Rally to Support Denmark and Free Speech San Francisco, CA – March 6, 2006 – Worldwide protests, riots, boycotts, and threats aimed at Denmark and its citizens have taken place ever since the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed cartoons featuring the Islamic prophet Muhammed. In response to this unprecedented assault on the right to free speech, rallies supporting Denmark have occurred in Washington D.C. and New York. Others are planned for Chicago, London, Toronto, Montreal and Sydney.
There will be a "Rally to Support Denmark and Free Speech" outside the Danish Consulate in San Francisco:
When: Friday, March 10, between noon and 1pm.
Where: Danish Consulate, One California Street (Suite 330), San Francisco.
Why: To support Denmark and free speech for all.
Bring: Danish and American flags, Danish products, pro-Denmark and free speech signs.
Don't Bring: Bullhorns or amplification equipment, offensive signs or T-shirts.
Come and make a stand for free speech!
For information: http://www.cinnamonstillwell.com/
Contact: FreeSpeechniks@yahoo.com
Phone: 510-754-7319
16 comments:
I have a comment on free speech.
Freedom of speech does not require us to use it. To preserve it, propriety must be used.
It should be used to bring people together. When it is used to drive a wedge between us it is in danger of being lost!
People who hide behind freedom of speech to be out of line, "Beacuse I can" may lose the very thing they think they are protecting.
Gary
Gary, I have trouble understanding your reasoning. You say if we use our freedom of speech, we are more inclined to lose it? I think the exact opposite is true. Use it or lose it.
It is unwise to "self-censor," which is what you are advocating, in order to appease violent fanatics. We are not the ones driving the wedge, it is the Muslims who have been committing mass murder for 14 centuries now. We are using our free speech to both expose the Islamic threat and to encourage others to understand it and resist it.
I agree freedom of speech is to be used - but be used wisely - or it can be lost.
As I said, some use it to drive a wedge, not wise, and then hide behind the "I can say it" argument.
That is miss-use.
Miss-use causes wars, not prevent them.
Freedom of speech is to be guarded, not spent foolishly.
Gary
As I see it, anyone who "stirs the pot" drives a wedge.
It's like the old addage "If you can't say anything good - say nothing at all".
It would not hurt Christians to remember Jesus' words - "Judge not, least ye be judged" I believe He was saying - don't drive a wedge, come together.
Gary
Gary, you don't live in the real world. In order to resist evil, it is necessary to identify it and oppose it. You seem to think there is no evil in the world, or evil people, and that if we all just say nice things about each other, there's no problem.
If you are going to prosecute a rapist or a murderer, you have to tell the truth about them, and the truth will not be complimentary. Under your philosophy, you could never prosecute the guilty because it would require saying bad things about them.
Islam kills hundreds if not thousands of people every year. Muslims have decapitated school girls walking home from school in Indonesia, thrown hand grenades into crowds of women and children in India, and blown up buses and trains in England and Spain, killing many innocent people. So I say, Islam by its own actions and its long history of violence stands guilty of evil and should be exposed for what it is, so its would-be victims can resist it and protect themselves against it.
In short, Gary, you are WRONG and utterly naive.
I suggest that there is no REAL world.
There is the world you perceive, the world I perceive and the world everybody else perceives.
I choose to work for peace, while you may like keeping the malcontent going. (I do not know you well enough to say definitely)
Still others live in a rock and roll world - one big party, and some live in one big bedroom party. It's all relative.
I can say that I am happy with my choices and the company I keep while I am lone. You?
Gary
So there is no objective reality and everything is relative. Yep, Gary, you are a far-out liberal living in LaLa land. You seem to imagine you have great moral superiority because you refuse to confront or to oppose evil. But you are no hero in my book.
Here is the reality you had better face for your own good: Islam wants to convert you, enslave your or kill you. Those are your three choices, unless you are killed by one of their indiscriminate terror attacks, in which case they will have chosen the third option for you.
There have always been pacifists, and you are one of them. Pacifism is not something I admire, because it encourages evil; it does not, as you falsely imagine, deter it.
Do you really believe that if you say nice things to people whose holy book tells them to behead infidels, that they will give you a free pass? Of course you do. Liberals will believe anything, as long as it relieves them of any personal responsibility.
Ah ha!
We do have some thoughts in common. Personal responsibility!!
Everyone is responsible for their life, world, happiness. (or lack thereof) We all make choices.
Before that wonderful comment, however, you put more words in my mouth. It may be a fine line, very fine to you, between what you call pacifism and _working for peace. I see the line to be wider, and I am speaking out for what I believe in - even though you missunerstand it.
Actually I am more conservative than you assume. I do not however hide behind parties or religion. Religion has done a lot of harm to humanity, harm to women, even the WTC.
I do believe in defense and carrying a big stick. I just know that having the stick does not require me to use it, unless backed into a corner. This country has never been backed into a corner, it has always come out swinging early.
I admit that the Muslim issue is very sticky. However the issue is not of Muslim, or Christian or what ever religion, it is about the "violent fanatics" you yourself mentioned. There are fanatics in all areas of life. Some of them hide behind a religion, or other "cause". Most religions or causes are good despite the missuse by the fringes. Most people just want to live and let live.
This is America and we can have this discussion. We are not required to agree, yet we are "repsonsible" for the life we create. Most people do not see how they create their lives/world.
That is what I work to change!
Peace will follow.
Gary
Gary, we will have to agree to disagree or this discussion will go on forever.
Islam is the ONLY major religion whose holy texts actually call for murder of non-believers and enslavement and robbery. Mohammed himself taught that it is a major obligation of that religion for all able-bodied men to fight Jihad against all non-Muslims until the whole world is Muslim. Read their texts for yourself. Start with "Prophet of Doom" which is linked from this blog. Read William Muir's 1861 scholarly work, "The Life of Mohamat."
If you really want to work for peace, work to end Islam as a major religion in the World. Right now it is the greatest cause of hatred and killing.
Educate yourself about Islam. Your life and freedom depend on it.
I agree, the end of Islam will be beneficial.
Perhaps you missed the part where I am aginst religion, period. Yes that includes organised Christianity, as we know it. It is also harmful, even tho well intended.
As I said, I feel religiion and politics are not working. Change is needed - and yes it relates to personal responsibility!!
Gary
PS< Infact we disagree less that you think.
I was just poking thru some blogs and found this quote: "The opposite of war isn't peace; it's creation." --Mark Cohen, Rent
(very synchronistic, I'd say)
Man creates wars. Man can create peace. It's a choice, of which we are personaly responsible!
Gary
Gary,
War is not a group effort of all men. Some men make war on other men for ideological or other reasons. The human race does not create rape, some men rape and women are the vitims. So it is an error, IMHO, to claim that both the rapist and the raped are moral equivalents. It is not "both" of their faults.
When Germany invaded Poland, it wasn't a war created by Germany and Poland, it was a war created by Germany alone. Poland didn't have any say in the matter. Likewise, when Muslims flew planes into the Twin Towers, it was not a joint operation of Muslims and Americans.
Some are guilty and some are innocent. Imagining that we are all guilty is an error and in fact, obliterates the concept of personal responsibility.
No matter how much we talk of peace and say nice things about monsters, the monsters will not change their plans about our demise. That's because they do not look for our agreement or permission to do evil. They do it for their own reasons, and we must respond. Yes, persuade them with moral and logical arguments if possible, but be prepared to fight because the former seldom works with tryants.
"Some are guilty and some are innocent. Imagining that we are all guilty is an error and in fact, obliterates the concept of personal responsibility."
I agree, and in your statement you must be able to see that not all Muslims are guilty of miss use - just as surely as not all Americans are good people.
And with personal responsibility, we all make our choices.
I look for common ground, and have found some in our dialog. At the onset, I was suggesting that maybe you are adding fuel to the fire - whereas I try to remove fuel by adding understanding. (even tho I did not come out and say it)
Gary
Even tho this is partly off topic, I'd like to show an example of how our choices create our world.
From today's news: America's trade deficit has been setting records with such frequency that it seems almost tiresome to hear it again: Another month, another $68.5 billion.
We all have our reasons, yet we, the people, buy the cheaper Chinese goods. The government may or may not be able to do something about it - but WE can.
We have always known that buying American is good for us - and now we can see some problems showing up as a direct result of our choices.
I realize that my use of the word "our" choice is generalizing, not all do - yet seemingly too many do.
We are personaly responsibles, and do create our world - by our choices.
Gary
Gary, I always buy American cars. I will never buy a Japanese car as long as they discriminate against our products. Yes, I buy American (and Danish and Canadian and British) whenever I can, but American first. It's just my personal choice.
Good for you, I agree. I am still left to wonder, did you get my point - deeper meaning?
We create our world/reality.
Gary
Post a Comment