Conservatives and Free Speech

Whoever first said "be careful what you wish for," it applies to conservatives and the embrace of so-called "freedom of speech" in relationship to Charlie Hebdo  and the terrorist murders in France. Conservatives don't get equal time for their views on campus.  They can't get jobs in Hollywood.   Their books don't make the Pulitzer list.  And calling terrorism Islamic has been hate speech. Creation can't be taught anywhere.  If you deny global warming, you won't be allowed to take that position in any official capacity.  I was at a jam packed town hall meeting here about social security years ago and someone from our church, who linked a shortage of social security tax to abortion, was booed and hissed and mocked into silence.

Is it worth it for conservatives to use Charlie Hebdo for hypocrisy as a tool to shame liberals into allowing them to speak?  Liberals haven't been shouted down at a state university until they opposed Islam, mainly out of their atheism.  They can't be credible in opposition to hate speech against Islam and support for Charlie Hebdo.  I know this is why conservatives link to liberals making anti Islam diatribe.

I heard Salman Rushdie say that he knows you don't believe in free speech if you say, "I believe in free speech, but."  He says there are no "buts" in free speech.  There have been "buts" in free speech, but they've all been conservative.

Free speech has become a political apparatus, like the term "racist."  Liberals say almost any objectionable or outlandish epithet under their notion of free speech, and it continues.  They have opposed speech against Islam, that is, Charlie Hebdo speech.

When I say, be careful what you wish for, I mean, be careful wishing for more Islam bashing, because for every profanity of Mohammed, you'll start hearing ten for Jesus -- no more tamping down blasphemy against God.  Since you can insult the Koran, you can say whatever you want against Christianity and pull the Charlie Hebdo card.

But then, is the liberal free speech position a conservative position?  Even further, should Charlie Hebdo and its profane and puerile cartoons constitute free speech, even in liberal France?  Adopted during the French Revolution in 1789, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in Article 11 state that

The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law.

Certain speech can be denied in the United States.  The Federal Communications Commission does not allow certain language over the airwaves.  It is illegal based upon obscenity laws.  Some books are prohibited even by the public school.  No one is allowed to say just whatever he wants.   That has always been a conservative position on speech.

With the loss of an absolute standard for right and wrong, the total takeover of moral relativism, you can't judge offensive speech.  In the absence of a final, controlling authority, you allow whatever people want to say.  Everything must be legal, every form of God bashing included.  It reflects a lawless society.  Be careful what you wish for.