CAIR again comes out against freedom of speech. “We believe that responsibility comes with freedom of speech.” In other words, there is no freedom of speech at all when it comes to Islam. For if there is no right to speak what may offend this or any group, there is no right to speak about it at all except in the most laudatory manner. If these mild cartoons can provoke such a reaction, any criticism, most likely including any honest investigation of the causes of Islamic violence, would be ruled out.
From The Detroit News, with thanks to Nicolei:
Muslim groups sharply criticized the online publication of controversial caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on Monday by a Michigan State University instructor and a group of students.
“We need to differentiate between freedom of speech and respect for each other,” said Mahmoud Mousa, president of the Lansing chapter of the Muslim American Society.
“If it was about any of the great messengers of God, whether Moses, or Christ or the Prophet Muhammad, people would be offended at the same level.”
The caricatures are published on spartanedge.com, an online newspaper published by journalism instructor Bonnie Bucqueroux.
In posting the controversial caricatures, Bucqueroux, said she perceives a clear difference between describing them and displaying them.
“The circumstance is that free speech really requires giving people information, and the information is to be able to look at the cartoons,” she said….
“We believe that responsibility comes with freedom of speech,” said Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan.
“The right to free speech and free speech does not give us the right to print things or say things that are intentionally provocative, distasteful and have the potential to provoke hatred for any group, be they Jewish, Christian, Muslim or otherwise.”
A fresh steaming pile of taqiyya. These cartoons don’t provoke hatred for Muslims. Some of them poke fun at the manifest connection between Islam and violence. If that is “hatred,” and CAIR succeeds in ruling it out of court, our ability to resist that violence will be severely threatened.