Free Speech Means Free Speech, at least in America

Great article on Slate about Free speech vs. hate speech.  I agree that it is hypocritical of many European countries to outlaw hate speech about the Holocaust or Jews or communist atrocities, but allow the denigration of Islam.  Which is why I think America has the best model - Free Speech for all.  You can make fun of anyone here.  You can hate anyone here.  Now, depending upon whom you are hating or making fun of, you may be ridiculed yourself.  But at least you have that right.

Americans have fought long and hard for these freedoms.  Because we realized that stopping these freedoms can start small.  It may sound like a good idea to make it illegal to use hate speech about Islam.  But if you include Islam, don't you have to include other religions?  What about  Baha'is?  In many Islamic countries Baha'is are discriminated against.  How many Muslims would support a law making hate speech against Baha'is illegal?  And it we outlawed hate speech against religions, then what about hate speech against our leaders?  Surely that would come next?  One of my favorite rights of being an American, is that if you hate the president, you can come right out and say so.  You just can't threaten his life.  As soon as you start curtailing such a simple right as what someone is allowed to say or think, you start down the road of telling them what they are allowed to say or think.  So think about that.

What the Hell is going on in Bahrain?

And why isn't the American media covering it?

Juan Cole has an article on his site called America's Hypocrisy in Bahrain, written for TomDispatch.  It's very disturbing.  I had no idea that the situation in Bahrain had deteriorated so much.  That so many protests were still going on and people were being attacked and arrested and tortured for them.

Anti-Muslim Movie Part 2

By now you've probably heard that everything we knew about the maker of the movie is wrong.  He's not an Israeli Jew, but now claims to be a Coptic Egyptian.  He has been in jail for fraud.  And the actors in the movie had no idea what was going on.  They filmed a movie set a few thousand years ago, and this guy dubbed over their voices to make references to Muhammad.

This brings me to a great little article on Slate called: Don't let Internet videos drive you to violence.  No matter who you are, somewhere out there is a person or group who just doesn't like you.  And they may post videos just to upset you.  Hoping that you'll go crazy and even turn to violence.  Don't let them get away with it.  It's what they want.  Don't let them win.

Anti-Muslim Movie

I want to start by condemning the attacks in Libya, that resulted in US deaths.  There has also been violence in Cairo. 

What set off these attacks is a movie called "Innocence of Muslims."  The filmmaker is Israeli-American and says he made the film because "Islam is a cancer" (quoted from article).  The film was recently subtitled in Arabic, and started being mentioned on Egyptian television.

I don't condone the violence and deaths, but I can understand why people are so upset.  This is another one of those situations that I've blogged about before: Yes, in America we have Freedom of Speech.  But just because you CAN say something does not mean that you SHOULD say something.

If a Muslim made a movie about Jesus, and depicted him as a womanizer and pedophile, there would be boycotts and mass demonstrations, and probably even some violence in America. [I'm saying this to make a point, because most Americans don't realize Jesus is a Muslim prophet.]  The relationship between America and the Middle East is so tenuous at times, and historically rather rocky, so it's very easy to offend people.  My current concern is backlash over the backlash, as some Americans may become more Islamophobic and think that all Muslims are ultra-religious and violent.  Let's hope the situation cools off quickly.

Okay to Joke on Twitter!

Some of you may remember when a disgruntled air passenger tweeted about blowing up an airport in 2010.  He was originally charged and found guilty of sending threatening messages.  Well, the UK High Court finally decided that yes, the man was joking.  This whole situation was of real concern to anyone interested in preserving free speech in the West.  Thank goodness for common sense!

Free Press in Libya

This article is a few weeks old, but encouraging.  As rebels take over Libya, a free press is emerging there.  Let's hope is lasts.  (h/t @jessradio)

Profiling in America

Profiling in America has become a huge mess.  On the one hand, you have people who think that it should be okay to profile someone because of their race or religion.  For example: subjecting young Muslim men to more scrutiny in regards to terrorism.  On the other hand, you have people who say it's counter-productive and unconstitutional.  I stand in the middle on this subject.  It does violate the US Constitution.  But does it work?

I worked with a former police officer, who told me about staking out the airport to look for people who had outstanding warrants.  They looked for a specific type of person with certain tattoos and manner of dress.  And they picked up a lot of people who had warrants that way.  The problem comes in when you stop looking at tattoos or clothes, which can be chosen, and look at skin color or religion.  If you want to profile a gang member in some areas, it may be a young black man wearing certain colors or types of clothes.  In other areas it may be Hispanic men.  And that is considered racial profiling.  And it's illegal.  If you want to profile a terrorist, it's probably young Muslim men, with brown skin.  And that is also racial/religious profiling.

The Constitution guarantees equality for all men, but sometimes that's not how it really works out.  If you're a young black man in baggy pants, there are people who will automatically think you're in a gang or selling drugs.  Even if you're really just a student.  If you have brown skin and a name like Muhammad, there are people who think you're a terrorist or at the very least trying to impose Sharia law on Americans.

Slate has a very interesting article on the subject of profiling terrorists.  It seems as though the American Muslims most likely to lean towards terrorism are actually black.  So what does this do to the profiling situation?  In 2008 Juan Cole wrote a very good article about how profiling actually doesn't work.  He also mentions several of the supposed terror plots that were not really terror plots, but got hyped up by profiling.

So where does this leave us?  How do we reconcile our belief in civil liberties, with our need for safety and security?  Does it make sense to have actual computerized random searches at the airports, when guards end up searching 5-year-olds, or Amish women, when you're looking for Muslim terrorists?  In my mind, it doesn't.  But I don't like the alternative of just searching Muslims either.  Surely there is some kind of middle ground where we don't violate people's rights just because of their skin color or religion?  Because it's hard enough to be a Muslim in America these days. 

Gitmo Book Banned?

An Australian man who was kept at Guantanamo Bay for years has written a book about his experiences.  But don't plan on reading it if you live in America.  Truthout has an interview with the author, and FireDogLake has some commentary about it.  I'll admit to not keeping on top of the Gitmo events here at The Ali Gator blog, so I don't remember much about the situation with this prisoner.  But, whether you believe him or not, I find it disturbing that his freaking book is NOT sold in America.  If you search on Amazon.com there is a Kindle edition, which is not available for download if you live in the United States.  I can't even get the book to pop up on my little Amazon widget that lets me add books to my blog posts.  So much for Free Speech in the United States. 

The book is called Guantanamo: My Journey by David Hicks.  It is available from Random House Australia.

Who Cares About Democracy?

The US news is worried about how the events in Egypt will affect America.  Will we be less safe?  Will Al-Qa'eda take over in Egypt?  Will the Suez Canal shut down?  Will the price of oil go up?  But they're not talking about democracy.  I thought the whole point of having a large democratic country and trying to convince other countries of democracy was that the US would actually support democracy?  I guess I should know better by now.  The US is interested in security, even if that means propping up brutal dictators who repress their own country and represent everything we hate.

What hypocrisy.