The more that U.S.-government officials talk about the so-called film Innocence of Muslims (which is actually merely a YouTube trailer) the more they confirm the mob’s belief that works of “art” are the proper responsibility of government. Obama and Clinton are currently starring as the Siskel & Ebert of Pakistani TV, giving two thumbs down to Innocence of Muslims in hopes that it will dissuade local moviegoers from giving two heads off to consular officials. “The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video,” says Hillary Clinton. “We absolutely reject its content, and message.” “We reject the efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others,” adds Barack Obama. There follows the official State Department seal of the U.S. embassy in Islamabad.
Fellow government-funded film critics call Innocence of Muslims “hateful and offensive” (Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations) and “reprehensible and disgusting” (Jay Carney, White House press secretary). General Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and senior Pentagon adviser to Variety, has taken to telephoning personally those few movie fans who claim to enjoy the film. He called up Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who apparently thinks Innocence of Muslims is the perfect date movie, to tell him the official position of the United States military is they’d be grateful if he could ease up on the five-star reviews.
This is just appalling. Related: Obama’s free-speech failure.
“The Innocence of Dogs” at Wolf Howling. Heh.
http://tinyurl.com/9ospd3v
Does anybody remember a spoof movie trailer about two WASP-y slackers who go to college and pledge to a fraternity called Alpha Qaeda?
The right response, of course, would’ve been to eschew any comments about the film at all, except maybe to note that the government had nothing to do with it and can do nothing about it, because we have freedom of speech. Hard stop.
Other than that, our response to the violence should be based on the violence, not on some idiotic YouTube video.