Posted on 05/06/2015 6:38:43 AM PDT by Leaning Right
I've been reading the various criticisms of Pamela Geller's "Draw the Prophet" event in Garland Texas. Many are saying that it was provocative, and insulting. And Geller had to have known a violent response was possible. So it would have been so much better not to have held the event at all.
Then I thought abou the civil rights protestors from back in the early 1960's.
I had the exact same thoughts. Those actions brought about a necessary change to bring a group of citizens under the umbrella of the Constitution. This time a group of people are bringing illegal and unconstitutional actions to the United States. These actions need to be pointed out and condemned. The media is choosing to condemn those who are shining light on the problem because they lack the intestinal fortitude to do so themselves.
NCIS
Geller's event was a provocation, and of a different order from simply criticizing Islam.
I agree, Geller's event was intended to insult whereas the lunch counter protests were not. Not that there was anything wrong with Geller's event - the right to insult and offend is at the heart of the First Amendment (inoffensive, popular speech doesn't need protection) - but they are very different situations.
ISLAM = ISIS = ISLAM! There is no difference. What ISIS is doing today is exactly what Islam did in the 7th century.
Exactly! The movement to criminalize criticism of Islam is never ending and sadly working to some extent as more and more of our own institutions are willing to compromise our values and our freedoms to accommodate Islam's intolerance.
This is exactly why Islamic demands on free societies should be challenged head on and massively.
It’s a fair comparison. Sometimes people do provocative things for the purpose of...well, provoking and adversary. That was clearly the case here, and I think it was with the Freedom Riders and other civil disobedience in the 60s, anti-nuke protests in the 70s, and at Tianamen Square. I think the common element is that the “provocateurs” were strongly opposed to what they saw as a wrong or injustice and were willing to elevate their protest to the point of gaining widespread national attention. Did the Freedom Riders cause the riots in Anniston or Montgomery? Not intentionally, but their non-violent provocation of the establishment South resulted in bus-burning, beatings, and mob violence. Yet they did it again and again, because it proved they were making progress toward racial equality
Suppose Geller is successful in making “Draw Mohammad” contests as common as Sunday afternoon picnics in the USA. What would that do to the incursion of radical Islam? By applying Alinsky’s tactic of ridicule and “getting in the face” of jihadists, it seems to me that Geller is doing no more or less than civil rights leaders did in the Jim Crow South.
One or two seasons of 24, I believe.
nazi’s marching thru skokie illinois was meant to insult. and the media, the courts, and the left all demanded that the jews accept this calculated insult. nobody shot at the nazis. seems like islam is so immature that they can’t handle a little criticism.
maybe what’s needed is for them to change their diapers and grow up a little.
Back in the 1980s, Muammar Khadaffy declared a “Line of Death” across the mouth of the Gulf of Sidra, claiming the entire body of water as Libyan territorial waters. In doing so, he to the US (specifically, the US Navy and President Reagan) “You Shall Not Pass”.
Reagan’s response was simple: he ordered a US Navy carrier group into the Gulf of Sidra.
The winning “Draw Mohammed” cartoon was exactly the same: like Reagan, the cartoonist simply did what the mohammedans violently proclaim that he cannot do.
So what? Those blacks at the lunch counter could have written letters to the editor instead. Do you think those blacks simply wanted lunch and the black section was full? No, they wanted to make a point, a very public point.
Geller's event was not violent. And neither were the lunch counter protests. The violent responses were due to those who chose to fire guns and swing clubs.
And be careful here, Steve. once we stop defending anyone's right to be provocative, we lose a key freedom. As an example, I recently read a liberal opinion piece that argued that even nonviolent criticism of Obama should be outlawed, as it could lead to assassination attempts.
We are watching a good deal of the American political and media elite surrender to Islamist fascism after the Garland attack.— John Hayward (@Doc_0) May 6, 2015
It is not so much a matter of attempting to annoy as knowing that the segregationist whites *would* be annoyed. A fine line in terms of motive and causation.
Pamela is just doing what our pResident and his gov’t cronies should be doing...protecting the U.S. autonomy!
The time has come to take a stand and not back down — not be cowed the way the media is attempting to do.
If not now, when?
If not US, who?
maybe what’s needed is for them to change their diapers and grow up a little.
Agreed, 100%. Heck, in the Skokie case, the ACLU represented the Nazis, and were urged to do so by Burton Joseph, a Jewish civil rights attorney.
And how did the Jews in Skokie respond? They showed up and peacefully counter-protested, making the Nazis look like the fools they are. If the Muslims think that Geller is offensive and foolish herself, they should do the same.
Islam is not a religion. It is an ideology with religious overtones. We all need to repeat this mantra as often as possible. Not only is Islam not better than other religions its worse. In fact its the worst ever conceived of.
IMO Islam is being ushered in all over the world by the NWO to eradicate all other religions. Then after all the other religions are gone they will get rid of the Muslims. If this were not true why is there an overwhelming protection by the elites for this satanic cult?
“The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
— Frederick Douglass, August 3, 1857
Exactly. Pamela Geller is doing what the pResident in the White House and his gov’t cronies should be doing...protecting our U.S. autonomy.
Exactly right. They’re here and they’re laying low. Pam Geller event brought them out into the open.
Good analogy that. An in both cases, not taking any action would just embolden the enemy to demand more.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.