It’s too easy to lay all the blame on a crude video

I nearly drove into a tree when I heard liberal commentators on the radio blaming a crude anti-Islamic video for the widespread outbreak of violent street protests by angry Muslims. "We have to remember that speech has consequences,” one of them warned. The protests spread to more than a dozen countries, including Somalia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and even downtown Sydney in Australia, where a young child held up a sign that said, "Behead all those who insult the Prophet.”

But I was stunned when the U.S. administration blamed the video, too. "What sparked the recent violence was the airing on the Internet of a very hateful, very offensive video that has offended many people around the world,” explained Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, on a Sunday talk show. The line was that the protests were directed against the video, not the U.S. – which might come as a surprise to the folks who were burning American flags and chanting, "Obama, Obama, we love Osama.” (continue reading...)