Wednesday, August 08, 2012

An Interview with Terry Jones

There is a tendency among some free-speech advocates to shy away from denouncing the squelching of expression when the innocent victim is vulgar, or outside the mainstream, or mean-spirited, or otherwise considered questionable.

This means that people who burn Korans or draw cartoons of Mohammed having sex with farm animals can generally expect a less vigorous defense than those who write elegant essays or make documentaries about honor killings. If the topic or method of depiction is outré, the activist receives less support.

This is actually completely understandable. Our time is limited, and we elect to spend it defending speech that is more readily defensible. We must choose our battles.

However, sometimes unpopular forms of expression — in this case, burning a Koran — cry out for defense.

From the point of view of civil libertarians, the important thing about what Pastor Terry Jones did last year is not whether Muslims in Afghanistan became angry and violent as a result, or whether it was the wisest way to resist Islamization, or whether it did more harm than good to his cause.

The important thing is this: For the first time in American history, the Executive Branch of the government (including military officers who take orders from the Commander-in-Chief) used public shame, humiliation, and intimidation against an American citizen who chose to exercise his legitimate rights in a manner protected by the First Amendment.

What was done to Terry Jones was an outrage. The fact that it was widely tolerated — if not supported — by politicians on both sides of the aisle is a symptom of how far the United States has descended into tyranny.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this interview with Terry Jones:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Viva Pastor Terry Jones! I would like to send this MRC TV video to many people on my email contact list but I know they will simply hit the delete button when they see if is from Gates of Vienna as they have been brainwashed to believe that GoV is a hate blog...and nothing I say or write can convince them otherwise. "My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts." They might watch an MRC TV video if I emailed it linked from MRC...but you do not put in the title for finding any particular video on MRC TV. Would you please do that?

Baron Bodissey said...

Anon @ 12:51 AM --

Use the little icon on the embedded video player that displays three white dots connected by lines. This gives you the direct URL to the MRC video:

http://www.mrctv.org/videos/pastor-terry-jones-treatment-he-received-his-own-government

Nemesis said...

Pastor Jones is a man of Christian conviction. He knows that the religion of peace is not peaceful and resorts to violence to get its way. He's an American hero!

goethechosemercy said...

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that Jones is not well-traveled or knowledgable about other cultures.
Nothing could be further from the truth. He is not an anti-intellectual, he just understands the power of symbolism in the minds of our adversaries and, appropriately, uses it against them.
Long live the West.