Google Refuses To Censor Controversial Mohammed Film Clip For The Obama Administration
The justification violent, murderous Islamist protesters around the globe are using is a film, posted on YouTube and other places, showing Mohammed in a less than savory light. Google, which owns YouTube, has censored the film in countries where such censorship is illegal, but when the Obama administration tried to pressure Google into censoring the film here in the United States the company refused.
And good on them for it.
(Reuters) – Google Inc rejected a request by the White House on Friday to reconsider its decision to keep online a controversial YouTube movie clip that has ignited anti-American protests in the Middle East.
The Internet company said it was censoring the video in India and Indonesia after blocking it on Wednesday in Egypt and Libya, where U.S. embassies have been stormed by protestors enraged over depiction of the Prophet Mohammad as a fraud and philanderer. …
Google said was further restricting the clip to comply with local law rather than as a response to political pressure.
“We’ve restricted access to it in countries where it is illegal such as India and Indonesia, as well as in Libya and Egypt, given the very sensitive situations in these two countries,” the company said. “This approach is entirely consistent with principles we first laid out in 2007.”
White House officials had asked Google earlier on Friday to reconsider whether the video had violated YouTube’s terms of service.
One of the most hideous aspects of the way the Obama administration has handled this situation – second perhaps only the failure by the Obama administration to properly warn and secure US embassies in advance of these attacks – is this attempt to blame free speech for the violence instead of the hateful, intolerant hordes who are rioting.
Which is tantamount to blaming the rape victim for the rape because she dressed too provocatively.
I don’t know anything about this Muslim documentary, and I don’t really care to learn anything about it. Because it doesn’t matter. Free speech means free speech, even for intolerant and hateful speech (which I don’t know this film to be). The Obama administration trying to get this video taken down, and the focus the federal government has turned on the film’s maker, is a distraction.
Our problem is not with free speech. Our problem is with violent, hateful intolerance for free speech.
Tags: Barack Obama, free speech, hillary clinton, islam, mohammed
