So someone sent me this long defensive rant by the blogger Digby in which he deliberately confuses controversy and threats of boycotts by conservatives, Christians and (pro-Israel) Jews with terroristic, murderous, violence by fanatical Islamist Muslims. I say he does it deliberately, because I assume such a popular lefty blogger isn’t so obtuse he can’t tell the difference. Look: denouncing someone else’s speech is free speech. Refusing to support someone else’s free speech is, in effect, a hallmark of freedom. Cutting someone’s head off for what they say, isn’t free speech. What is so difficult to understand about that? The German Opera’s original decision wasn’t based on fear of boycotts, or nasty letters-to-the-editor. It was based on the fact that government officials told them they couldn’t even calculate how much physical danger it put the cast and crew in.
Oh, and if you actually bother to read his post, you’ll see quite clearly that according to Digby’s standard the great lefty-blog backlash against Path to 9/11 was a form of censorship too.
Update: I’m told on good authority Digby is a she. My apologies. I’m not a regular reader.