When We Bow Down to Fanaticism, We are sinking as a Nation!
February 28, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Freedom of expression in America is perhaps our greatest freedom, whether it is by cartoons or any other form of the media from writing to radio to television. Some liberals cringe as they listen to conservative speakers and switch channels, as do conservatives when they hear the liberal speakers. And many liberals love to see Bush and his entire administration ridiculed in cartoons and all forms of media, while conservatives have a great field day with cartoons of the Clintons and Ted Kennedy.
Some unbelievers love to see cartoons ridiculing any form of Christian belief, while some believers get a kick out of seeing cartoons about atheists. Yes, I might as well be honest, I do not like what liberals or atheists believe, teach, or advocate, but I have fought in two wars to defend their right to do it. I am a Christian by faith and a conservative by my experience, and a lot of liberals and atheists died so that I could be what I am and express my opinions. That is what makes me an American.
The current outburst of burnings and killings over 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad is a true picture of the narrowness of freedom in the Islamic countries. We must not bow down in surrender to what Islam dictates to be politically, religiously, politely, or culturally correct.
The usurp from the Boston Globe article by Jeff Jacoby, which follows, came
from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Daily Alert.
It is an interesting commentary on fear of retaliation being able to quench the American spirit of free press and expression, which
is a hallmark of the American way. It is amazing what the rebellious Jihad spirit of Islam has been able to accomplish since 911 in its ungodly terror attacks in America and England, and its suicide bombings in the Middle East.
Begin Boston Globe Article
When Fear Cows the Media!
By Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe
The Phoenix, Boston’s leading ”alternative” newspaper, isn’t publishing the Mohammed drawings, and in a brutally c
andid editorial it explained why. ”Our primary reason,” the editors confessed, is ”fear of retaliation from…bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their will on those who do not believe as they do….Simply stated, we are being terrorized, and…could not in good conscience place the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its related companies in physical jeopardy. As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year-publishing history.” The vast majority of U.S. media outlets have shied away from reproducing the drawings, but to my knowledge only the Phoenix has been honest enough to admit that it is capitulating to fear.
Give the rampagers and book-burners a veto over artistic and editorial decisions, and you end up not with heightened sensitivity and cultural respect, but with more rampages and more books burned. You betray ideals generations of Americans have died to defend. And worse than that: You betray as well the dissidents and reformers within the Islamic world. What they want to see from America is not appeasement and apologies and a dread of giving offense.
They want to see us face down the fanatics, be unintimidated by bullies.
They want to know that in the global struggle against Islamist extremism, we won’t let them down. (Boston Globe)
End Boston Globe Article
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