At Large
The International War on Free Speech
When multiculturalism and Islamic extremism collide, free expression is the first casualty.
Geert Wilders is a member of the Dutch Parliament and a documentary film producer; not exactly the person one would expect to find on the front line in the battle against both radical Islam and the Islamist assault on free speech. Yet, that is where the 45 year-old founder of the Party for Freedom stands. Wilders, by posting the infamous Danish cartoons of Muhammad on his website and producing a short film titled Fitna, has stirred international controversy that has prompted boycotts of Dutch products, condemnation by the UN Secretary General, constant death threats, and civil and criminal prosecution. Americans, especially politicians on the Left, should take notice.
Fitna features graphic images of terrorist attacks and quotes radical Imams and Koranic Suras used to justify terrorism. In response to the film, Wilders’ own government, at the behest of an angry Muslim population, investigated whether he violated any “hate speech” laws but ultimately declined to prosecute him. However, the Jordanian government is prosecuting Wilders, along with 12 other Europeans, for blasphemy against Islam and requesting that Wilders be extradited to Jordan to stand trial. If convicted in Jordan, Wilders could be sentenced to death.
Of course, the experience of Geert Wilders and those like him, says much about radical Islam and the threats it poses to free societies. However, it says something, perhaps nearly as frightening, about what Western societies are doing to themselves. Natan Sharansky, who spent years in the Soviet gulags and knows something about freedom, defined a free society in The Case for Democracy as one in which “people have a right to express their views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm.” By that definition, democracies all across the world are in jeopardy.
In much of Western Europe, where multiculturalism seems to be the official language, “hate speech” laws suppress candid discourse. Liability potentially awaits anyone whose views offend others. The Council of Europe’s website even states that “In multicultural societies it is often necessary to reconcile freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In some instances, it may also be necessary to place restrictions on these freedoms.”
People who are offended by what a critic or commentator writes about them have started suing in countries with restrictive speech laws, in a means of forum shopping known as “libel tourism.” Deterred from pursuing libel cases in countries like the United States where legal standards are higher and free speech protections greater, these plaintiffs force authors to incur the expense of mounting a legal response or risk defaulting in a foreign jurisdiction.
There are also disturbing signs that free speech in America will become less protected and more regulated in the near future, especially with the reality of large Democratic majorities in Congress and a Barack Obama presidency looming. The most publicized example is reenactment of the Fairness Doctrine, which requires broadcasters to devote equal time to both sides of controversial issues. Paternalism aside, the Doctrine would cause an explosion of regulation and litigation and would effectively be used to destroy conservative talk radio and possibly FOX News. Members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have also suggested imposing “neutrality” requirements on the Internet, which could lead to content regulation of websites, including blogs.
The left no longer seems bashful about regulating free speech for political gain, and when I asked Wilders whether the prospect of a Democratic government could have profound implications for free speech rights in America, he coyly stated, “I know who I would vote for and it wouldn’t start with an ‘O.’” In fact, Barack Obama’s campaign, which raised and spent more money than any presidential campaign in history, has wielded the threats of libel suits and government investigations as a sword to quiet critics.
As the late Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, hardly a conservative, once said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” The way best to ensure such sunlight is to protect free speech, even the hateful, offensive kind, because ultimately, the free marketplace of ideas is the best regulator of all.
When Geert Wilders recently spoke at a lunch in New York hosted by the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum, an organization dedicated to protecting free speech rights, he said that “America is the last man standing.” It was not quite clear whether he was referring to our willingness to combat radical Islam or to guard against the encroachment of free speech rights. It turns out that true freedom requires commitment to both.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (23) | Leave a comment
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george o'neal| 11.6.08 @ 7:16AM
Free speech is the most important human right we have in the USA. Whenever you hear legislation using the word "FAIR" or "FAIRNESS" this is a spin on words to control. That is why much of the world is controlled by thugs and our own politicians are thugs when they want to silence people. If the govt pass a "FAIRNESS DOCTRINE" again, look out. America will need to return to 1776.
Paul LaRue | 11.6.08 @ 11:10AM
censorship is NEVER "fair". I will never allow anyone to silence me, or to tell me what I can feel or think, say out loud or write down on paper.
William Lloyd Garrison led the fight against slavery in this country by publishing a newspaper called The Liberator. In the very first episode, he stated, and I quote:
"I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD."
To my fellow conservatives, I say that it is time to stop the pantywaist symposiums and learned seminars and fun-filled cruises to nowhere. Time to stop quietly standing by wearing Birkenstocks or wingtips and stifling the urge to say "ouch" when the America-haters stomp our toes. It's time to lace up some Doc Martens and go kick some ass, starting with the RINOs in our own party and extending to full contact "in your face" confrontations with the enemy.
solzhenitsen| 11.6.08 @ 11:41AM
I think that we need to study how Christianity and political dissent survived for 70 years in the Soviet Union.
Mick AG| 11.6.08 @ 2:16PM
Isn't it funny how liberals always seem to want to change what something is called or referred to, redefine something to suit their purposes &/or to refer to something that is the exact opposite of what they are referring to. The only thing that symbolizes accurately, exactly what they truly are is their national symbol...the jackass.
baditude| 11.6.08 @ 3:02PM
it don't matter who has become our new prez. it dont't matter if he is black, pink, brown,or purple. the elite of this world put him in,so there for what ever is done by our new adminastation, it won't be for our benefit.
milo| 11.6.08 @ 3:23PM
would it be funny if Abe Lincoln was a black man and the revisionist historians got at history, what fools we may all well be!
jr| 11.6.08 @ 5:36PM
The Fairness Doctrine is probably on its way to each of us in some manner. But Republican legislators better get ready for it. They must ensure that the MSM gets it fair share, not just Limbaugh, Beck, Boortz, and others. That will be the problem along with the upcoming AKORN network, whatever that will be. I think it currently is far bigger than most believe. In Illinois and a few other states? No, it is in far more and someone better catch up with it. Next, build an anti-Akorn, anti-ACLU organization to spread around the US. The rise of Hitler, not the same as Obama and his already built network, came from cultivating young people, like those that helped Obama get elected. The other large group - females, I can't suggest anything.
Mike Bell| 11.6.08 @ 8:41PM
I, for one, will only get more vocal in the face of government oppression. Free speech is our god given right and no religion or government can take that away. I agree with Mr. O'neal, its time for a return to 1776!
DJ| 11.7.08 @ 5:44AM
Bush did alot to throw the 4th amendment down the tubes, so now we can get rid of # 1 and # 2 and live in a complete totalitarian state!!!!!!
S.E.Sarver | 11.7.08 @ 6:45AM
Our freedom of speech is like a muscle. If we don't exercise it, atrophy will set in. If we don't use it correctly, with forethought and intelligence it will be used against us. It's time to persuade those close to us, our families & friends, our co-workers, the waitress, the barber, our beer drinking buddies, of the common sense fact that our freedoms are not guaranteed. Mike Bell said, "freedom is our God given right", but so are other rights that have slipped from our grasp. God gives us much, but it is our responsibility to maintain and protect those rights. Both the 1st and 2nd amendments depend on each other. Our freedom to bear arms will have a great deal to do with our keeping our freedom of speech...and if we don't exercise our freedom of speech in support of the 2nd amendment...we'll loose that right to bear arms...and then, how long do you really think we'll be able to protect that "God given freedom of speech"?
BigDaddyDK| 11.7.08 @ 7:37AM
Until government is held to its prescribed constitutional limitations it will grow like a mold and cover everything it touches. Government does not exist to extend rights, but to protect them from being curtailed. Our rights come from our Creator, as the writers of the Declaration of Independence informed George III. So strongly did the Founding Fathers believe those rights to be "self-evident" that they included them in the Bill of Rights to ensure they would be preserved.
The Second Amendment, included at the insistence of several framers, was written to preserve the other rights and to keep the government from attempting to deny us our other God-given rights. If necessary the people should take up arms to preserve the "security of a free state" when any enemy seeks to make it no longer free. That enemy may come from within or from without.
I do not advocate armed rebellion, but I strongly urge everyone who values liberty to fight to preserve the Second Amendment because that will be the one we can least afford to lose.
John Dieter| 11.7.08 @ 10:23AM
With the Government keeping track of everything I google, and everything I view, and everything I write in blogs, and USING that data to convict people, I am SCARED TO DEATH to write anything about the Constitution anywhere. (note to NSA, I am a good American patriot that hates the Constitution just like you guys. Please don't throw me in jail.)
Crusader| 11.7.08 @ 1:54PM
I think we should indict every muslim in Jordan for civil rights violations and have them extradited here for prosecution. What civil rights violations you ask? Read the koran, their made-up cult (refuse to call it a religion) is one civil rights violation after another.
michael gonyea| 11.7.08 @ 2:16PM
They can have my free speach when they pry it from my cold dead lips.
Atlas Collins| 11.7.08 @ 5:13PM
I DO advocate armed rebellion the instant the federal government moves to repeal the 2nd amendment -- which they will during the administration of the marxist vermin, Obama.
Keep your powder dry, boys.
The Tree of Liberty is getting mighty parched.
frank burns| 11.7.08 @ 8:00PM
If I were an Obama advisor, I'd say wait on the hot button stuff for awhile - don't make a fast move on the Fairness Doctrine or try to release Gitmo terrorists into the general population just yet - too polarizing; do something extremely minimal, yet symbolic, wait for the dumbing-down to begin again; slip the important stuff thru in the dead of night, such as the Fairness Doctrine, near a weekend or holiday when "nobody cares" and the Repub golfers would rather be doing just that (they'd rather be a "minority" party anyway) -
Did I just say "minority" ? Where is my caviar?
Free American| 11.7.08 @ 9:02PM
I hate to say it but my faith in the party to stop this has left me. The Republicans have been nothing but a disappointment, greed, corruption and hypocracy is all that I have seen from them. It is time for a new party one that uses not IDOLOGY but the CONSTITUTION as its platform. One that focuses on the rights of the individual and the states all the while STRIPPING the FEDERAL Gov't of its authority. If you really want to make a change 75 million of us can sign a document demanding a new government, its in the constitution. Just use an ACORNESCE strategy and we can wipe the slate clean and start all over again.
Sun Zsu:
Use the strength of the enemy against them
All war is based on deception
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate
He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious
He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious- STRATEGY AND KNOWING YOURSELF AND THE ENEMY
If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril- CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH
Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance- SOUNDS LIKE A CERTAIN PRESIDENT AND PARTY
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat- SOUNDS LIKE THE ELECTION
The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself- ARROGANCE AND PRIDE OF NEWLY ELECTED
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting- OMG TAKE A LOOK AT AMERICA TODAY!!!!!!!
Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory- REPUBLICANS HELLO!!!!!
Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy- HELLO!!!!!!!!
To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting- HELLO!!!!!
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win- WE MUST DEFEAT THE DEFEATIST WITHIN OURSELVES!!!
You have to believe in yourself- NUFF SAID
If there is one thing the Army taught me is having an open mind to many things only enriches your mind. Our mind is our most powerful weapon and it must be honed, forged and sharpend to maximize the damage done to the subversive forces in our country. Words of wisdom dont only exist in the west, keep an open mind.
frank burns| 11.8.08 @ 4:18PM
Expect at least a full year of total media fawning: all Obama has to say is "working hard to clean up the mess" and they'll sell that to half of this country just like they did the candidate, now pres elect.
Leftists not only run the Democrat party, but almost all aspects of govt now - they consider the average US citizen more threatening than any Islamist - in fact, they want to release them into the general population.
But will Obama and henchmen attempt a quick coup by focusing on suppression of individual rights thru taxation, constitutional revision, edicts and such, to disarm, depress and demoralize - or will they look at the world outside our shores and try to determine what may be in the COUNTRY's best interest, rather than their own?
Two approaches: go hard left immediately while the country's still in shock, and before anything awful happens such as another terror attack to rally US citizens, under the banner of "change" - and of course attack all critics as "racist" while the charge can still hold; the second approach would be incremental, don't do anything radical just yet, talk, make gestures, etc, and let the media do the fawning for you, give the impression of progress without actually doing anything.
Tom| 11.9.08 @ 9:43PM
Actually, free speech is meaningless unless you can back it up with your rifle. A paper ballot is worthless when EVERYONE can vote. When our guns are gone under Obamanation, your free speech rights will follow. Right now, free speech is only for leftists and non-whites.
Shyla| 12.10.08 @ 3:36AM
The problem is that America in so many ways is like a little child awaiting maturity. We're stuck on defending hate speech and flag burnings rather than simply exercising our free speech on human rights violations that occur in every around us in our daily lives. That is where the REAL mature level and power of so-called "free-speech" begins. It is the idea that NO one can tell me I can't say it, but they certainly can question me and debate and have equal time to argue why I am totally crazy. However, in the matur-ist form, Free Speech would not spark a discourse on defending hate speech, but would be obviously exercised by large protests when unjust laws are passed...large protests when corporations have more power to control legislation than our own elected governors of our country etc. Its just that we have not got what free speech was for so long that we don't even know what it is! Confusion is a sure sign that we do not exercise free speech. If we were, articles like this would not be so popular...we would immediately recognize that this issue is not about free speech, it doesn't defend free speech, it is just tiddliwinks when it comes to the real issues we have not made a choice to stand up on for a LONG TIME! Stand up people....time for some exercise!
Scott A Joseph, MD| 1.21.09 @ 4:21PM
One day people will understand the following: this hateful restriction on speech and restriction of freedom IS mainstream Islam.
There are Muslims that don't believe in this. But they are few, and politically impotent. I suspect they are few because you never see them protesting, and they are impotent because you almost never hear them speak.