For me the worst part about Mitt Romney's most recent act of stupidity is that it distracted from, and actually made it much more difficult to have a very important and relevant discussion about censorship. Romney got the timeline wrong, the facts wrong and was apparently jumping the gun, as well as the shark, when he took advantage of what he saw as a political opportunity and everyone else saw as a tragedy.
The smirk didn't help.
That said there is a real conversation to be had. Perhaps had Romney let a few days pass, we could have had such conversations. Now anyone who brings it up will be tied in with him and his foolishness. But Mitt Romney's ridiculous opportunism aside, religious extremists continue to try and blackmail the free world with threats and acts of violence.
We need to discuss this.
First I will take this moment to point out that the actions against the US Consulate in Benghazi were carried out by a small group of extremists. There were Libyans who fought for and were injured trying to defend our US Consulate. The actions taken on Tuesday were not representative of the Libyan people. They are simply the actions of a small, yet motivated group of knuckle dragging neanderthals who have long lost the battle of ideas, and thus resort to violence.
In fact there are several extremists groups, some loosely affiliated with Al Qaeda in Libya. The one claiming responsibility for this latest round also attacked the same Consulate a few months ago when we killed Abu Yahya al-Libi, who was a Libyan leader of Al Qaeda. On September 10th of this year, yes a few days ago, in an under reported story, it seems we also took out Saeed al-Shihri, the No. 2 Al Qaeda leader in Yemen.
This is a religious extremist group that is being squeezed out of existence. The actions taken against our Consulate that lead to the deaths of four Americans is most likely the backlash of our success. I say all of this because there are real issues to discuss. Including our role and polices in dealing with this Arab Spring that has swept large parts of the world. Not to mention our Governments use of drones. Our relationship with the new nation of Egypt and the newly liberated Libya.
Now those issues, those real issues that deserve in depth discussions have also been side swiped by this whole Romney debacle. But the more pressing issue here, at least the one that concerns me, is what reportedly started all of this.
There were relatively peaceful protests going on outside the consulate for hours before the violence broke out. The protests were started by and large over a terrible Youtube Movie that was offensive to Muslims. The parts I have seen are laughably bad, and any sane person who bothered to look would have seen this as trash unworthy of a response. The people in that mob in Libya and in Egypt were reportedly under the impression that this was a real movie and that all Americans were being shown this movie on 9/11.
Apparently they are new to the whole internet thing. Most probably don't even have access to Youtube. I do believe the protestors were there to air a complaint. And the situation was taken advantage of by those who turn to violence first and foremost. So what we ended up with was a misunderstanding that spawned serious acts of violence and murder.
While the Obama administration did not "sympathize" with the attackers, as Mitt Romney claimed, there are plenty of people in this country who want the filmmaker found and arrested. As if his views somehow forced the hand of those who attacked the Consulate. There is already an investigation underway and a sort of manhunt for the filmmaker. It's safe to say after Mitt Romney, this mystery filmmaker is the most universally despised man in America.
Again the protests against the "film" and the attacks are probably mutually exclusive. One provided cover and opportunity for the other, but that is (at least at this hour) where the connections seem to end. Our response so far has failed to make that distinction. So we run the risk of once again censoring people and ideas to placate extremists.
Going out of your way to piss off a culture that is already standing on shaky ground is a real dick move. But being an asshole is not against the law and I don't think his bad ideas should be censored. They should be exposed. He should be mocked and ridiculed and live to know he will never be a real filmmaker. This is his legacy. This is his opus. And he should never live that down. He should be forever branded with that reputation. But he should not be punished by our Government, or charged with a crime. That is not how we handle bad ideas in this country.
I don't care if he depicted the prophet Muhammad as a deformed purple dinosaur in a Justin Beiber t-shirt doing lewd things to a donkey. You don't get to kill people and blow things up because your feelings were hurt. But just as with the Danish cartoon depicting Muhammad, and the death threats against South Park (of all things), we see more and more of this blackmail through threats and acts of violence.
When a random Youtube video leads to something like this, what are the repercussions on our liberties? Where can we express unpopular ideas if not online? What are the options? What is the proposed solution? Who will be censored next out of fear of retaliation? How much of our freedom of expression will we lose to placate those who do not know how to pick their battles? What does a free society that values free speech, even if it's improper, inflammatory or wrong... in fact especially if it's improper, inflammatory and wrong, do when faced with the threat of physical violence?
That is the discussion we should be having in this country.
The most important speech to protect is the incendiary, the unpopular and minority view. History has shown that if you censor that with which you disagree, you censor yourself. You tear down the very laws that could later protect you. Time and time again we see people in the media and even in the previous administration cave out of fear. Fear of violence for uttering a phrase, expressing an idea or in some cases planning to maybe someday soon draw a picture and show it to people.
That caving has to stop.
For their part the current President and the Secretary of State were both very clear that there is no justification for violence and murder. That is the stance I think we should all be taking. As freedom loving people we should all stand ready to send that message. We all have Youtube accounts. There may come a day when we have to form our own protest. One of solidarity and mockery to show no matter how violent they get, we will continue to say and draw and portray whatever we want. That free speech cannot be stopped with bombs and bullets.
I don't mean to single out any one group or religion. Sure today there is a clear pattern of such blackmail from extremists who happen to be Muslim, but in 40 years it could be a whole other group and the issue will be the same. I don't care who the threats are coming from. It doesn't matter which extremist group is making threats, if an evangelical church decides to start issuing death threats for posting videos of Richard Dawkins, we should hold this same view. If an atheist group were to start bombing churches every time a televangelist says something stupid, we should hold this same view.
Violence is not an acceptable response to speech and ideas.
The sort of stupidity that disagrees with that notion knows no ethnic or cultural bounds. Intolerant people exist in every corner of the world and they all have to learn to grow up. They have to learn how to deal with the fact that some things out there will offend them. That not everyone shares their views or beliefs. That the freedom of all overrides the sensitivities of the individual.
They have to learn to get over it, like everybody else. Today that means the extremists in Egypt and Libya who are getting trolled on Youtube.
It's times like these I miss Christopher Hitchens. I didn't always agree with him, in fact on many things I didn't. But on the issues of faith, free speech and the importance of language, he was a great thinker and a much needed voice of often unpopular, but vitally important speech. I wonder what he would have to say about these recent events.
Finally I want to say that I am all for being respectful toward one another, regardless of belief and religion and culture. I simply draw the line at cowering in fear of offending others. And so should you. There is no actual harm in being offended. There is no bruise or scar to show. So by all means be offended. You have every right to be. But go be offended someplace else.
Write me a sternly worded letter. Post an equally offensive Youtube video and send it my way if you are so inclined. Tell all of your friends what a jerk I am for offending you. Call me names, insinuate slanders against my character if you must. All of that is fair game. It is in essence the modern battle field of ideas.
Going out and killing people over it is not acceptable.
End of Rant.