I'll Still Say What I Want

My last post was about the tendency of the Arab world to blame the United States for everything, no matter who does it.  My example was the outrage over the Muhammad Film on YouTube the other day.  I had a few of my more liberal friends try to explain to me that I am generalizing too much, that I took my combat experiences too personally, even that I am prejudiced or even racist.  Well, maybe so.  But I have at least been to the Arab world, and I have spoken to these kinds of folks one on one.  So excuse me for forming a opinion.

Perhaps I lacked enough examples to make my case properly.  Here are some more.

Point #1- This isn't isolated, and there are plenty of them.

The Philippines:

Marawi Muslims burn US, Israeli flags

This one is ironically funny:

Pakistani man dies after inhaling fumes from burning American flags at anti-Islam film rally

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2204904/Pakistani-man-dies-inhaling-fumes-burning-American-flag-anti-Islam-film-rally.html#ixzz26pJnuK7V

This one is in Turkey.  Read the link to see a timeline of the violence.

How outrage against anti-Islam film unfolded 

Sudanese demonstrators attack the U.S. embassy in Khartoum. 

Photograph by: BAZUKI MUHAMMAD

Muslim demonstrators shout slogans and carry Malaysian flags as they march to the U.S. embassy, protesting against an anti-Islamic online video, in Kuala Lumpur.

This "Terrarist" has bad spelling.

Here's an article in the Christian Science Monitor that is taking the usual tactic of the United States these days, arguing that the demonstrations and attacks of the last week or so are the work of radicals, a small minority of the Islamic world.  This may or may not be true, but I will tell you this--the Islamic world includes almost two billion believers.  That's a ""2" and eight zeros.  A small minority of a number like that is still a giant problem.  Also, if there are so many more "moderate" people in these countries, why don't they get a handle on this crap?


Point #2- Their logic is stupid.

Sudan Embassies Attack: Protesters Target British, German Embassy In Khartoum

This film was made by immigrants to the United States from Egypt.  It was not made by an American or Israeli film company.  If it was, it would have been a shitload better and more clever.  It certainly doesn't involve freaking Germany.  Here's a mental model for you-- a retarded Spanish kid comes up and tells me I'm ugly and my mother dresses me funny.  I get my feelings really hurt and I go set fire to a dumpster behind the Chinese embassy and burn a Pakistani flag.  Wouldn't that be random and kind of stupid?  Well, that's what these protesters are doing, only more violently and with less provocation.

Some more examples:

Photograph by: MOHAMMAD ISMAIL

Nato soldiers arrive at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul September 18, 2012. Afghan insurgent group Hezb-e-Islami claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the suicide bomb attack on a minivan carrying foreign workers that killed 12 people including eight South Africans saying it was retaliation for a film mocking the Prophet Mohammad.

Photograph by: STRINGER

Lebanese Islamists wave Syrian Opposition flags to express solidarity with Syria's anti-government protesters as they burn an Israeli and a U.S. flag to protest against a film they consider blasphemous to Islam and insulting to the Prophet Mohammad, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon.

Photograph by: OMAR SOBHANI

An Afghan protester shouts slogans near burning tyres during a demonstration in Kabul September. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Afghan capital, setting fire to cars and shouting "death to America", in a demonstrations against a film mocking the Prophet Mohammad.

I'm sorry, but it is difficult to have respect for people who think like this.  What they are really attacking is our very FREEDOM.  That's what blasphemy laws are all about--making it illegal to speak out against religion.  That is the polar opposite of freedom of speech.  The fact that we allow people to express themselves is what offends these people.  That is what they are really protesting.  They think the American government should control what you say, so that you don't say anything that offends them.  Fuck that.

I also heard the argument that the anti-Muhammad film protesters are no different than the "tea-party" groups in the USA.  To that I say--BULLSHIT.  They may be just as angry, and even just as religious, but they don't set fire to any embassies or murder any ambassadors.  I'm no teabagger, but let's be honest.  

The Daily Show's take on it...

And this one...

I'll Say What I Want

All over the Middle East this week, violent Muslim extremists are protesting at embassies and storming consulates and attacking diplomats.  They are burning cars, throwing rocks, and even murdered an American ambassador.  This is happening in Libya, in Egypt, in Yemen, and in Indonesia.  It is far from an isolated incident, sparked only by a few radicals.  These people are indeed radical, but you can bet that they aren't few.

Explain to me how peaceful and understanding you are again.  

Why did they get so upset? Because of this ridiculous video that was posted on YouTube:

Now, if you were able to withstand the horrible special effects, the abysmal writing, and the nearly unbearable acting, you would see that the film is pretty unflattering to Islam in general, and to Muhammad in particular.  But the most offensive thing about the movie is its horrible production quality.

The film was made by a radical Coptic Christian man living in California.  What is a Coptic Christian, you ask?  Why, that is a sect of Christianity that formed in Egypt.  As such, Egyptian Christians view themselves as Copts, or Coptic Christians.  For a more detailed description, click these words.

So what does that mean?  
It means that the makers of the film are freaking EGYPTIANS.  Think about that for a minute.  Why are the crazies storming the U.S. embassy, when the people behind the film (directed by a man called Nakoula) claim to be Coptic Christians?  Riddle me that, Cairo.

This is Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.  Or The Shadow.
I'm not 100% on that one.

Sure, the guys behind the movie moved to California, and have become American citizens.  But this was hardly a production of the American government, or even of an American religious group.

This really means that these wacky radical groups are just anti-American, and that no amount of "cultural sensitivity" will make them behave peacefully.  Apologizing to these assholes is exactly the wrong way to go.

This guy wasn't teaching kindergarten before the evil video made him crazy...

The U.S. government has exerted a ton of effort to convince me and a lot of other people in the military, the state department, and other agencies that we should be more sensitive to the viewpoints of Muslims, and that then they wouldn't be so motivated to attack us.  Basically, we simultaneously adopted the Bush Doctrine of preemption and the practice of apologizing to everyone for offending them with our freedoms.  This makes no sense.

So our policy is that if you harbor terrorists, we will come and destroy your country, but we will carefully tiptoe around your religious leaders and mosques.  That way we can still be friends, right?  Wrong.  

Since when is it such a big deal to offend people?  I'm offended by some things, too.  I don't like the treatment of women in many of these countries, the use of medieval punishments for minor crimes,  the wearing of man-dresses, etc.  But I take the position that different people view the world in different ways.  Live and let live, right?  If my little blog offends you, don't read it.  If your shitty you-tube video is insulting, I won't watch it.  Simple.  

I find man-dresses offensive.
Let's storm the Sudanese Embassy.

What makes these guys terrorists is that they don't argue against the video's ideas, and point out how terrible it is.  Instead they try to scare people with their craziness to prevent behaviors they don't like.  Why should we try to placate bullies like that? Because they say they are religious?  Bullshit.

These guys used a lot of religion in their platform, too.

The ironic thing is, if all these protesters hadn't made such a huge stir, I would never have watched that little silly film.  Even if I'd stumbled onto it on the internet, I wouldn't have made it more than a few minutes watching that piece of crap, and wouldn't have ever even seen the offensive parts.  Now it has like 5 million hits, thanks to you guys making such a big deal about it.  Way to go.

Jihad!!!

That is all beside the point, however.  The real point is that here in America, we have this thing called the constitution.  Perhaps you've heard of it.

This is why YouTube shouldn't pull the video,
and it's why the White House shouldn't ask them to.

The thing is, the constitution doesn't just protect the speech you like.  That speech doesn't need protection.  The constitution is there to protect the speech you hate.  

If reading the constitution is too hard, you can watch this movie...

In order for a society to remain free and open, it cannot allow its freedoms to be restrained by intimidation.  It is very important to remember that the kooky Egyptian guy in California didn't hurt anybody.  Some assholes in Egypt did, and what they did isn't understandable or pardonable just because they were offended.