Free Speech Only For the Followers of Muhammad?

ב"ה

Maybe it's because I'm an American. Maybe it's because I've seen, in my life, what suppression of Free Speech has done around the world, the repressive, anti-equality, anti-Freedom, anti-feminist, anti-Jewish, anti-American regimes it has created. But I cringe when I hear about groups of people trying to kill others based totally on something that the other group believes or said.

That's why my feathers are ruffled. That's why I'm incensed that Hillary Clinton is talking and other people are talking about mobs attacking US embassies and talking about the Ambassador being killed in an attack in Libya over a movie that THEY see as being uncomplimentary about Muhammad.

It is time for the talking and the rhetoric and the speechifying to stop. It is past the time of asking Muslim leaders to control their people. It is past the time of diplomacy and negotiations. It is time for us to protect our rights to create a movie that is controversial. It is time for us to protect our television producers and our movie makers. It is time for us to show our enemies that we can "talk their language", that we can fight back and that we have just as much of a right to our opinions as they do.

The only way to do this is to fight for our rights, literally. And, while I don't for one moment underestimate the sacrifice our military people make, but the reason we have a strong military is to protect our freedom, our way of life and our lives. I appreciate the brave men and women who protect our freedom and our lives, but we are not being fair to them if we send them in to do a job and many of them lose their limbs or lives and then we pull out before the job is done. It's sort of like having a virulent, life-threatening infection and only treating part of it. By doing that, you create antibiotic resistant bacteria. By only fighting part of the war, we create an enemy that thinks we are weak and that strengthens them.

We, unfortunately, have a long history of striking hard and moving out. This started with Carter and his washy-washy way of handling the Ayatollah. It continued with Bush hitting but not finishing off Saddam Hussein. And it's still going on today with our indecisive handling of Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention Al-Qaeda, post 9-11.

This embassy attack is a symptom of the problem. It's a symptom of the entitlement that men in the Muslim world feel. It's a symptom of the Muslim world's belief that they are better than everyone else. As long as we appear weak to them, they believe that G-d is on their side. And we can't allow them to believe that. We have to fight for the real Face of G-d, the G-d who gave us an equal chance to succeed, an equal chance to shine in His/Her world. If we allow them to define G-d, if we allow the worst opinion of G-d to hold sway, we do ourselves and this world a disservice. Let's stand up for our values. Let's show our strength. Let's prove to the Muslim world that freedom is something we think is worth fighting for.

Craziness and More Craziness

B"H
This week, I heard a couple of things that just made me scratch my head in disbelief. Both had to do with the word "rape" and both are just at a level of stupidity that are impossible to comprehend.

I'm on Naomi Ragen's mailing list. Naomi Ragen is an author (I've read most of her books and love them) and writer for the Jerusalem Post. She doesn't seem to be writing much for JP these days (at least most of what I get from her list is written by others, not her). [as an aside: I totally disagree with her position on American Politics and she's VERY sensitive about people even slightly disagreeing with her position of Bush as god of American Presidents -- as in anything bad Bush does is the fault of the "left" and by extension any Democrat elected to office in the entire United States.]

This week, I received from her an absolutely bizarre article. It was about a Master's student who wrote a paper stating that she has proof that Israeli soldiers are racist because they won't rape Palestinian women. Forgetting that, of course, most Israelis are the same race as Palestinians and, therefore, even if there was something wrong with the soldiers NOT raping Palestinians, it wouldn't be racist (since most Israeli soldiers are the same race as most Palestinians).

Now, I know everyone from politicians to journalists to the anti-Zionist on the street (or, should I say anti-Jewish person????) judges Israel to different standards (as in nothing Israel does is good including trying to defend itself and its citizens), but these are the same people who, if, Has V'Shalom, G-d forbid, any Israeli soldier raped any Palestinian woman, they would be the first to condemn this action (as well they should). So why are they complaining that our "boys" DON'T rape women????

The second use of the word rape that I heard about had to do with a publisher from Israeli newspaper HaAretz (which I call Am HaAretz) told Condoleezza Rice that Israel wanted the US to "rape [us] into a settlement".

Besides my feelings of mortification over this use of such a word for such a situation (shows a total lack of respect not only for Israel but for women everywhere) and my hopes that Ms. Rice, despite previous evidence to the contrary, will not attribute this sentiment to anyone other than this raving idiot, I am appalled that anyone would say this.

I am appalled that people criticize Israel (in this case for not raping women) about its treatment of women when Israel is surrounded by countries where "honor killing" (the murder of women, mostly young women, for supposed "crimes" including being raped, being outside of their houses unescorted by a male relative, doing things her father doesn't want her to do (like dating or learning to read, for example) etc. -- men who commit these crimes rarely get more than a "slap on the wrist") and female circumcision are part of their accepted way of life. I am appalled that women's rights groups (mind you, I am and have always considered myself a feminist, though at times, including/especially now, I often wonder about other feminists) condemn Israel (not, mind you, for its treatment of Israeli women, but for its treatment of Palestinian women -- women who Israelis treat considerably better than their own "government" and their own families). Feminist conferences of late seem to spend more time condemning Israel for non-existent human rights violations than they do condemning anyone else in the world for their treatment of their own women. High on the list of "condemnees" should be all 22 (or is it 23 now if you include areas under Palestinian Authority control???) of the Arab countries for their blatant violation of the rights of women within their countries, for "honor killings" and female circumcision, for keeping women down and illiterate, for punishing women for supposed crimes that only apply to women and not to men (including being raped) and a host of other human rights violations directed only to women.

Some might wonder why I still consider myself a feminist. A feminist is someone who believes that the rights of an individual should not be dependant on that individual's gender classification. It means the same thing even if people mislabel themselves as feminist when their only agenda is condemning one of the few civilized countries in this world. It still means the same thing even if people think it means something else, kind of like Liberal. Liberal still means someone who cares for others and isn't just concerned about the rich. Just because there are people out there who abuse the English language and coopt terminology doesn't mean that I can't use the words in their proper context. The only problem I have with this is that often people mistake my proper use of a word for the inproper definition others have.

As for the comments of Israel's top Am HaAretz, I can only scratch my head in disbelief. I can't imagine how anyone could say something not only that stupid from a political perspective but that inappropriate from a respect for women perspective. To use the word "rape" when talking to a female official of a foreign government is to show a total lack of any level of respect for women. To say that Israel "wants" to be raped shows a level of political flippancy that in any truly civilized world would lead to his forced resignation and his total condemnation.
One of the prophesies about the coming of Moshiah (the Messiah) is that the world will turn upside down -- right will be wrong and wrong will be right. I can only hope that what is happening today is in fulfillment of that prophesy.