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Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Muhammed a Crime? [W:636]

Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Muhammed a Crime?


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Simple question (I hope it's obvious I mean the Prophet Muhammed, I just couldn't include that in the title due to space limitations)?

Edit: Crap, I hit "go" before I had a chance to post the poll (and it won't let me delete my OP, so I can try again). Can a poll still be added?

Edit2: Ok, I figured it out.
 
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Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

not only no, but hayulls' no. This isn't Canada.
 
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Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Simple question (I hope it's obvious I mean the Prophet Mohammed, I just couldn't include that in the title due to space limitations)?

Here's a simple answer.

Hell no.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Of course not.

10 chars.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Simple question (I hope it's obvious I mean the Prophet Mohammed, I just couldn't include that in the title due to space limitations)?

No, they should not. I don't see why limiting our free speech rights would solve anything anyway.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Yes
Abbas Barzegar has written Nothing Farcical About anti-Muhammad Film which discusses the free speech versus hate speech implications of this film:
,,, We have been here before. The late Danish Cartoon controversy in 2005, and Pastor Terry Jones’s Qur’an burning stunt in 2010. Anyone who has a inkling of familiarity with the Muslim world knows that sacrilege and blasphemy are not understood as acts of free speech, political expression, or artistic creativity. No, they are bright red lines that promise public panic and guarantee violence. Couple that reality with two centuries of colonial and neo-imperial European domination of the greater Middle East and you have the perfect storm for an international communications disaster. So, as history repeats itself, the only thing ludicrous is the incessant stubbornness of both the West’s commitment to “free speech” and the Muslim world’s rush to violence, the irony of which is lost upon them both.

... But one look at Sam Bacile’s film will demonstrate that its vitriolic message elevates it to the status of a hate crime. The movie depicts Muhammad as sexually licentious, insane, and fanatically violent. It draws upon (in the most uncreative ways) a long line of anti-Muslim stereotypes that date to the crusades. In short these stereotypes are to Islamophobia what blood libel is anti-Semitism.

What is farcical is not only that Muslims who murder in the name of Islam reinforce the very stereotypes that caused their outrage but also that western democratic societies which continue to protect what amounts to hate speech reinforce their own stereotypes in the Muslim world as Godless moral relativists. Even more ironic however is that the chorus of condemnation on all sides will be loudly sounded, yet there will be no mechanism of force or law to stop this deadly child’s play of provocation and retaliation.

Consider this: how is it possible that not the FBI nor Secretary of Defense Robert Gates could stop Pastor Terry Jones from putting the Quran on Trial and burning it when it was well known that the act would cause violence around the world and harm the security of the US personnel abroad? Likewise, how is possible that despite the most elaborate condemnations from Muslim religious authorities around the world that they could not stop a mob of thugs from storming the consulate in Benghazi and murdering the ambassador that helped them overthrow Qaddafi?

Another layer of irony, still, will be our own melancholy reactions. As more protests unfold in the coming days and more violence abounds, the average global citizen will simply shake their heads, dumbfounded, and make hollow appeals for calm and reason. What we have yet to understand is that whether it takes the shape of Muhammad or the concept of Free Speech, the sacred remains untouchable. Until we find a system of law that limits the abuse of our sacred symbols, we can count on Marx’s promise that our coming days will be filled with nothing but farce.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Yes
Abbas Barzegar has written Nothing Farcical About anti-Muhammad Film which discusses the free speech versus hate speech implications of this film:

Free Speech means nothing unless we protect speech with which we vehemently disagree.

If we only allow speech with which we agree, there is no longer freedom.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Ok, figured out how to add the poll, please vote if you have an opinion on this.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

I hated "Piss Christ" and despise much of the modern art movement, while I'd love to knock a few teeth loose on the PC creator it is protected speech. Protecting speech that is benign is easy, it's when things get tough that we have to still protect the right. Long answer abridged, HELL NO, though I condemn an attack on any religion personally.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Yes
Abbas Barzegar has written Nothing Farcical About anti-Muhammad Film which discusses the free speech versus hate speech implications of this film:

I don't believe in limiting speech based on someone's potential reaction to it. Think about what you're advocating here. If you don't want your God or your religion mocked/criticized or whatever, the right and most effective response is violence. I don't think that's a message we should be sending.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Absolutely not. We have free speech in this country, and the limitations on free speech should be as minor as humanly possible.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Yes
Abbas Barzegar has written Nothing Farcical About anti-Muhammad Film which discusses the free speech versus hate speech implications of this film:
Why stop at making certain forms of speech a crime?Why not make certain thoughts illegal also while you are at it?<sarcasm>.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Why of course






NOT.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Define "US".
As I have posted more than once, we are speaking of dangerous barbaric savages(stone agers).
So we must be very careful with these things..However, a private citizen - such as Romney can say whatever he pleases....but he too must be sensitive, there are too many Islamics, and too many "news hawks".
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

It certainly should be discouraged in the name of common sense but not made illegal.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

I'm torn on this issue.

On the one hand, free speech should be protected at all costs.

However, when one's free speech is directly responsible for violence towards innocent people all over the world I do wonder if some responsibility for that rests with the "speaker"?

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

A joke about a bomb on an airplane?
Making a verbal threat towards the president?
Libel and slander?
Conspiracy?

Aren't those non-violent actions that result in criminal charges where one could easily argue freedom of speech?

The d!ckwad that wrote and produced that stupid trash movie knew exactly what the outcome might be.
We all know what might happen if we do the same thing.

Now multiple people, who had nothing to do with the movie or the sentiment behind it, are dead.

Why can't the people who made that movie be held accountable?

Does my right to free speech supersede your right to live?

The flip side of that is: If you know something is offensive - just ignore it and/or don't volunteer to witness it.

Salman Rushdie should be able to write any book he chooses to write. People have the right not to buy it and not to read it. They can ignore it.

I think intent and context go a long way in these kinds of issues.

Was the movie simply hate speech designed to incite violence? If so, I see no reason that somebody should not be held responsible for their consequences.

I can easily go back and forth on this.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Absolutely not!

We should leave that to the British.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

I'm torn on this issue.

On the one hand, free speech should be protected at all costs.

However, when one's free speech is directly responsible for violence towards innocent people all over the world I do wonder if some responsibility for that rests with the "speaker"?

No, what is directly responsible for violence is violent and ignorant people who don't value human rights.

The filmmaker bears no responsibility for the reactions of others whatsoever. His film may be crap, but he's allowed to make crap.
 
Simple question (I hope it's obvious I mean the Prophet Muhammed, I just couldn't include that in the title due to space limitations)?

Edit: Crap, I hit "go" before I had a chance to post the poll (and it won't let me delete my OP, so I can try again). Can a poll still be added?

Edit2: Ok, I figured it out.

I don't think it's polite or smart in this case to deliberately instigate waaaaaaaaaaaaay over the top emotionally charged and IMHO unreasonable reactions from arguably some of the most dangerous people on the face of the earth today. However, free speech is part of the fabric that makes free people free. In my humble opinion what we should do instead is to take steps to end our unhealthy entanglement with that part of the world driven by the current condution of oil, which holds a monoply on American transportation, being crucial to our economic survival. What we need is emergency implementation of a comprehensive energy plan with the end goal of moving us off of oil except for military and aviation as a national security mandate.

I do think there could be a legal argument for suing for civil damages if people have done things like burn the Koran after the Stare Department asked them not to and as expected some crazy kills an innocent person in retaliation. I think the family of that innocent person should be able to sue for deliberately provoking the killing especially if they've been pleaded with at the highest levels of our government not to.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

not only no, but hayulls' no. This isn't Canada.

And Canada is a more advanced(socially) than we are.
 
Simple question (I hope it's obvious I mean the Prophet Muhammed, I just couldn't include that in the title due to space limitations)?

Edit: Crap, I hit "go" before I had a chance to post the poll (and it won't let me delete my OP, so I can try again). Can a poll still be added?

Edit2: Ok, I figured it out.

The premise of this poll is so asinine it doesn't even deserve a "no" answer.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

No, what is directly responsible for violence is violent and ignorant people who don't value human rights.

The filmmaker bears no responsibility for the reactions of others whatsoever. His film may be crap, but he's allowed to make crap.

Isn't it possible in the USofA to be charged with a crime for conspiring to kill the president?
Without ever leaving your bedroom, can't you be charged with a crime for simply blogging about such a thing?

No shots fired, never being closer than 1000 miles away, but just discussing over the phone, or through the internet can't you be charged with a crime?
 
The premise of this poll is so asinine it doesn't even deserve a "no" answer.

A no vote would have taken a lot less time than this post. Thanks for caring.
 
Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Muhammed a Crime

Hell no.The USA is not Canada or some Eurotrash country that ****s on the right to free speech. There is no such thing as a Right to not be offended.
 
Re: Should The US Make Speech That's Critical or Disparaging of Mohammed a Crime?

Why can't the people who made that movie be held accountable?

I don't really sympathize with your inability to come down on either side of the issue. It's on you.

But, given your equal consideration of both sides of the issue, I'm surprised you made the above statement but didn't mention holding accountable those who would perpetrate the violence.
 
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