Well, the country that supposedly champions life, liberty and property has surrendered. Or, at least, our government has tucked its tail and run. They remind me of Sir Robin-the-not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Launcelot in Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "...when danger reared its ugly head he bravely turned his tail and fled..."
From this Reuters story we find out that a U.S. State Department had this to say (emphasis added in bold):
Oh, the State Department thing about the cartoons. That was a surrender of all the principles we supposedly hold dear? It didn't seem that way when I read more than what's in the Reuters story. Professor Volokh?
I'm glad to say, though, that the State Department response was a good deal more assertively pro-free-speech than the Reuters account suggests. I couldn't find the Kurtis Cooper statement, but here's the relevant excerpt from the Sean McCormack press briefing:
QUESTION: Yes? Can you say anything about a U.S. response or a U.S. reaction to this uproar in Europe over the Prophet Muhammad pictures? Do you have any reaction to it? Are you concerned that the violence is going to spread and make everything just --
MR. MCCORMACK: I haven't seen any — first of all, this is matter of fact. I haven't seen it. I have seen a lot of protests. I've seen a great deal of distress expressed by Muslims across the globe. The Muslims around the world have expressed the fact that they are outraged and that they take great offense at the images that were printed in the Danish newspaper, as well as in other newspapers around the world.
Our response is to say that while we certainly don't agree with, support, or in some cases, we condemn the views that are aired in public that are published in media organizations around the world, we, at the same time, defend the right of those individuals to express their views. For us, freedom of expression is at the core of our democracy and it is something that we have shed blood and treasure around the world to defend and we will continue to do so. That said, there are other aspects to democracy, our democracy — democracies around the world — and that is to promote understanding, to promote respect for minority rights, to try to appreciate the differences that may exist among us.
We believe, for example in our country, that people from different religious backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds, national backgrounds add to our strength as a country. And it is important to recognize and appreciate those differences. And it is also important to protect the rights of individuals and the media to express a point of view concerning various subjects. So while we share the offense that Muslims have taken at these images, we at the same time vigorously defend the right of individuals to express points of view. We may — like I said, we may not agree with those points of view, we may condemn those points of view but we respect and emphasize the importance that those individuals have the right to express those points of view.
Angry Leftoids such as John Aravosis and Duncan "Atrios" Black are crying "censorship" -- or, in Atrios's case, something vaguely along those lines:
It of course isn't strictly censorship, but any time a member of the government complains in this way, behind a government podium or on official letterhead, it does indeed get closer to official censorship. The point is to have a chilling effect.
The equation of criticism with censorship is a tiresomely common left-wing trope.
Just like "they should have better things to do" is a common libertarian trope. Of course, if you're on the lookout for bureaucrats wasting time on the people's clock, it's amazing that you would start with the Joint Chiefs' letter to the editor about the Toles cartoon. Employees of a company were mocked in the paper and their employers wrote a letter to the editor to stick up for them. Seems like good management and morale maintenance to me. Or censorship! Or surrender!! I don't know anymore. I'm going to go read my plog.
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