It's not about a movie

Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie was not about a book. The Danish cartoon fiasco was not about a cartoon. Nor are the protests engulfing nations across the Arabian continent about a film. Were it not for the fourteen minute clip on YouTube, the Muslim demonstrators and attackers would have found their reasons.

All of which makes Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's declaration that she finds the film to be "disgusting and reprehensible" even less palatable. I remember how debate about the Danish cartoons was regularly introduced in 2006 with the meaningless annotation: 'they're not funny, but...'.

This is unacceptable. Does it not trouble Clinton, and other derisive voices in the media, that they in fact share the opinion of the murderous mobs and Islamist goons? Perhaps their chants of "Obama, we are all Osama" should prod the ribs if nothing else. Displays of appeasement and contrition seldom satisfy a child, so why would they halt the thugs intent on erasing American and Western liberty? It's worth repeating, with these people there is no common ground.

Michael Totten, a good ally during such times, raises an interesting point; so often in these countries where Islam is the dominant religion, what one sees on the television and reads in the newspapers is controlled by the state. For the attackers to accept, therefore, that the United States government has absolutely nothing to do with the film or its distribution is unlikely and presents a major hurdle.

Moreover, reports from Khartoum detail how British and German embassies have also been attacked, as though further evidence were required to prove that, no, these people weren't whipped from their peaceful and broad-minded slumber into a justifiable frenzy. Protestors have also set fire the Israeli flag in Bangladesh. Returning to the matter of the First Amendment, Totten writes:

The West will not, cannot, change its laws to accommodate anybody’s emotions, especially not people on the other side of the planet who replace our flag with the Al-Qaeda flag and murder our diplomats.

Black banners and flags bearing the symbol of Al-Qaeda are not household items. These people are dangerous, scratching the itch to start a fight, and intent on destroying the one pillar upon which we ought most proudly base our society: the freedom of speech.