Molly Norris has gone missing – and she’s not coming back. That is, unless President Obama pushes a stimulus bill we all can believe in.
Well, we’ll get to the Free Speech Stimulus Package in a second. But first a little background on Norris for those who don’t know who she is, which I am afraid is most everyone.
If you haven’t heard of Molly Norris – and you have heard of Pastor Terry “Mustache Man” Jones – it’s probably time you change where you get your news. Norris’ story – unlike the saga of America’s favorite Koran hating Chester Arthur look-alike – is a story every American should know.
Norris came to some national attention last April when she called for “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” in response to the brouhaha surrounding Comedy Central’s “South Park.” “South Park” wanted to lampoon Mohammed and Muslims, as it has done every religion and religious figure, but Comedy Central would not allow the show to depict an actual representation of Mohammed for fear it would lead to death threats – instead it showed a bear costume in which viewers were led to believe Mohammed was hiding. This was enough to get serious death threats from radical Muslims anyway. Comedy Central cut out sections of the episode in re-runs in fear of the threats.
In response to this act of censorship through intimidation, on April 20, Norris, a cartoonist from Seattle, published a cartoon that was essentially a series of an inanimate objects that she labeled as Mohammed (i.e. a domino, a tea cup, a cherry, etc). She encouraged others to draw their own images of Mohammed a month later under the theory that if every one does it, the radical Islamists would have too many targets and their threats would ultimately become meaningless.
Norris isn’t some anti-Muslim bigot. She was just offended by the idea that “South Park” could lampoon every religion and religious figure in existence except Muslims and Mohammed – it was a free speech issue to her. So she courageously took it upon herself to stand up to the intimidators the best way she knew how.
Soon after she encouraged the “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day,” Norris had second thoughts and denounced her own idea, which was quickly picking up steam. But her denunciation did not mollify the radicals. For drawing innocuous pictures and labeling them each as Mohammed, the American born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki issued a Fatwa against her and the other cartoonists calling for their deaths.
The FBI found this threat serious. But instead of taking a stand and saying that it would protect Norris, it evidently encouraged Norris to disappear — to change her name and her identity, to leave behind her life and her friends. This would be her consequence for exercising her free speech rights as an American.
This is a saga that should be known. But instead of highlighting Norris’ plight, our news networks were too busy covering Lindsay Lohan.
NEXT: Introducing the Free Speech Stimulus Package
But here’s an idea. Free speech is something we need to stand up for. No one has the right not to be offended. And we can’t tolerate censorship by intimidation – especially violent intimidation.
What’s more, President Obama seems insistent on wanting to pass another stimulus package – even though he refuses to call it that for obvious political reasons. I know that seems utterly irrelevant to the topic at hand, but I have a solution that ties these two concerns together — a new stimulus bill that even the Tea Party can get behind.
Undoubtedly, the FBI doesn’t have the resources to protect every individual like Molly Norris who stands up to the radical Muslim intimidators who seek to silence all speech they detest through force. But there are an awful lot of unemployed construction workers out there who are pretty intimidating themselves. Why don’t we employ them to protect Norris and others like her.
In one fell swoop we will be providing jobs in a down economy and standing up for the First Amendment. At the same time we stimulate economic growth, we will be sending a loud and clear message to those who want to destroy our way of life and dictate what we can and cannot say: “Go F*^k yourself. We won’t be intimidated. America will do what is necessary to protect those who are threatened for merely acting like Americans.”
This – along with Muslims standing up and fighting back against the extremists in their religion – is how we will begin to win the ideological battle against the radical Muslim Neanderthals who seek to destroy us.
Mr. President, let’s get America back to work and stand up for American values at the same time. Get behind my Free Speech Stimulus Package. It’s a stimulus we can all believe in — or, at least, one would hope.
