Freedom of Fascism

All over the world, controversy and violence are still raging, as followers of Islam are lashing out in protest against offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed (Peace and Blessings be upon him), originally published in a Danish newspaper. By now, this information is old news. A more recent development, however, is the deliberate publishing of these offensive cartoons in an Albertan magazine called the Western Standard.

When the Western Standard published the Cartoons, they knew full well the consequences, which could already be seen all over the world. The Western Standard not only published the offensive cartoons, but blatantly announced that they were doing so in other publications.
What is truly disturbing, is to watch how Western Standard defends their actions under the guise of "Free speech". They even go so far as to call themselves the "independent voice of the new west."

Independent perhaps, but in who's interests? Certainly not the peoples.

I have to give the Right-wing credit. They are very good at coming up with noble names and reasons for their causes. During the Cold war era, the ideological struggle was not announced for what it was: Capitalism versus Communism. Instead, in the Capitalist sphere of influence, it was reported as "DEMOCRACY versus Communism". The reasons for this are quite simple. The powers that be knew that not everyone was satisfied with capitalism, but almost everyone agreed with democracy . Of course this outlook is biased and based entirely on point of view. Communists, such as myself, consider Communism to be the most advanced form of democracy. To this day, people are still confused when I tell them that I am democratic and a Communist. This confusion is a left-over way of thinking from the cold-war era. The entire thing is especially bitter, as the Capitalist powers made many,many un-democratic actions during the cold war ( Mcarthyism, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, The invasion of Grenada, backing the Contras in Nicaragua, assisting the fascist government of El Salvador, etc...)

The Anti-abortion movement cloaks themselves in the guise of being "Pro-life". Once again, not every one is against abortion, but most, if not all, human beings will admit to generally being in favor of human life. The Invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq was announced as the "Liberation of Iraq". The Patriot act, which violates constitutional rights, and allows the government to spy on American citizens, is defended as "protecting Americans from terrorism."

The editor of the Western Standard clinging to "freedom of speech" is the latest development in the powers of the right-wing disguising their causes with noble names. Does the Western Standard realize they are using the same defense as neo-nazis and child pornographers? That may sound extreme, but it is an appropriate reference, as all of the above mentioned individuals
use and abuse freedom of speech for personal gain.

We do have freedom of speech in Canada, but with freedom of speech comes public decency.
Most people realize what is appropriate and what is not, given the audience and the circumstances. That said, violating Islamic customs, and blatantly trying to stir up a reaction in Canada ,with cartoons deemed offensive by the international Muslim community, is not "freedom of speech". This action is the latest provocation against the Islamic community at the peak of a raging, and often violent, backlash against the offensive cartoons.

The Western Standard is trying to ride the wave of international controversy to make a profit. Very soon they will realize that this provocation has dug a grave for their magazine, but at least the tombstone will read "In the name of Freedom of Speech."