Keep free speech free - The Jewish Standard

Your editorial “Of violence and silence” (Sept. 14) was shocking. Instead of placing the blame for the violence in Egypt and Libya where it belonged – on the people who actually committed the violence – you blamed it on the “filmmaker.” You urged state and federal authorities to launch hate crimes investigations. Why? Do you really want to stifle free expression? Do you really want to codify speech, so Islam cannot be criticized? Do you really want to appease those who resort to violence by not upsetting them? I think not. We should think very hard and fast before we urge restrictions on the First Amendment. As Jews, we also should not ignore the use of a convenient scapegoat to cover up the deep-seated problems we face in the Middle East – political as well as cultural – that lead to these flare-ups.

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