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Permalink Reply by Jesus_Was_A_Man_Or_Myth_Or_Both on April 3, 2011 at 8:24pm

From the Daily Dish today

"Free Speech Is A Great Idea, But ..."

03 APR 2011 07:37 PM

Harry Reid's comment that "we'll look into" the despicable Christianism of Terry Jones unnerved me. Butters unnerved me some more:

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Congress might need to explore the need to limit some forms of freedom of speech, in light of Tennessee pastor Terry Jones’ Quran burning, and how such actions result in enabling U.S. enemies.

"I wish we could find a way to hold people accountable. Free speech is a great idea, but we're in a war," Graham told CBS' Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation” Sunday.

And there you have a classic example of how warfare abroad can curtail liberties at home. Koran burning is obviously a disgusting act of disrespect and incivility. But that very kind of act is what the First Amendment is designed to protect. And we should also remember that this war has no end, and that therefore the liberties taken away by wartime are permanently taken away.

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Permalink Reply by Marshall on April 3, 2011 at 9:12pm

Couldn't agree more. As has been said a million times, the 1st ammendment is useless if it only protects popular speech.

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Permalink Reply by Arcus on April 4, 2011 at 5:40am

Hear, hear.

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Permalink Reply by Dustin on April 3, 2011 at 8:40pm

Is burning a pop up book hate speech towards children of a certain age group?  

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Dustin on April 3, 2011 at 8:57pm

True.  

 

Hey, What about if I set a basket of panty hoses on fire?  Would that be hate speech against every female on the planet?  Would a pack of feminists go out into a mens dressing room and murder them all because I burned them?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on April 3, 2011 at 11:21pm

Bottom line is, the vision of the Muslims is at the end, they will be "offended" if you don't bow down to Allah and accept him as your creator or else you deserve to die. As an atheist, in Iran I should be executed as a kaffar. Worse than anything, I was born as a "Muslim" and deserve to die brutally before anyone else. If you're born a Muslim, you can't convert to ANYTHING else. As a free people, we must always stand for freedom and free speech regardless of who it offends. The problem is not in the west with our free speech, it is the intolerant nature of Muslims and of the Islamic faith. We must never bow down to pressure or else free speech along with everything else we value so much in the west will be jeopardized. Next thing will be, "let's not teach evolution in schools" because if offends Muslims. You think Christians are bad with their religious nonsense and wanting to push creationism in schools...imagine what it is and what it will be with Muslims if we keep giving up components of the institutions which have been so vital for our western liberalization values and growth..

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on April 4, 2011 at 3:00am

It's his right as an American to burn a book, a flag, anything he wants.   If people want to connect meaning to it's their problem.  Freedom on speech, freedom of expression.  I even think it should be illegal to ban "hate speech".   People should be able to  be as racist or bigoted as they want to be as long as their actions do not infringe on anybody.  Burning of his own property does not infringe on anybody.    He is not responsible for the actions of those extremists.  Sassan is right.  Give an inch and they will take a mile.

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Permalink Reply by Albert Bakker on April 4, 2011 at 4:58am

It is part of a decent upbringing that you're supposed to know that rights come with responsibilities.

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Arcus on April 4, 2011 at 6:17am

"The UN's chief envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, blamed Friday's violence in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif on the Florida pastor who burnt the Koran on 20 March.

"I don't think we should be blaming any Afghan," Mr de Mistura said. "We should be blaming the person who produced the news - the one who burned the Koran. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from offending culture, religion, traditions." (Source.)

Good bye Mr. de Mistura. You are unworthy to represent the UN.

 

A description of the event itself:

"STORMING THE BUNKER
The office was relatively empty because only a small group had gone into work on Friday, the Afghan weekend.
The four who were in the compound fled into the bunker when they heard the walls had been breached, but it had been built to withstand shrapnel from a bomb blast, not a sustained assault.
"The bunker is made for sustaining attacks by bombs, suicide bombers, not by a crowd of people with hammers or whatever they could find, so they were able to enter the door," de Mistura said.
When the attackers broke through the head of the mission, a Russian who spoke fluent Dari, stepped forward to try and draw attention to himself. He hoped three others cowering in darkness would not be noticed, but they were dragged out and killed.
"He tried to draw their attention on him, he hoped they would think there was no one else left," de Mistura said, adding that the mob went in with lamps and searched them out.
"One of my three colleagues was shot by a handgun and was wounded, and one of the infiltrators used a knife to kill him, but did not behead him," de Mistura said, responding to Afghan police reports that two staff members had been beheaded.
The Russian survived by claiming to be a Muslim." 

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Permalink Reply by Albert Bakker on April 4, 2011 at 9:12am

You're so right Mistura should pour more oil on the fire. His first priority is not the safety of UN workers and trying to calm the situation. No it is confirmation for those brave American defenders of free speech at some 12000 km flying distance.

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on April 4, 2011 at 9:43am

MUSLIMS MUST KNOW THE ONLY PEOPLE TO BLAME IS THEMSELVES, NOT ANYONE ELSE. UNLESS THEY LEARN THIS MESSAGE AND HAVE IT POUNDED TO THEIR IGNORANT HEADS OVER AND OVER, THEY WILL FEEL JUSTIFIED AND FEEL THAT THEY CAN DO IT AGAIN NEXT TIME. EVERYONE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD MUST PUT THE BLAME NOT ON TERRY JONES, BUT ON THE RADICAL MUSLIMS FOR THEIR BARBARIC AND INHUMANE ACTIONS.

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Permalink Reply by Arcus on April 4, 2011 at 9:58am

I don't think yelling in bold at an atheist website helps getting the point across.. ;)

Let us rationalists continue inundating them with evidence of how wrong they are. That's how we "burn" books, we disprove their validity and their erroniuos ideas. 

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