Quote:
Originally Posted by Cuchulainn
I really don't have a clue. It just has. People have gone full circle now about this & can't seem to see the potential chaos that could follow. A lot of it is the blind innocents led by the antagonistic few under the guise of freedom. People need to look at themselves a bit.
Yours
LIEUTENANT SLAUGHTER (I got a field commission).
Well, good fellow, I know you have seen your fair share of conflict and troubles, so I certainly wouldn’t judge that you don’t know what you’re talking about, but to try and get you to understand how some of us feel about this... Well, I’ll be going over covered ground, but I’ll do it anyway just because I like to argue.
Okay, so we have two people: Huxley, and, let’s say, god what is a stereotypical Muslim name... Atfah Huseem Abdul Hameed Halaal bin Kebab bin Machmad, who we will call Tim for short.
OK, Huxley is... whatever the hell Huxley is, I don’t actually know what he is to be honest, but I know he holds free speech close to his heart. And on the other hand, Tim is a Radical Muslim. Now, who am I to judge how fervent each of these people are to their causes, but for the sake of argument, let’s say that blasphemy onto Huxley’s ideals or Tim’s religion result in equal... trauma or whatever.
So let’s start a computer simulation.
Tim and his friends like to get to get together and practice free speech by preaching death onto everyone who is not them. They make it quite clear that they are more than an actual group of buddies passing the time by busting the balls of other countries, and instead make themselves look more like a dangerous cult. They also film it for intimidation, and use their freedoms to spread it on the internet. Huxley is aware of this, and, he does feel a little upset about their actions, but to silence them would go against his ethics, so he fully supports their right to free speech. He doesn’t even so much as voice a private opinion on these grotesque, public masses.
OK, so Tim and his friends keep up their good work. Then, one of Huxley’s friends, decides to use his own free speech to retaliate. Does he threaten to kill them (and in some cases, actually kill them), like these people do? No, he draws a cartoon. Huxley’s friend gets murdered for this cartoon.
Some of Huxley’s friends get outraged by this, so how do they seek revenge? Killing Muslims, right? No, they also draw a cartoon. However, because of what happened in the past, some of Huxley’s friends... let’s say, daddies, censor them to keep them safe and snug.
Now, Tim and his friends are quite upset about this all, no doubt, given the blasphemy in the subject of the cartoon. They decide to use their freedom of speech to declare death on the people whose freedom was stifled, regardless of the fact that they never got anything done about it.
So here we are, say, and let’s pretend that Huxley and his friends are just as upset about this infringement on freedom as Tim and his buddies were about the cartoon. So, what does Huxley and his friends do? Would it be a good idea to turn the other cheek? Perhaps. But isn’t there a time when one should defend one’s ideals? Maybe this is a good time. Maybe it would even be understandable if Huxley and his friends sought vengeance by declaring war and death on Tim and his friends... kind of an equal retaliation for an equal offense, right? Well, instead of doing that, Huxley tells his friends to tell their friends to tell their friends, and so on and so forth, to organize an event where they all draw a picture to exercise their freedom of speech, the same freedom of speech that tim and his mates use to declare death on Huxley and his mates.
So they do. They all do! And there is much commotion because of a cartoon. Much more than the commotion caused by Tim’s death threats that he flaunted in public, despite the fact that Tim’s crowd outweighs Huxley’s. And how does Tim react? Well, he beheads Huxley, of course!
Now, enter you. Lt. Slaughter, a casual observer from the planet, say... KVR667D2S5/2G. You have a somewhat understanding of humanity and their machinations. You observe the actions between the two groups. Who would you say: overreacted? was unjust? was peaceful in their protest? was hypocritical?
Few things: I know this isn’t an accurate representation of events.
And
Sorry to Rod and any other Moderate Muslims who I have offended. I have a few moderate muslim friends and even reformed muslim friends (who participated in draw Muhammad Day), and it is not my intention to be so vile toward your religion. Normally, I respect everyone’s right to religion and to practice it how they choose it. I mean, I get pissed off by Creationist Christians, and I criticize them often, but I never say they shouldn’t be allowed to do what they do.
It’s unfortunate that you have to be in proximity of Radical Islam, because you are good, reasonable people. But if you could find a way to understand that the explicit reasons for our reaction were not to harm you, perhaps you could find a way to forgive me. I know it’s a lot to ask... like if I threw a rock at your friend and it ricocheted off his head and hit you... well, it would be more accurate to say I criticized the way your backward cousin treated people and my words landed upon your ears... but let’s not get into that.
I might have left out words or passages that I originally envisioned to be in this post, and if I did, I apologize for not proof reading. I’m a little too embarrassed to proof read it so bear with me here
Oh and sorry huxley for using you as a model and if I misinterpreted you in any way. You just seemed like an archetype for this kind of character, so I thought it was a good choice
