Source & Credit: Chicago Islam Examiner
By Qasim Rashid | Chicago, IL | May 21, 2010
It is absolutely inexcusable that some Muslims have responded to Facebook's Draw Muhammad Day campaign with violence. Such people are a disgrace to mankind and represent no religion, let alone Islam. When the South Park fiasco hit, we addressed the issue of Islam and free speech in detail.
Op Ed: Depicting prophets ... Free Speech Tested on South Park
In mocking Jesus, Moses, Bhudda, and Krishna, has South Park gone too far?
Prophet Muhammad and South Park: a Muslim sets the record straight
In mocking Prophet Muhammad, has South Park gone too far?
In short, we pointed out that Islam celebrates free speech and condemns violence or any punishment at all against one who 'blasphemes' the name of Islam, Allah, Prophet Muhammad, etc. To such people, the Qur'an teaches to simply turn away and say nothing to them at all. Needless to say, Pakistan's outright ban on Facebook is simply not the right solution.
On the flip side, it is absolutely laughable that a 'civilized society' needs to find ways to insult for no other reason than to insult, as proof and demonstration of the 'power' of their free speech. Let's be real for a moment. Aside from infuriating a few completely incompetent Muslims who don't realize that Prophet Muhammad was insulted to his face numerous times yet responded only with peace per 25:64, what do those who deliberately try to offend Muslims actually accomplish?
Moreover, if this is proof of free speech, then why did Facebook ban "May 20 - Everybody Ridicule & Draw Holocaust Day" immediately after a Jewish lobby group protested? Meanwhile, "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" was allowed to run its course and finally banned late in the day yesterday.
Don't miss the point. This is not a contest of which page is more offensive to whom. Both pages are clearly offensive and childish. Neither page, contrary to the supporters of either page, proves that we live in a free society. Rather, both prove that we are quickly becoming victims of our own egos, eagerly trying to find a more offensive but "legal" means to ridicule some other group with vitriolic criticism—just because we can.
And while Muslims who respond in violence are in no way off the hook for their actions, they're not alone in their anger. The New York Times reported on March 28th that Corpus Christi, a play depicting a homosexual Christ, was canceled in Texas after producers received threats of violence and attack. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports a similar story with similar threats of violence. The Boston Globe reported an uproar on April 30th at none other than Harvard University. In reference to affirmative action, a white law student said, "I absolutely do not rule out the possibility that African-Americans are, on average, genetically predisposed to be less intelligent." What? No free speech?
In the end, such actions only build walls between societies, cultures, nations—between human beings. Free speech is a beautiful icon of any and every civilized society. Take it from someone like me, who can't even legally call myself a Muslim in my country of birth, Pakistan, without facing criminal arrest and prosecution. I made reference to the beauty of free speech in my recent NBC interview.
In the meantime, I am still waiting for someone to show me the societal benefit of Facebook pages that insult Prophet Muhammad or ridicule the Holocaust. What will society lose if we respond to vulgarity with peace? How will setting an example of civility, even when others choose not to, threaten our free speech? As Dr. King reminds us, "I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right, and that is good."
Still, these philosophical questions usually end up getting lost in translation. Sometimes I think it's just easier to go back to one of the first lessons our mothers taught us as children (or should have). If you don't have something nice to say...well, you get the point.
Read the original post here: Everybody draw Muhammad day: A Muslim sets the record straight
Qasim
Rashid is a contributing member of Majlis Sultanul Qalm, USA (MSQ USA) and regularly
writes for Examiner.com and various other publications on topics ranging
from Islam to human rights. Leave your thoughts and comments, or email
Qasim at 1muslim.examiner@gmail.com
I think you're missing the point here Qasim. Free speech needs to be protected because citizens of the US originally feared censorship by their government, when they were oppressed by the british monarchy. So they wrote in the constitution that the government can pass no law restricting free speech.
ReplyDeleteSo techincally that law doesn't protect private companies from censoring people. The difficulty lies in where you draw the line. If you allow the line to shift, even at all, then eventually you will return to non-free speech. You either have to protect free speech universally, or protect none of it.
Are lots of those people being jerks? Sure. I could have done without seeing so many pictures of pooping, no matter who was badly photoshopped into it. But the initial intention was to just draw a simple picture and label it muhammed. Then the reaction from radicals on one side prompted reaction from jackasses on the other.
As Evelyn Beatrice Hall famously wrote (usually mis-quoted to Voltaire): I disapprove of what you say, but I defend to the death your right to say it. So the extremists attempted to remove the right to express themselves with threats (and possibly, attempted to be carried out, the times square bomber? I think he was planning before the South Park episode was aired) violence.
I agree with you that a bunch of people were being jackasses on both sides. But the underlying message here is that we take free speech pretty seriously. I don't agree with facebook removing the group about the holocaust either, but I think at that probably led to the other (banning the draw muhammed group).
I guess what it boils down to is that the west is slowly moving towards a live and let live attitude (recent military incursions by the US notwithstanding) and if someone wants to draw muhammed, just don't look at it, and ignore it. Hopefully those extremists will catch up to that attitude someday. However I don't think those issues will disappear until we address the underlying conditions that generate extremism, such as lack of opportunity and poverty.
@ MAX - Thanks for your insightful comment. I think we agree. I'm not advocating a lift of protection on free speech. I'm simply advocating self control, that's all. I think a civilized society should be able to resolve their differences without resorting to vulgarity or offensive epithets. Thus, self control, at least in my opinion, is not a threat to free speech.
ReplyDelete@ Max - If only people defended the principles of respect and kindness as vigorously as they defend free speech.
ReplyDeleteYes, free speech is an integral part of a free and just society, however, if it's not conscientiously tempered with respect and kindness then we run the risk of emboldening (or potentially even empowering) those who threaten social peace and cooperation. Mind you, I'm not suggesting that we temper free speech through the application of law or violence, but instead through the application of social pressure and personal restraint.
Whenever taking a principled approach, the worth of that principle in a given instance can be judged by the outcome. The outcome of unrestrained free speech in this instance is nothing to be proud of.