The War Against Free Speech

What do comedian Vince Vaughn, Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders, and journalist Juan Williams (pictured above) all have in common?

In the past few weeks, each of these men has become a participant in the ongoing struggle against the symptom of cultural decay that has until recently held Western society in an unshakable stranglehold. I say “recently” for the obvious reason that the recent experiences of each of these men- Juan Williams in particular- have had a mildly deleterious effect on this not-so-silent killer of free speech, a morally relativistic sentiment more commonly referred to as “Political Correctness”- which Dictionary.com defines as “adhering to a typically progressive orthodoxy on issues involving esp. race, gender, sexual affinity, or ecology,” and which the Urban Dictionary defines as “people who try so hard to say the right thing they end up just looking like twats.” I’m partial to the second definition, myself.

In case you don’t spend much free time watching the news, skimming political blogs, or listening to Whoopi Goldberg politely converse with Bill O’Reilly (NOT!) on ‘The View’ (the who?), here are a few headlines you might have missed, in no particular order:

1. Dutch politician Geert Wilders faces trial in his home country for expressing his negative feelings concerning Islam

2. (Former) Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris- whose brain-child “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” caused her to receive numerous death threats- goes into hiding without so much as a murmur from most major news outlets

3. Gay rights organization GLAAD causes an uproar over a movie trailer in which Vince Vaughn makes a supposedly offensive joke concerning the masculinity (or lack thereof) of electric cars, but remains silent when Islamists demand that gay performer Adam Lambert cancel his Malaysian performance (which he did not, while agreeing to tone down certain aspects)

4. NPR fires reporter Juan Williams for making a statement about Muslims that the network found bigoted (but that clearly wasn't)

5. The Obama administration joins the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) in attempting to pass a resolution in the U.N. barring the “negative stereotyping of religions.”

If you can decipher the true intentions behind news item #5, you can see a clear pattern here. Despite the protections of the First Amendment, we are observing a trend in government and media to suppress speech linking terrorism to Islam. Which makes sense, because clearly there isn’t any link between Islamic fundamentalism and Jihadist violence. What, you mean you don’t think Islam is the “religion of peace?” Well, aren’t you just the stereotypical right-wing loony bird!

That the movement to criminalize any individual in a Western nation raising valid complaints against the basic tenets of the Islamic faith has gained so much traction is cause for concern, to say the least. Thanks to his legal team, Geert Wilders managed to evade his charges, but would he have had the same good fortune in any other European court? This is altogether unclear, and that fact alone should frighten us all- including truly moderate Muslims who still see the West as a beacon of hope.

Ask yourself this: What could be a more Western value than freedom of expression? Is this capacity for free discussion and debate not the cornerstone of our entire societal history? Is it not the source of reason with which good ideas flourish and bad ideas are banished to the ash heap of history? With what other underlying value in mind could we have possibly turned back the tides of the numerous communisms and fascisms of the twentieth century?

And yet, as the news items above have shown, our quaint little Freedom of Speech is not a liberty we ought take for granted.

Since I don’t have the resources with which to properly inform anybody adequately about these cases, here are a few links to follow for the best summaries (which all just happen to be from the National Review):

· What Wilder’s Trial Means: A column by the editors of National Review Online

· Context of the Wilders Case: Just as the title indicates

· Obstructed View: Concerning the effect of some of these recent events on free speech

· The Closing of NPR’s Mind: The plight of Juan Williams (pictured at top) and modern political discourse

· Islam And Totalitarianism: By Andrew C. McCarthy

Now, I wouldn’t want anyone to think that my source material is cut from singularly conservative cloth, so here’s my version of a curveball: A speech by the vocal British atheist Christopher Hitchens, concerning free speech in general. I’ve found myself watching snippets of this talk on Youtube quite often as of late, and I encourage everyone to take a look. Sadly, there are few public figures capable of arguing so passionately in defense of free speech, thought, and writing. Were it not for his positions regarding Biblical scripture, he’d make a great NRO columnist as well.

But since Mr. Hitchens tends to (sloppily) link his critique of extremist Islam to other Abrahamic faith systems, be sure to take a look at Word On Fire’s counterargument concerning organized religion here. Gotta love that Father Barron.