alleged role in this film, where . . . at least one American, perhaps the American ambassador, is dead, it might be time for the Department of Justice to start viewing his role as an accessory before or after the fact.”
Deutsch helpfully added: “I was thinking the same thing, yeah.” (Misplaced Blame for Embassy Attacks)
At least they've stopped calling themselves liberal and adopted the term progressive, because their constitutionally-ignorant bullshit has nothing whatsoever to do with classical liberalism.

Why can’t our government simply stand up for free speech?

Matt Welch asks, What's So Hard About Saying, "In the United States, we are not in the business of approving these messages"?
"...it behooves the State Department to constantly explain the vast differences between state-sanctioned and legally protected speech in the so-called Land of the Free. If the U.S. government really was in the business of "firmly reject[ing]" private free-speech acts that "hurt the religious beliefs of others" there would be no time left over for doing anything else.
"It's really not that hard. The values in that film (or "film") are not our values; our government respects religion, religious expression, and religious pluralism (including and especially that of Muslims, even in the wake of murderous Muslim-led attacks on American soil); and we are not in the business of approving or (for the most part) regulating the private speech of our citizens. To the extent that that message is not sufficient for rioters, the problem is theirs."
And if this doesn’t send a chill up your spine, you deserve the government you get:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities have identified a Coptic Christian in southern California who is on probation after his conviction for financial crimes as the key figure behind the anti-Muslim film that ignited mob violence against U.S. embassies across the Mideast, a U.S. law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday. (CBS)
Our federal government should not be expending public resources to out infidels, and Four Star Generals should not be calling up private citizens to discuss a citizen’s exercise of his freedoms.

What's going on?  Progressives are in bed with 7th Century obscurantists to attack freedom of speech, passing anti-blasphemy resolutions at the United Nations.

Somebody needs to tell the progressives that rolling back the Enlightenment is not progress.

Links:

45 comments:

Constitutional Insurgent said...

The Democrats certainly don't have the market cornered on Constitutional ignorance, but they are guilty of some stunning displays of ineptitude.

Some cultures are not socially mature enough to grasp the concept, much less the practice of democracy or republicanism. Some simply need an autocratic regime for stability.

The problem with the current framing in American politics, is where blame is laid on the current POTUS, as if any sitting President could have stopped foreign internal revolutions. These movements may turn to the dark side, or may find their way....but it will have to come from within.

jez said...

I fantasize about how great it would be if America simply handed over Jones and similar to the Arabs and let them have at it. But that's just a fantasy. Jones may be dangerous, provocative, tasteless and stupid, but he hasn't actually incited the violence (although he clearly provoked it -- do you still care about fighting words?)

Silverfiddle said...

But Jones didn't issue fighting words to anyone.

One's hypersensitivity to perceived slights is not the responsibility of others. The hold otherwise is to grant to the mob a veto of the rights of others. It's crazy.

Paul said...

Since you have proclaimed in a past post that you haven't watched a news, or political program in over 6 years, it does not surprise me that you missed Sec. Clinton saying exactly what you claim here, the administration did not say.
In fact, she said it many times after the attack, including a memorial service held as the bodies came back to America.
You should keep to your troglodyte, barbaric opinions, and stop lying about what the administration has actually said.
But I expect nothing less from someone who has no clue what they are talking about.

Anonymous said...

Presidents and politicians of both stripes ahve wanted to scale back our right of free speech for many years. This administration is just more obvious about it.

FreeThinke said...

The "ignorant armies" made famous by poet Matthew Arnold "clash by night" yet again!

Bob Dylan famously asked, "When will they ever learn?"

Apparently, NEVER, Bob.

As Nick Soprano would say, "FUGGEDABOUDIT!"

"Life is a tragedy to him who feels, but a comedy to him who thinks."

Thank you, Horace Walpole!

Being right doesn't help very much, though, does it?

What a pity!

~ FreeThinke

Bunkerville said...

Meanwhile, Obama "outed" the man, and now he and his family are in hiding, no doubt for the rest of his life. Eric Holder justice, with the help of the msm.

jez said...

I can't think of any fighting words that don't suffer from that problem.

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

It's all Salman Rushdie's fault. If he had been killed like the mullah's in Tehran/Qom ordered, his EXAMPLE would have prevented anyone else from daring to insult Islam...

...but since Rushdie got away with it...

Islam is being insulted again.

Where are the faithful murderers when you need them?

-FJ the Dangerous and Extreme MAGA Jew said...

I fantasize about how great it would be if America simply handed over Jones and similar to the Arabs and let them have at it. But that's just a fantasy. Jones may be dangerous, provocative, tasteless and stupid, but he hasn't actually incited the violence (although he clearly provoked it -- do you still care about fighting words?)

Are you sure that the Muslim's aren't simply punishing the West for allowing the Soddomites to openly indulge their carnal pleasures?

Silverfiddle said...

Jez: For that very reason, people need to grow up and keep their grubby mitts off of our freedoms.

No one has a right to not be offended.

Unknown said...

I've been saying this since Sept 12th that this video is a ruse. Thousands of Egyptian and (supposedly) Libyain take to the streets on 9-11 after viewing this video... BS.
I looked at this video on You Tube that morning (Sept 12th) it was uploaded on July 2 and had less the 250 views.
But now the Egyptian Government and Dearborn MI Imam's want our government to pass laws to prevent us from free expression.
It's creeping Sharia, folks. Plane and simple.

Ed Bonderenka said...

The rioting was a cover for a bunch of jihadists to attack our facilities. They ginned up the crowd via their manipulative imams.
Granted the "movie" was a prop, but there are far more incendiary props available which went unused.
These rioters probably don't even have internet.
The "movie" motivated nothing.

The discussion should be "How did we let the press and president deflect our attention from that?"

Ducky's here said...

Progressives and their Muslim extremist allies?

--------

Today's fringe right wing libertarian word for the day is Hyperbole.

Ducky's here said...

Mark, don't get too comfortable on your "free expression" high horse boyo.

There's a demand for Al-Jazeera English on cable. Now who shouted that down and started their right wing bed wetting whining about dhimmis and terrorists?

You don't give two warm farts in hell about free expression beyond being able to spread the party line.

Speedy G said...

Chill duckman, and dream a little... ;)

Unknown said...

Ducky "You don't give two warm farts in hell about free expression beyond being able to spread the party line"

But yet, you liberals are still here toting the party line and the documents and institutions that grant you that privilege have not been torn down ... Yet. Creeping sharia is that threat, not my conservative views.
See how that works?

Silverfiddle said...

Ducky: It's progressives who are calling for punishing speech, and it's progressives joining with liberty-hating Muslims at the UN to put speech codes in place.

Ducky's here said...

Silver, you're more likely to be blocked from publishing nude shots of the royal family than anything insulting Islam.

That's one area that's wide open.

Creeping sharia, Mark? Explain.
What school of sharia. My guess is that you don't have the most limited understanding of sharia.
It is most similar to the religious courts orthodox Jews are allowed to operate in America.

Jersey McJones said...

It's hard for those angry protesters and rioters to understand our notions of freedom of speech, and freedom of religion - including the right to denigrate religion, within legal reason as opposed to libel or slander. It is very alien to them.

Much as it was to our ancestors in Europe not so long ago. LIBERALISM is the eventual solution to that problem. And that can only come with time. Probably a long time.

As for a few "progressives" (and a few others you conveniently ignore)who call for legal action against idiots who make movies that put our troops in harms way, they are not representative of liberal or progressive thought in any way when they espouse such, and any reasonably educated American knows that.

JMJ

Unknown said...

Hey Ducky, don’t be too sure of yourself, clown. You know exactly what I am taking about.
I am referring to Abu al-Fadl, that insulting their Prophet Muhammad is prohibited. Such speech is blasphemy and is subject to death. This is exactly what we are seeing on the world stage right before our very eyes… If you haven’t noticed!

skudrunner said...

Now all of a sudden the WH has determined that the attacks in Libya were pre-planned. The ONN (Obama news network) will gloss over this WH blunder and focus on the Romney telling the truth and declare he is finished.

Les Carpenter said...

@ jmj... You said: "Much as it was to our ancestors in Europe not so long ago. LIBERALISM is the eventual solution to that problem. And that can only come with time."

Yes, Yes, Yes, CLASSICAL liberalism, and our European ancestors had it figured out 300 years ago. But you're right it WILL take a VERY long time for the inhabitants of the Middle East to figure it out. Many of them are still living in the 7th century.

Unknown said...

//Silver, you're more likely to be blocked from publishing nude shots of the royal family than anything insulting Islam.//

Ducky, are you really so stupid?

KP said...

@Silver "No one has a right to not be offended."

Doode, that makes a pretty good bumper sticker or T-Shirt.

@JMJ "... to understand our notions of freedom of speech, and freedom of religion" ... "It is very alien to them."

Very true. On the one hand that saddens me. On the other, it frightens me.

Trekkie4Ever said...

Libya has said several times that the murder of the American Ambassador and the attacks on our embassies were pre-planned not spontaneous as the Obama administration continues to say.

They planned for months for the 9/11 anniversary and had every intention of killing our Ambassador.

Second, the man who made the film, the Obama administration has revealed his name and gave his address out. He is fearful for his life and with good reason.

The betrayal of this government is appalling and has caused people to die.

Ducky's here said...

... not spontaneous as the Obama administration continues to say.

==========
Bull. That's absolute nonsense.

Finntann said...

@idiots who make movies that put our troops in harms way.

Are you really that dense?

I can see it now: Two Taliban are hiding amongst the rocks, one turns to the other and says "Hey, that's an American patrol down there on the road, should we attack them?"

The other Taliban pauses for a minute before replying "Nah, they haven't made any offensive movies lately, let them pass".

--rolls eyes--

I suppose Dunny Douche would support throwing Andres Serrano into the cell next to Sam Bacile, Nakoula Nakoula, or Be-Bop-A-Lula...whatever his current alias is?

Anyone who even entertains such thoughs is a dangerous threat. Perhaps DoJ should launch a civil rights investigation into the lot of them. They are after all publicly advocating oppressing someones constitutionally guaranteed rights.

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."
~Noam Chomsky

Ducky's here said...

Second, the man who made the film, the Obama administration has revealed his name and gave his address out. He is fearful for his life and with good reason.

------
You're full of it. The administration never released his name.

Les Carpenter said...

The Obama narrative is both naive and dangerous.

Finntann said...

The wife was just saying as I was walking out the door, Abdul... why are you bringing your RPG to the coffee shop? You never use it there, put it in the closet, maybe your back won't hurt so much.

Finntann said...

@"You're full of it. The administration never released his name."

No, not officially an undisclosed source was reported as saying.

Finntann said...

And just for the record:

The man, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, who lives about 20 miles south of Los Angeles, was identified by federal authorities as part of a network of people involved in creating the video, a 14-minute trailer for a supposed full-length feature called “The Innocence of Muslims.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/us/origins-of-provocative-video-are-shrouded.html

skudrunner said...

"Bull. That's absolute nonsense."
Which part is bull, the part about the administration saying it was not pre-planned or the back tracking that it was because they said both.

CBS: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice says “all sorts of evidence” indicate the attack in Benghazi “began spontaneously” and was not preplanned.

White House: Libya attack may have been preplanned

Seems to be walking back another gaff but the ONA will not make a big deal of it so why should we. Lets concentrate on Romney telling the truth instead.

Z said...

Good post, SF...we are so screwed by dopes who honestly don't understand the muslim threat and then go into overdrive protesting that NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS. As if anybody doesn't know that; it makes a great foil for the truth but it reminds thinking people that it only takes one rabid muslim extremist to really ruin someone's day.

Ducky's here said...

So The Ladies Who Lunch™ understand the Muslim threat.

Pardon us if we doubt the epiphany. Sounds like plain old bigotry.

Ducky's here said...

Bull Finntann, he was identified by the press before anyone in the administration made a statement.

Ducky's here said...

I suppose Dunny Douche would support throwing Andres Serrano into the cell next to Sam Bacile, Nakoula Nakoula, or Be-Bop-A-Lula...whatever his current alias is?

-----
I don't support censorship of any kind you fuck wit.

Jersey McJones said...

Les,

You can't take the "liberalism" out of "classical liberalism." Otherwise, it's just "classical," which is all well and fine, in a book, or on a portrait on a wall.

The rest of you "conservatives,

(and Les, certainly you recall "classical conservatism")

You're all well and fine with foreign intervention when it suits you, no matter the consequences, even exponentially worse consequences than Obama ever wrought, and it's callous and cynical, at best.

Most liberals and progressives would agree we should avoid these conflicts, or at least try to keep the appearance a low profile, if that's not too much to ask of the corporate masters you conservatives adore?

JMJ

Silverfiddle said...

Jersey: Today's modern liberalism, with it's "rights" to other people's stuff and a will to censor and herd people, has no resemblance to the classical liberalism of the Enlightenment and the founding fathers.

Always On Watch said...

In the current events homeschool group yesterday, the consensus of opinion about the Muslim mayhem that broke out on 9/11/2012: (1) it was all about an offensive movie, and (2) nobody should make a movie that offends somebody else and (3) freedom of expression should be restricted so as not to offend someone else. Some of these students are voting age -- or close to it -- and all come from politically conservative families.

I did share with my students the Michael Young article to which you linked in the post "Why Do They Hate Us?" Each student has a hard copy to read and study.

Silverfiddle said...

I liked the Young article too. I wish our politicians would read it.

Your dispatch from the teaching fields is disheartening. I hope you are leading them through some thought exercises that will help them see the logical end of their naive ideas.

Finntann said...

@Bull Finntann, he was identified by the press before anyone in the administration made a statement.


Argue with the NYT, AP, and Reuters... they all attribute the identification to federal law enforcement.

And the Dunny Douche comment wasn't addressed specifically towards you.

Trekkie4Ever said...

Ducky, look up the proof for yourself before you start saying BS and all that nonsense you are so good at.

The Libyan government has repeatedly said this was not a spontaneous attack, it was planned in advance. The Obama administration doesn't want to admit to their failure to respond when all those deaths could have been prevented.

Finntann, thank you for your help!

MathewK said...

It something that ought to wake a lot of liberals up. Whenever primitive savages in the muslim world start rioting, beheading, murdering and calling for the same, their leaders seem to always side with the primitives.

Perhaps they're simply too stupid to see it for themselves.