the bistro off broadway
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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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