Letters to the Editor
Freedom of Speech
It is easy to allow freedom of speech when people are saying things with which you agree, or at least saying things that are not blatantly offensive. The real test of a nation’s commitment to freedom is when individuals or groups on the fringe say and do offensive, bigoted, or hateful things.
The threatened burning of the Koran by a pastor in Florida and a handful of other people in America are acts of religious intolerance that are condemned by the vast majority of Americans of all faiths. Furthermore, most Americans are repulsed by book burning in general, and rightly associate it with oppressive regimes like the Nazis. However, book burners are not, and should not, be prevented from peaceably assembling and expressing themselves. Other Americans will likewise be able to openly express their disapproval of such actions.
This controversy provided an excellent demonstration of America’s continuing commitment to freedom and tolerance. Think about it, the Secretary of Defense, a man who commands thousands of heavily armed military personnel, called the pastor of that tiny church and asked him to please not burn the Koran. That kind of thing would make rulers like Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong-il, Ahmadinejad, and countless others fall out of their chairs laughing, for when an insignificant and powerless person causes trouble for a government that doesn’t have restraints, he is just killed — sometimes in a public spectacle of torture or sometimes he just quietly disappears.
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