Freedom of Speech?

This week I came across something on the internet called Draw Muhammad Day. The purpose of this was to exhibit freedom of speech and to show Muslims that they cannot stop people insulting their religion or so I think. The reason why pictures of Muhammad are not allowed by Islam is so people do not start worshipping that likeness instead of god. Someone told me this is stupid but if you think about it is that not what has happened to Jesus. People bow down in front of the statue of Jesus on the cross in their churches in order to beg for forgiveness or to fulfil some want or whatever reason. In effect bypassing god and praying to Jesus. Now back to the point, this draw Muhammad day got me thinking when does freedom of speech become hate or does it never become these things. Just the words freedom of speech indicate that there is no limit to what can be said no matter how insulting or hateful and this is where the problem lies.

This drawing day was clearly a provocation to effect a reaction I don’t know what reaction the provocateurs were after, they probably don’t know themselves what reaction they were looking for. My guess is that this was just another one of them post 9/11 Muslim bashing ideas that went viral on the internet. If freedom of speech is insulting the faith and ideologies of another person then I’m perfectly happy with speech restrictions. Have our western ideals really decayed that much that in order to “educate” people regarding their religion we have to stoop to disrespecting and insulting it. Is this what the creators of freedom of speech really intended to happen. Think of this as a real life scenario if i were to call your mother a whore or a Jewish person a Zionist scumbag or Stephen hawking a freak on wheels is this still freedom of speech. After looking at some of the drawings it was very clear that the drawers were intent on causing the most insult possible, this to me showed that this was not freedom of speech but freedom to insult and humiliate. Freedom of speech is one of the cornerstones of any free society but we have to be careful to ensure that freedom of speech does not become a vehicle of hate. The purpose of freedom of speech is to invoke argument for the purpose of understanding not insult for the purpose of hate. Ask yourselves this question; by drawing a picture of Muhammad what was my aim and was it related to freedom of speech in any way shape or form?

I’ve mentioned this to people before that since 9/11 Muslims have become the new Jews. This draw Muhammad day merely brought it into perspective as it demonstrated just how far the enmity towards the Muslims has got. It seems that people are telling the truth when they say that history often repeats itself. Draw Muhammad day can be likened to when Goebbels ordered the Third Reich propagandists to draw insulting pictures of Jews in order to alienate them. If history truly does repeat itself then remember this poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller.

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."