Quote of the Day: Anne Applebaum on Free Speech and the Islamofascists
From her Washington Post op-ed Tuesday:
But if stray comments by Western leaders — not to mention Western films, books, cartoons, traditions and values — are going to inspire regular violence, I don’t feel that it’s asking too much for the West to quit saying sorry and unite, occasionally, in its own defense. The fanatics attacking the pope already limit the right to free speech among their own followers. I don’t see why we should allow them to limit our right to free speech, too.
For this to happen, The 527 Media, timid governments, and most people would have to cast aside their moral equivalence paradigm. It shouldn’t have to come to this, but it may take more direct attacks on our own before we shake out of our stupor. Theo Van Gogh’s murder obviously didn’t do the trick. Neither did Daniel Pearl’s. And the reaction on the part of some that the Fox News reporters who were kidnapped a few weeks ago somehow deserved it (scroll down to the comments — WARNING - strong and offensive language) does not bode well for the propsects of a collective return to sanity.
