Unfettered, unrestricted free speech and freedom of expression are the fundamental, essential building blocks of freedom...the foundation upon which freedom is built. There is no freedom without unfettered, unrestricted free speech and freedom of expression, nor can there be. When unfettered, unrestricted free speech and freedom of expression are attacked and curtailed, all of our other freedoms are attacked and curtailed too, freedom itself is placed in very real jeopardy and true freedom essentially no longer exists.
All over the world, including the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and every other Western democracy, Islamists are attacking and curtailing or trying to curtail free speech and freedom of expression, trying to remove your right and my right to express ourselves about Islam or anything that relates to it, trying to keep anything that they deem critical about Islam or offensive to Islam, out of the public sphere.
They are succeeding to a very large extent...criticism of Islam is verboten everywhere and woe betide anyone who mocks, satirizes, raises questions or concerns about it or paints an unflattering picture of it. Removing or trying to remove anything from our view that Islamists think offends Islam or violates any of its strictures is also very common, things like advertisements for anything and everything which show too much female flesh or television programs which depict home life as it really exists for many Muslims or web sites that Islamists view as offensive or cartoons or caricatures which occur in various forms for example.
There is no unfettered, unrestricted freedom of speech or freedom of expression in Islam and never has been and Islamists are busily, and brutally, trying to silence non-believers and take away people’s ability to speak and otherwise express themselves about Islam or anything that relates to it. If they’re not stopped freedom of speech, freedom of expression and all of our other freedoms will disappear and Islam and Islamists will reign supreme, which is precisely what they want. Freedom? Islamists don’t want freedom, they want strict conformity to Islam and that means goodbye to freedom of speech and freedom of expression, goodbye to all our other freedoms and goodbye to the Western way of life.
The message is very simple. Fight for unfettered, unrestricted freedom of speech and freedom of expression or they will be lost. Fight the Islamists among us who are trying to take away our ability to speak freely and express ourselves freely or very soon we won’t be able to do so.
History tells us that, reality tells us that and Islam tells us that.
I am a free citizen living in a free society. I have every right to question, criticize, mock, satirize or anything else Islam or anything related to it. What right do Islamists have to tell me I can’t...what right do Islamists have to demand that anything which offends Islam be removed from the public sphere?
They don’t. The minute I forget that though, the minute I allow them to curtail my freedom of speech and freedom of expression, is the minute I can kiss them goodbye.
That goes for you and everybody else too
Jerry Philipson is a retired grandfather who has spent many years working in non-profit social service agencies in Canada and the United States. He holds dual Canadian and American citizenship and has been passionate about politics, civil liberties, freedom and democracy for virtually his whole life. He is particularly interested in the Middle East and America and believes that it is vital for people of good heart and good conscience to speak out against tyranny and dishonesty and to stand up and defend and protect Western values, principles and institutions.
