Writing requires passion and conviction not merely knowledge. But some people’s “passion” seems to require them to burn down embassies and threaten people with violence because they are “offended” by what someone believes or wrote or depicted in a cartoon.
That is the difference between the "western man" and the others. Western (and by that I mean people who espouse to a Liberal Democratic ideal as based on Judeo-Christian beliefs and practices) can roll with the punches to our most deeply held belief and values and rise above them with calm and rational debate. Indeed it is those qualities in us that have allowed our civilization to grow and become, arguably, both the most and most prosperous in living human history.
I guess that's why I was a bit surprised when some people speak of "discretion" as being the reason for not publishing the cartoons that "offend" Islam. Discretion, howeverk, as many people know, takes on many and different varied forms.
For instance in my speech to friends I apply a different discretion than I would to family. In my letters and e-mails to my employer, I would apply another level of discretion than I would towards co-workers. Even when I am sending letters to my company's customers in China I have to always check myself to see that I am not saying something that might inadvertently offend their cultural sensibilities. Yet in all cases I manage to succeed (and, by and large, succeed well since I am still employed and my customers are still happy) because at the bottom of my "discretion" is fear.
Fear is not a bad word, despite its largely negative connotation in our world. Infact, in our almost too pampered Western society, where murderers and cutthroats are allowed to visit sleepy Alberta towns on day passes and where it seems ok to blaspheme the name of Christ or renounce our parents as "abusers" we could, in fact, use MORE FEAR, not less. The Bible says that "The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge..."(Proverbs 1:7) but the "...fear of man bringeth a snare...".(Pro 29:25).
The question then remains is what is the fear behind the "discretion?" Although discretion in all things can be a virtue, I shiver in my heart to think that some very decent and upstanding people, people whom I truly respect and admire, shrank from an opportunity to let their readers see what is so "blasphemous" about these Danish cartoons against a religion that few people know much about...and then make their own decisions.
Indeed, about the only thing most people know about Islam is that it breeds violence, abuse against women, and leads people to fly airplanes into buildings. Even now the reaction that the publishing of these cartoons has done to the so-called Moslem world, of whom vast majority of Moslems have probably not even seen, has only served to justify the views most non-Moslems have of this religion and its seemingly fanatical followers.
Yet unreasonable discretion (fear) in the face of violence does nothing but breed more violence, not less. It is a backwards step in liberty, not a forward step in tolerance, since it only encourages the enemies of liberty to even more mischief.
Forty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. views were clearly upsetting to the cultural sensibilities of the vast majority of white Americans in the South and perhaps the North as well. Yet by having the courage to speak out, and then having a media that was receptive to publishing his views, this martyred Christian Brother changed the nation he lived in. Did HE use "discretion" when he spoke about brotherhood of all men, black and white, joining hands and rising above the endemic racism they lived in? Had he, I am sure, we would never have heard of him, although he might be alive today.
And what of the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, who dared to call the leading powers of his age, the Pharisees, "hypocrites" (Matt. 15:7) and warned people about them. Or what of John the Baptist, who called the Pharisees a "generation of vipers" (Matt. 3;7)? Did either of these giants use "discretion?" Indeed, my words would fail me now were I to tell you of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, St. Paul and St. Peter, who spoke such powerful words of truth in the midsts of a hostile crowd.
These brave Jewish men and leaders of the early Christian church all paid the ultimate price for their lack of "discretion", a price that cost them not only their lives but a chance to live relatively comfortable existences and to die in peace. Yet if they kept their mouths shut not only would Christianity have died still-born on Christ's cross, but the foundation of Western civilization would have died there too.
But among those people now protesting so-called "offenses" there is no liberty and they wish to deprive us all of the same thing; the right to decide for ourselves the merit of what we read, hear or see. The same is true about those involved the great human cult of Political Correctness, which lashes the mind to the execution post of "proper" or "enlightened" thinking. They, too, want us to use "discretion" so that we might not "offend" the sensibilities of those who have nothing better to do than complain about their sensibilities and thus deprive us the liberty of free people to make up our own minds.
For that reason I was honored and proud that The Western Standard, if alone among the North American "free" press, had refused to be numbered among that crowd, though it has unleashed the furies upon him. That is the litmus test of the validity of the very liberty we have.
To thus turn away from it, from a point of "discretion," therefore, is to undermine Liberty for all of us. But if "discretion" is measured by the fear of violence from those who disagree with what is published, what then does it make of the naive assertion being propagated by some people that Islam is "peaceful" and that terrorism and violence are an "aberration" of it's views?
Calgary Sun Editor Licia Corbella wrote that "Only once the rhetoric of love replaces the constant spewing of hate in Muslim countries, will that ever change," something that I totally agree with. But I disagree that that the best way to accomplish that is by censoring the press and pandering to the myopic views of religious fanatics and terrorists.
Were that the solution for the problems of this tired old world, Black people in the US would still be little more than slaves and those who now rejoice in their Christianity and Western Liberty, would be robbed of both their freedom and their hope of eternal joy.
That's not "discretion," per se, that's cowardice and represents a fear of men rather than a fear of God. Followed to its logical conclusion, therefore, it will only serve to further encourage he enemies of liberty, all the while ensnaring its friends in the pipe-dream (bomb?) of tyranny known as Islam.
Martin Luther King Jr. said: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Those are great words, from a great man. But in this case they are better reversed because the truth is “JUSTICE AND LIBERTY HERE IS A THREAT TO INUSTICE AND A LACK OF LIBERTY THERE" which explains the reason these Moslem-dominated societies hate us so. It's not about cartoons, it's about freedom and if we fail to stand up for it, we shall surely lose it.
So, as a free man, born in the image of God and fearing Him not man, I thank people like Western Standard Editor, Ezra Levant for the courage he has shown by standing up for me and for my liberty. And I pray, in the name of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that he will find the courage, the strength and the bearing to stand up against the storm that the defence of that freedom has, no doubt, stirred up.
Liberty, our liberty, has a price, a price paid for by greater men than ever served Mohammed and his teachings. If we are to be worthy of them and the price they paid for our liberty, we need more people who willing to toss "discretion" to the wind and stand up for it.
Sincerely,
IM. Ulysses
IM. Ulysses
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