Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Freedom of Expression

If you told me when I was in college freedom of expression would be under assault in my lifetime, I would've laughed in your face. Islamic Fundamentalists were clowns then (still are). Today, they raided a French satirical newspaper and murdered 12 people. Add it to the list of assaults. The Interview was high profile, but remember Theo Van Gogh was murdered in the streets like a dog for making a short film depicting Muslims poorly.

Often, Westerners are fond of saying "there is no military solution to this problem." I agree and disagree. I don't think our big planes and bombs can win this war. I think we need an older tactic, one the Founders of our country foresaw, the old Right to Bear Arms. A well-armed populace would make mass murders think a lot harder before mounting these kind of attacks. Obviously the French do not have the same traditions as Americans, but they are certainly free to borrow our ideas.

The only appropriate reaction to Islamic Fundamentalism is mockery and self-defense. And to this day, it was not our military who delivered the best victory and counter-attack against their madness, it was the passengers of United 93.

We must recognize the fundamentalists are fighting a style of war we are not comfortable with, in reaction to our overwhelming military might. We'd be smart to acknowledge it, and more importantly, learn to fight it.

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