open letter to the MSA at U of Illinois

I wanted to share another link, this time from Ali Eteraz. In it, he details his involvement in the Cartoon controversy, specifically chastising the muslim students association for their utterly abdication of their responsibility to use their media exposure for a genuine cause - instead, they wasted it on a trivial matter by falsely attempting to suggest a latent Islamophobia in America.

That there are Islamophobes in the US is not a matter of dispute; but the assertion that the environment in America is equivalent to that in Europe is quite easily refuted. Ali does a fine job of making the case - though he starts out with the relevant backstory first. It is a worthy read.

Also, in comments at Eteraz' site, Thabet points to this FindLaw article about the Cartoon controversy that makes a number of important points. Among them, the emphasis on the different legal environments in Europe and America with respect to free speech and hate speech laws. I personally strongly support a boycott of Danish goods, because what offended me was not the expression, but rather but the intent of the speech in question.