Freedom of speech must be protected

The other day at the University of California in Berkeley there was a line of students blocking other students’ entrance into the university grounds, to bring attention to the “plight” of minority students on campus. Mind you, that is not standing beside the entrance with signs pleading their case; that is physically blocking the entrance. That is not freedom of expression, yet where is the outrage from the left-wing media?

A couple of days ago in Garland, Texas, a private contest was held to draw a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad. A security guard was wounded in the ankle and two radical Islamists were killed. Why? Because people were drawing a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad? Yet it is OK to put a crucifix of Jesus in urine or a picture of the Virgin Mary in cow dung? Where is the outrage from the left-wing media on this insult to Judeo-Christian religion?

The other night on a cable network there was an imam who lives in England who demanded that the person responsible for the event be brought before a Sharia court. When confronted with the fact that this person lives in America and not in a Muslim country and we have freedom of speech, it made no difference to this imam. According to him, be it America or not, she should be put to death for insulting the prophet Muhammad.

If we are to have free speech in this country, it means just that — the right to speak your mind or express yourself without fear of being put to death for something offensive to somebody else. 

I think everyone across the USA should draw a picture of the prophet Muhammad and thousands take to the streets and walk in front of the mosques in their neighborhoods and let the Muslims know: This is America and we have freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and if you don’t like those freedoms, LEAVE! —Jim Garvey, Kalispell