Obama's blasphemy against the First Amendment
Reflection from the concrete fortress
John Goes
Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: Opinions
According to an op-ed in USA Today, the Obama administration recently "supported the effort of largely Muslim nations in the U.N. Human Rights Council to recognize exceptions to free speech for any 'negative racial and religious stereotyping.'" Aside from a few such mentions in a couple press outlets, there are virtually no other references to this extraordinary political move in the mainstream media. Some suggest that Obama is merely offering an olive branch to the Middle East, where our stock is quite low. But though the move remains symbolic at present, this move by Obama's administration is a strong gesture of support for non-Western values. It would be wrong to interpret this as "merely" a surrender of Western values in the hopes of improving a strained friendship with people of a very different worldview, for this attempted assault against free expression is not the first in the West. In fact, Obama is in many respects in lockstep with our allies to the North and across the Atlantic. Both Canada and various European countries have explicitly outlawed "offensive speech" against Muslims, homosexuals and other minorities that agitate for such laws.
Freedom of speech and expression form the backbone of our Bill of Rights. Freedom of religion and the freedom of expression are sacred American values. America was founded by persecuted Christian sects who sought refuge from tyrannical governments in the freedom of the colonies. With the memories of such persecutions relatively fresh, our founding fathers took great care to enshrine these freedoms in our Bill of Rights to ensure that future leaders would never take them away. To be sure, Americans often self-censor, and it is certainly not the case that all views are aired in the mainstream media. But one always has the right to print whatever is on one's mind and to speak one's mind. That a few such people will offend us with their exercise of this right is the price we pay for our autonomy.
Something rarely mentioned in such discussions is that laws protecting groups of people from being offended are nearly always used in the name of protecting the minority segments of culture from being offended. No one would think to prosecute blasphemy against Christians or "hate speech" toward those of European descent, even while such speech is arguably more prevalent. This difference underlies the different motives of Muslim countries and Western governments for supporting such laws. Blasphemy laws in the Middle East, as was the case in Christendom, serve as a legal instrument of protection for the symbols of the dominant culture against the words and actions of a few troublemakers. Blasphemy and laws against hate speech in Western countries, on the other hand, serve to protect everyone except the dominant culture from such offense.
A passionate and fiery defense in favor of free speech should be no more necessary in America than a defense of religious freedom. What does it say about our President and about the state of our country that we hardly register a reply to such a bold gesture in favor of restrictions on free speech? President Obama has always been quite skilled at pleasing the crowd, but such unprincipled appeasement is suicidal. A bitter dose of pessimism is the only anecdote to the lemming chants of "hope and change," demanding a change of even the core rights at the heart of our country. In the words of our first president, "If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." The success of Western society has correlated with its tolerance of heretics and we surrender our civilization to the extent we sacrifice our core political values to the demands of a few.
Freedom of speech and expression form the backbone of our Bill of Rights. Freedom of religion and the freedom of expression are sacred American values. America was founded by persecuted Christian sects who sought refuge from tyrannical governments in the freedom of the colonies. With the memories of such persecutions relatively fresh, our founding fathers took great care to enshrine these freedoms in our Bill of Rights to ensure that future leaders would never take them away. To be sure, Americans often self-censor, and it is certainly not the case that all views are aired in the mainstream media. But one always has the right to print whatever is on one's mind and to speak one's mind. That a few such people will offend us with their exercise of this right is the price we pay for our autonomy.
Something rarely mentioned in such discussions is that laws protecting groups of people from being offended are nearly always used in the name of protecting the minority segments of culture from being offended. No one would think to prosecute blasphemy against Christians or "hate speech" toward those of European descent, even while such speech is arguably more prevalent. This difference underlies the different motives of Muslim countries and Western governments for supporting such laws. Blasphemy laws in the Middle East, as was the case in Christendom, serve as a legal instrument of protection for the symbols of the dominant culture against the words and actions of a few troublemakers. Blasphemy and laws against hate speech in Western countries, on the other hand, serve to protect everyone except the dominant culture from such offense.
A passionate and fiery defense in favor of free speech should be no more necessary in America than a defense of religious freedom. What does it say about our President and about the state of our country that we hardly register a reply to such a bold gesture in favor of restrictions on free speech? President Obama has always been quite skilled at pleasing the crowd, but such unprincipled appeasement is suicidal. A bitter dose of pessimism is the only anecdote to the lemming chants of "hope and change," demanding a change of even the core rights at the heart of our country. In the words of our first president, "If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." The success of Western society has correlated with its tolerance of heretics and we surrender our civilization to the extent we sacrifice our core political values to the demands of a few.
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