Thursday, April 17, 2008
Appreciation for the First Amendment
It always chaps my hide when whiny types complain about so called violations of their First Amendment right to free speech when all that's happening is other citizens are exercising their right to free speech and criticizing the whiny type for the stupid and/or unpatriotic thing he or she just said. All the First Amendment does is make it nearly impossible for the government to prosecute you for mere opinion or true, non-threatening words. Apparently we are the only nation on Earth to offer its citizens such protection from the wrath of the government (think a great conglomeration of whiny types or enablers of whiny types) for mere voiced thoughts of the citizens.
Look just outside the United States. Until recently the great Mark Steyn was being prosecuted by a Canadian star chamber like provincial Human Rights Commission in Ontario (et al.) for true, non-threatening opinion, oh, and for quoting Muslims saying stupid things. The publisher of McCleans faces the same 'charges' for publishing some of the Muslim quotes, et al. Oh, and the tribunals have a 100% conviction rate (the one in Ontario even convicts Steyn and the publisher as it drops the charges.) It is The Trial on stilts and steroids.
Or look to France, where former sex symbol, now 73, Brigitte Bardot faces charges, yet again, for having a negative, but non-threatening, opinion about Muslims in France. I'm going to include before and after photos of Bardot for two reasons: I'm old enough to have really liked her in her prime; and, to illustrate what James Brown said about age taking you on. Sic transit gloria mundi.
But what horrible thing did Ms. Bardot, friend of animals, say? She said the Muslim community was "destroying our country and imposing its acts." Ohhh. So hateful. What chapped her hide was the Eid celebration and the public slaughter of sheep and goats. It is a disturbing custom. But I don't want to face prosecution in a foreign country for the 'crime' of telling the truth about various subsets of the Muslim faith, so I'm going to be silent about any Muslim in the future.Just kidding. I'm an American, thank God, and I can say pretty much what I want.
Labels: First Amendment; Bridget Bardot; Mark Steyn
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 8:03 AM 
