Do Not Apologize for Cartoons of Mohammad
Dear Editor:
European newspapers must refuse to apologize for running cartoons of Mohammad. But instead of applauding those papers that have stood their ground defending free speech, the U.S. government has shamefully endorsed Muslim complaints against the “blasphemous” cartoons.
Blasphemy violates no one’s rights; whoever finds such cartoons offensive, can avert his gaze. To cave in to intimidation and not publish anything Muslims (or any other group) feel is offensive is to surrender the crucial principle of free speech.
Ultimately, this clash is about respecting man’s right to express his views, however unpopular, in the face of religious attempts to subordinate that right to mystical dogmas. Instead of appeasing the mobs who call for executing anyone offending their faith, the United States must support those who share our political ideal of free speech.
Dr. Yaron Brook
Ayn Rand Institute
Executive Director
Untouchable Islam
Dear Editor,
Nobody should apologize for the Danish cartoon showing Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Irrational Muslim mystical beliefs have caused much misery, destruction and death in the world, and continue to do so. Combined with an explicit Koranic sanctioning of violence against “non-believers” they have been allowing Islamic terrorists to rationalize and morally justify their vicious killings.
An apology would amount to the same kind of abject appeasement that has allowed Islamic dictatorships like Iran and Saudi Arabia to spread Islamic mysticism and sponsor Islamist terrorism using money from oil that would not have been discovered without the application of reason, science and Western technology.
If anyone owes an apology, it’s those who seriously believe in the dogma that drives and sanctions the Islamic terrorists. And as long as such dogma is believed, it and they deserve not only ridicule, but condemnation.
Sincerely,
Glenn Woiceshyn
CNN: Respect for Embassy Burners
There is some interesting language on CNN over the furor over some silly cartoons. The article talks about Islamic fanatics burning down embassies, rioting, and burning the Danish flag over those cartoons… it does not once refer to them as “extremists.” Then, I came across this sentence: “At the demonstration later Saturday outside Copenhagen, right-wing extremists plan to protest the recent burning of Danish flags — a gathering that could inflame tensions with the Muslims.” Oh, so some patriotic Danes are objecting to the burning of their flag are the “right-wing extremists”? I also loved how they ended their article: “CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.” What a bunch of multiculturalist crocks.
Sincerely,
B. Harburg-Thomson
Seattle, WA
End the Jihad Against Free Speech
Dear Editor:
The reaction of many Western leaders to Muslim death threats over cartoons depicting Mohammad has been apologies and hand-wringing.
This reaction is cowardly and unconscionable. Freedom of speech is a vital principle of civilized society. Militant groups that threaten anti-Western violence in response to a cartoon–and states that support such groups–are enemies of the civilized world. Western governments must do whatever is necessary to make sure that these groups and states do not act on their threats.
Dr. Yaron Brook
Ayn Rand Institute
Executive Director
