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Cleveland
Plain Dealer
Price
of freedom of speech can be high
Sohaib Awan, Guest Columnist
Saturday, September 22, 2012
My
10-year-old sister published her first
Letter to the Editor in The Columbus Dispatch -- with the help of her
big
brother, of course. She had innocently expressed her dismay at the
unbecoming
conduct of some Disney Channel stars who were supposed to be her role
models.
She gazed in awe as I pulled up the letter online and began reading the
comments to her letter. Unfortunately, my sister's first encounter with
freedom
of speech took a sharp turn. She was taken aback and vowed to never
write again
when she read a comment that began with the words, "Stupid little girl
. .
. ."
So
began my daunting task of trying to explain
to a 10-year-old that freedom of speech meant that people had the right
to
comment however they wanted on her letter. She didn't agree. She said
that
people could disagree with her all they want, but they don't have to
call her
names! And she was right. As trivial as it may seem, the commentator
could just
have easily expressed disagreement without throwing in an insult.
The
world faces a similar ordeal today because
we have taken freedom of speech to be something that is completely
free. Far
from it: This liberty has proven to be very costly. An "innocent"
exercise of freedom of speech titled "The Innocence of Muslims"
hurled insults at the Prophet of Islam. But such a provocative use of
the
freedom of speech demanded a payment in return -- our ambassador to
Libya, J.
Christopher Stevens.
Thomas
Jefferson would have looked upon this
unfortunate outcome and argued that "the tree of Liberty must be
refreshed
by the blood of patriots and tyrants." Ambassador Stevens, a devout
American patriot, was a necessary sacrificial lamb upon the altar of
liberty,
an unsuspecting martyr for our freedom of speech. And while the
producers of
this movie sleep comfortably in their beds, American embassies are
attacked
throughout the world in response to their provocation.
Read
the rest of the article at Cleveland Plain
Dealer
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