Freedom of speech – a very powerful phrase that can bring down a government or even someone’s life. There are people who are willing to die defending Freedom of Speech and there are also people who are willing to die making sure Freedom of Speech dies. Regardless of whatever we believe, we have to acknowledge that Freedom of Speech is very important to us. It allows us to speak our minds and allows us to think freely. It also allows to do things that we think are right without fear of being oppressed by anybody. However, we all should realise that Freedom of Speech is not a one-way street and with freedom, comes responsibility.
I guess, you should see where am I going when I talk about this subject. Yes, I am going to talk about one short film that have caused the Muslims around the world to call JIHAD against the person who made the film. As a Muslim, I have watched the movie and I am appalled by two things. I am appalled by the way the maker of the film interpreted the Holy Koran in his own way and used the clips of Muslims to convey his message in the movie. Secondly, I am appalled by the fact that those Muslims in the clips actually said all of those horrible things.
Let us face the fact, we – the Muslims – keep on referring to the non-Muslims as enemy and always come up with things like, “Let’s kill the Jews” or “Let’s kill the Christians” (as seen in the short film). This is like as if we gave them the bullets and then the maker of the film now uses the bullet to shoot the Muslims. Of course, he was wrong for shooting us, but why on earth that we give him the bullet in the first place?
I am not defending the short film but I am asking the Muslims to – for once – just be calm and voice your protest in a more civilised way. Stop burning flag or asking a Fatwa for the maker of the film to be assassinated. For God’s sake, if the Muslims want the world to stop thinking that they are terrorists, the Muslims will have to stop behaving like one.
To the maker of the short film, I respect your right to Freedom of Speech but why hide behind the veil of freedom to pour oil over an already big fire? There are at least one million Muslims in the Netherlands and as a member of the Dutch legislative body, I am sure you know better than anyone to not to mess up with people’s sensitivity. Show some respect for yourself will you?
To the Muslims, let us be rational and use whatever platform (politically) that we have to condemn this horrendous act and to put pressure on the relevant parties to take action against the maker of the short film. He has his Freedom of Speech and we should have ours as well (this is a two-way street).
P.S. I am so disgusted by the short film that I don’t think the name of the maker of the short film or the name of the film itself deserved to be mentioned in this entry.
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