Ach! I suspected it was mosque but I saw Silverthorne spell it as Mosk and assumed it was correct because English isn't my first language (It's Moskee in Dutch). Thanks for correcting me.
I thought it was a generally accepted view (or stereotype, if you please), but I think
this should qualify. Utah, where
over 60% of the population identifies as Mormon, has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, demonstrating that they're very likely less prone to crime than the average American.
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How are we forfeiting our civil rights? We're having a discussion about them right now, but in no way have we limited our civil rights (except the right to privacy. See: Patriot Act) as a response to actions in the Muslim world (which extends far beyond the Middle East). In fact, both Obama and Bush have been quite firm about not regulating free speech in the US in response to Middle Eastern protests.
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We aren't. I'm merely stating that those here who claim that those here who claim that publishers of critical articles about Islam, cartoons about Islam etc. were in the wrong and should have "expected" the bursts of violence and thus bear responsibility for them are basically for a system where the media must apply self-censorship. If that were to happen, we would be in a situation where our civil rights would indeed be forfeited. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky this hasn't happened and hope this will never happen.
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Also: "being nice" and "maintaining civil liberties" are not mutually exclusive.
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I believe they are. As I said before, the right to free speech isn't needed to protect those who only say nice things, because nobody wants to shut them up. It is exactly there to protect those others want to silence as soon as possible. Nobody will assassinate somebody that only says good things about Islam, but those who are critical of Islam face a very real threat. I can name two prominent figures from my country who were killed for their criticism of Islam (Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh) and two that run a real risk of being assassinated (Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirshi Ali). If people like these wish to express their opinions without getting slaughtered for it (sometimes litterally, Van Gogh was killed by having his throat cut in the same way cattle is slaughtered in Islam) then we must accept that some people don't say nice things, and these 'unnice' statements must be protected. Even if we assume these people are completely and utterly wrong, they must be proven wrong by other people that exert their right to free speech, not people who believe they can rob others from their right to life due to religious commandments that are in no way respected in a secular nation.