Friday, September 21, 2012

Over ReReaction


There has been a lot of talk about the Muslim reaction to the rather inane YouTube clip.  As I am sure everyone knows, the clip was posted as well as translated – and it lead to riots.  In the case of Libya, it seems the riots were the cover for a pre-planned terrorist attack.
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Across the spectrum, both left and right, there has been condemnation of both the attacks – as well as the administration’s response to the film and the attacks.  From the right, there has been acknowledgement that Obama and the State Department said it was free speech, but decry the message.  The right sees this as weakness the daily beast,  fox news, etc.  Many on the left think a similar thing -  in that the full throated defense of free speech is tempered by the “it is wrong to denigrate any religion”, and they see that as “caving in” to the Muslims.  They further see attempts to pull it from YouTube as a sign of weakness.
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I understand the comments, but I disagree – here is why.  The movie in question is designed with no other reason than to inflame Muslims.  If you watch the entire (almost unwatchable) 13 minutes, you will see there is no other reason for the movie to exist.  The movies that some people think “insult” Christians are not designed ONLY to denigrate Christianity.  Passion of the Christ infuriated some people because of implications that Jesus had sex.  Corpus Christi offends people because it portrays Jesus as gay.  But both portrayals – and countless others – are designed to relook at the message of Christ in a new way.  And in most cases, the moral is that the message of Christ outweighs how it comes to people.  And some very offensive images in art are designed as expressions of the church as an institution, not of the message of Christ.
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This movie, however, is designed ONLY to insult Mohammed.   If you look at it, there is no other purpose.  This movie is designed to inflame Muslims – which it does.  The movie is designed to inflame, and in doing so the reaction was totally predictable.  The regret of intelligent people isn’t that the movie accidently incites Mohammed – it is that it is DESIGNED to insult.
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Image a movie that portrays Jesus Christ as someone that sexually preys on multiple 13 year old girls, says he has multiple gay relationships as both active and passive (as described in this movie), has sex with donkeys and achieves near orgasm after killing people and covered in blood.  AND it is horribly acted and badly dubbed.  To apologize for this movie is NOT to apologize for free speech, but to apologize for offensive speech in the service of hate.  It is comparable, except with much worse acting, to the also offensive Protocols of Zion.