"Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve our Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.” John Adams. Letter to Abigail Adams, April, 1777
January 7, 2015
By: Linda Case Gibbons
It’s never easy being on any front line.
Not everyone is willing to be a moving target to defend Freedom of Speech. In fact there are those who won’t even show up at a rally for fear of what might happen to them, physically or politically.
Some people just aren’t made for that kind of thing.
But this week world leaders marched in Paris, arms linked in solidarity against Islamic terrorism and in defense of freedom of speech.
It was an arresting sight.
Israeli, Palestinian, German leaders and more stood alongside a million Frenchmen who had lost countrymen to terrorists.
We all recognize that the "idea” of Freedom of Speech is a noble concept, but the truth is the task of defending it never ends.
We want the freedom to express, but find it difficult to let the other guy say or write something that we find objectionable.
But that’s freedom. You can’t have it just your way.
You can’t edit out the words "Islamic terrorists” from a country’s language, from its government documents. You can’t say what you want to say and censor that right for others. You can't use your power to prosecute those you wish to silence.
It’s the whole point of freedom of speech. It’s for everybody. And it doesn’t come easily. Just take a look at history.
I can’t remember reading that Thomas Paine’s "Common Sense” made the New York Times best seller list. In fact the Tories gave it horrible reviews, but that pamphlet changed the world.
And I betcha’ the king of England wasn’t thrilled when his mail came and there was the Declaration of Independence from his colonies. But that little piece of parchment changed the world, too.
Suppose both had been censored?
Freedom isn’t always easy to swallow. Not many people approve of the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests of military funerals, its stance against gays, Jews, Catholics or when they stomp on the American flag.
But their right to do so is protected.
And not everybody has been happy about the content of "Charlie Hebdo.”
The magazine is a self-described left wing, anti-racist publication which publishes articles and political cartoons about the extreme right -- politics, culture and religion, all religions.
It has been on the Freedom of Speech front line for years and because it has, has been persecuted, banned, sued, firebombed and now viciously attacked by murderers for its content.
When Charlie Hebdo satirized President de Gaulle’s death, the magazine was banned.
When the 2006 magazine depicted a weeping Muhammad saying "It’s hard being loved by jerks,” the Muslim World League, Union of French Islamic Organizations and the Grand Mosque sued it and President Chirac said, "Anything that can hurt the convictions of someone else, in particular religious convictions, should be avoided.”
But in all cases the magazine’s response was to carry on as the irreverent, provocative publication it was. It was a dangerous choice, but the staff of the magazine was willing to risk it.
And so was Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi.
This month al-Sisi made a courageous speech in defense of freedom to his 85-percent Muslim citizens, stating that a religious revolution was needed.
"It’s inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire Islamic world to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world.
"Is it possible that 1.6 billion people (Muslims) should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants – that is 7 billion – so that they themselves may live? Impossible!”
With this speech he voluntarily put himself on the firing line. Like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh before him, they put themselves out there for Liberty.
Without bold souls who champion the cause of free speech, censorship spreads, senseless murders proliferate and liberty is eroded. Already anti-Semitism is on the rise, "No go” zones with Sharia law exist in European cities and are a fact of life.
These issues pose threats and need to be recognized and called exactly what they are. Political correctness has no place here.
Meanwhile back in America, the media and Congress keep asking, "Why?” about our president when it is obvious why, and offering advice, "What he could have done, should do,” when it is obvious he won’t.
In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, Benghazi, Fort Hood and the beheadings of Americans by ISIS, the media replays tapes of him not saying "Islamic terrorists.”
They try to force the administration and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest into saying it. They point to the White House ordering a cleansing of training manuals of anything that Islamic groups deemed offensive with dismay.
But to no avail. And it should come as no surprise. President Obama has told us where he stands on Islam again and again.
In his Cairo speech in 2009 when he apologized for America and defended the exceptionalisim of Islam.
In his book, "Audacity of Hope” in 2006 when he made Muslims a promise, "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
It was the only promise he ever kept.
Our president never kept his beliefs a secret and it’s too late to vet him now.
Hold the line, America.