Conservatives support free speech when it benefits them.

Submitted by a Filipino liberal (Philippines), Feb 13, 2006 at 03:20

On the other hand, in times such as Cindy Sheehan's "mishap" at Bush's State of the Nation address, they are perfectly happy to curtail it.

Yes, I know that under this oft-quoted and -misquoted free speech, openly offensive cartoons like this can be printed. I say openly, because showing a picture of Mohammad with a bomb on his head is not my idea of subtlety. My advice to Muslims might be: "Yes, it's not nice, but it's their freedom of speech. Best to just ignore it, disagree with it, or print some anti-Christian cartoons of your own. Though I'm Catholic, I'm fine with that." Free speech, remember?

And I might have left it at that, however just then I remembered that there are some laws concerning "freedom of speech" in excess. Why do you think we have "slander" and "libel", anyway? Also, there are internatonal and UN laws concerning "insulting other religions, races, or cultures". A party can legally be sued for that. But I forgot, you guys don't like the UN, do you?

Note: Though I call myself "a Filipino liberal", as opposed to conservative, the concepts of liberal and conservative on this site are Western, American ones. As I'm not a Westerner, to say nothing of being an American, I can't really be counted in that group. It just shows which side I agree with.

In my mind, no non-Westerner in his right mind would, or should, support Western conservatives. They are a group of people drunk on their own perceived superiority over non-Western cultures and races. That's why they are so fanatic about Christianity. They see it as a Western religion, in spite of the fact that it originated in the Middle East, and Jesus himself said he came to save everyone (and not just the whites). Filipino Christians, and other non-Western Christians, should know this, and know who the true Christians are. You cons wonder why the rest of the world dislikes the US? Well, do you really expect friends, when some among you are so overtly racist?

Of course, this applies to all forms of conservatives. Marked xenophobia and a belief in the superiority of one's "own" - be it one's own religion, one's own country, one's own race, etc. are, I believe, the main feature of conservatives.

Which brings me to my next point. As there are many types of conservatives, such as Western and Muslim conservatives, why is it that it's okay to be a Western conservative, but it's not okay to be a Muslim conservative (i.e. a radical, a fundamentalist, an extremist, an Islamist, or whatever other terms you have for them.) Why must all Muslims be "moderates", while it's okay for Jews, Christians, and for now, Hindus to be conservative ? Why the double standard?

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