A Message to Raj

I have these somewhat ambivalent feelings about Pakistanis rioting, burning and looting their cities and killing their fellow citizens. The government of Pakistan, our staunch "ally" in the war on terror, gave the country a holiday in order to protest a bad film that nobody would have ever seen had it not been pointed out to them. And they used the opportunity to kill over a dozen people in widespread rioting. Of course the duplicitous Pakistanis were predictably trying to stick their finger into America's eye for the sake of domestic politics, but I don't think they wanted this. So as they reek havoc on themselves and their cities, it's hard to have much sympathy. Talk about don't get it, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the Pakistani Prime Minister, called on the international community Friday to pass laws to prevent people from insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

He said: “If denying the Holocaust is a crime, then is it not fair and legitimate for a Muslim to demand that denigrating and demeaning Islam’s holiest personality is no less than a crime?”

Ok, Raj let me just start by saying that we don't believe in international laws governing speech. And you are also mistaken that it is against the law to deny the holocaust here in the United States. Deny the holocaust all you want here. Knock yourself out.You see, our experience has been that letting somebody say their idiotic ideas and theories out loud is the best way to show them to be idiotic and discredited. But I do respect the right of other cultures to choose murder and mayhem instead.