The cascading crisis involving derogatory depictions of Islam's prophet Muhammad by amateur American filmmakers and French satirists has reinvigorated a 20-year-old demand from the Muslim world for a Western crackdown on free speech.
This demand has been made by Egypt's Salafist Nour party, by Iran's theocrats, by Hezbollah and, not least, by the al-Qaeda-linked groups that on Sept. 11 and the days immediately following attacked and rioted against our embassies and interests in two dozen Muslim countries, killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and 51 others and injuring hundreds. It is also being pressed on the diplomatic front by Muslim governments allied to the U.S.
Without doubt, the uproar over the 12-minute video "Innocence of Muslims" is the result of ulterior motives and political manipulations as Islamists jockey for power. Nevertheless, and not for the first time, large populations have been incited to violence by these cynical and opportunistic forces. It is important to respond in a principled and coherent way. Read more
Only America has such a liberty. Political correctness, which was not an ordinance, encouraged controlled speech, or at the least an apology for offensive speech. Now their hate speech laws.Of which are used in a manner that the U.S. has refused. This is why 'isolationism' should be encouraged.
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