Detroit Free Press Readers are Morons; I Know Because I Read It

A man who has admitted sending death threats to conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel has been sentenced to eight months in prison.

As of 9:00 PM tonight, there were 22 reader comments on the story.

Of those 22 comments that I could call negative toward either or both of the subjects of the article, Mohamad Fouad Abdallah and Schlussel herself, six comments specifically applied moral relativism to both parties and pronounced them both guilty, four only showed animus toward Schlussel, and two were solely supportive of Schlussel. No one criticized Abdallah alone. A number of other comments were directed toward other commentors or were otherwise irrelevant.

Debbie Schlussel is a lighting rod and she has staked out some pretty difficult territory. She is not in any way supportive of Hizbollah and she has said so. She has called out the Council on American Islamic Relations for being a front group and apologist for terrorist organizations. She has been critical of the INS and ICE as well as members of the Justice Department. She has had many unkind words for George Bush. She speaks gruffly about Islam, that nearly anonymous religion that adheres to texts that refer to the Jews as pigs and apes, and whose leaders routinely call for the destruction of Israel, deny the Holocaust, and praise the perpetrators of mass murder. As a Jew, I suppose, she does not care for that stuff too much.

She has blown a lot of whistles and she has made a lot of enemies. For her troubles, a good percentage of Free Press commenters believe that she is every bit as guilty for speaking her mind as is the man that threatened to rape and kill her.

Tolerance used to mean not doing violence to those with whom you disagreed. You could always speak your mind as long as you were not inciting violence or creating a dangerous situation. In this country, that right is bestowed on us by our creator, and therefore guaranteed by our Constitution. The concept is slowly changing as evidenced by this slice of Free Press readers. Tolerance is slowly coming to mean that those with opinions, those that would wish to do nothing but exercise their rights of free speech and demand the enforcement of existing law, must keep their mouths shut so that the violent and intolerant, those that would threaten or kill you, are not incited to do so.

Schlussel has never, that I am aware, incited or tried to incite violence against the Arab community in Michigan or anyone else. I read her blog perhaps monthly, so while I am not intimately familiar with everything she writes, I have read enough of what she has to say to get a good sampling. Has she ruffled feathers? Duh. Some feathers should be ruffled. There are times too when refusing to be quiet is the best defense from being forced to be quiet.

Debbie Schlussel has the right to speak her mind. Muslims have the right to debate her on the issues. When either party crosses that line and enters into threats and violence, they deserve to be punished. Schlussel has not. Abdallah has.

That so many cannot see the difference is sad and dangerous.