The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week's Watcher's Council match up.
"One of the problems with defending free speech is you often have to defend people that you find to be outrageous and unpleasant and disgusting." - Salman Rushdie
My belief is that art should not be comforting; for comfort, we have mass entertainment and one another. Art should provoke, disturb, arouse our emotions, expand our sympathies in directions we may not anticipate and may not even wish." - Joyce Carol Oates
Those who claim to be hurt by words must be led to expect nothing as compensation. Otherwise, once they learn they can get something by claiming to be hurt, they will go into the business of being offended. - Jonathan Rauch
This week's winning essay,The Right Planet's – Garland and the Moral Equivalency Penchant is his examination of the recent terrorist attack in Garland and what the divide in the reaction reveals about our present attitudes on free speech and freedom of expression..especially when it comes to Islam. Here's a slice:
Two Muslim terrorists were killed after firing on a security guard outside a Draw Mohammad Contest in Garland, Texas, on Sunday. NBC News reported the two assailants were roommates from Phoenix, according to Buzzfeed News.
The attackers have been identified as Elton Simpson, 30, and his roommate, 34-year-old Nadir Hamid Soofi. Simpson had been under investigation by the FBI for the past 10 years.
Like clockwork a number of Muslims and liberals, et al., saved their moral outrage for the those who hosted and attended the Muhammad Art Exhibit, yet not so much the two unhinged individuals who attempted to indiscriminately murder people because they were “offended.”
Pamela Geller, who headlined the “art exhibit” in Garland, addressed the whole moral equivocation argument we so often hear from liberals and Muslims in an interview CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, who suggested offensive anti-Islamist speech should not be allowed in modern-day Western society.
Like clockwork a number of Muslims and liberals, et al., saved their moral outrage for the those who hosted and attended the Muhammad Art Exhibit, yet not so much the two unhinged individuals who attempted to indiscriminately murder people because they were “offended.”
Pamela Geller, who headlined the “art exhibit” in Garland, addressed the whole moral equivocation argument we so often hear from liberals and Muslims in an interview CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, who suggested offensive anti-Islamist speech should not be allowed in modern-day Western society.
Some have compared this sort of moral equivocation, as evidenced in the Tweet above by a NYT reporter, to a woman who dresses provocatively and is subsequently raped: “Well, she had it coming.” And there is no shortage of similar examples of this sort of nonsense and equivocation (see here).
I’m sure we all have been offended by something in our lives, maybe even greatly offended. I can think of few art exhibits, movies, concerts, and the like, I’ve attended that were so far over the top I simply walked out. Yes, I was offended. But I didn’t come back with a gun and start blowing people away because I was greatly offended. As much as I have found some things offensive, people have a right to be offensive, as long as it doesn’t infringe on the unalienable rights of others or cause them grievous harm.
For example, some gay pride parades, and similar events, are often times intentionally provocative. If you have children, you may not want them exposed to such blatant over-the-top sexuality and nudity. But, once again, obviously it does not give anyone the right to kill the people participating in such events because one might be disgusted or outraged. Think about it: if two people shot up a gay pride parade, would your initial response be to question the “common sense” of the parade?
More at the link.
In our non-Council category, the winner was Michelle Malkin's Debunking Obama's Bilious Baltimore Babble submitted by Don Surber. It's a superb skewering that shows no mercy to our president's usual attempt to excuse the inexcusable.
Here are this week’s full results. Ask Marion and The Independent Sentinel were unable to vote this week, but neither was subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty for not voting :
Council Winners
- *First place with 2 2/3 votes!-The Right Planet – Garland and the Moral Equivalency Penchant
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Joshuapundit-Deep In The Heart Of Texas - Jihad As A Brand Name (Updated)
- Third place with 1 2/3 votes –Bookworm Room – Muslims Aren't The Only Ones Engaged In An All Out War Against Christianity
- Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes –The Noisy Room – The Continuity of Government – The Mystery of Peters Mountain
- Fifth place with 1 vote –The Razor – Why An Alcoholic Supports the Legalization of Illicit Drugs
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote –Don Surber – Bernie Sanders brings wealth of 19th century ideas to Democratic presidential sweepstakes
- Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote –VA Right! - How Bill Janis Lost my Support in the Virginia Senate Race (VA-12)
- Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote –Nice Deb – Community Organizer in Chief Pays Lip Service To Fallen NYPD Officer
- Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote –Ask Marion – Why The Gun Is Civilization
Non-Council Winners
- First place with 2 votes! –Michelle Malkin – Debunking Obama's Bilious Baltimore Babble submitted by Don Surber
- Second place with 1 2/3 votes –Andrew McCarthy/PJ Media -Beware Baltimore’s ‘No Justice, No Peace’ Prosecutor submitted by Nice Deb
- Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Real Clear Defense – ISIS Tactics Are Similar to Nazi Germany's | submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Ben Crystal/Personal Liberty –Intolerance will not be tolerated submitted by The Noisy Room
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –Fred's Blog – Woodrow Wilson And The Administrative State submitted by The Right Planet
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –Sean Davis/ The Federalist-PunditFact: A Case Study In Fact-Free Hackery submitted by Bookworm Room
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –Gateway Pundit – It Begins: Democrats Hand Out Anti-Semitic Flyer at Maryland Meeting submitted by Rhymes with Right
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – FOX News – ‘We will not obey’: Christian leaders threaten civil disobedience if Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage submitted by The Watcher
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote –Marc Thiessen/WAPO – The Baltimore Democrats Built submitted by The Watcher
- Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard –Frankenhillary submitted by The Watcher
Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. and every Tuesday morning, when we reveal the weeks' nominees for Weasel of the Week!
And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.
It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it...or any of the other fantabulous Watcher's Council content.
And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y'know?
No comments:
Post a Comment