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February 4, 2006
Incentives
Glenn Reynolds points out how different people treat the same class of speech or action differently, depending on who is perpetrating it. For example, the Boston Globe defended the blatantly offensive (to many Christians) "Piss Christ" and is now attacking Jyllands-Posten for cartoons that are blatantly offensive (to many Muslims). Double standard, indeed. But it is worse than that: as Reynolds notes, "perhaps it's just a measure of who they're actually afraid of."
Oh, but what an incentive we have concocted! Think of it this way: what the Left in the US and (until lately, perhaps) Europe has put up as a standard is that if you are inoffensive and civilized, you will be taken advantage of, mocked, derided and ignored; blow people up, burn things, kidnap journalists and behead them, and you will be feted, apologized for, appeased and given anything, no matter how precious it was previously said to be to the Left.
Perhaps if Israel just slaughtered European and American journalists, they would get a more sympathetic hearing. But I suspect that the journalists are depending on the decency of those they mock, deride, belittle and ignore. Good thing for them they can do that safely.
UPDATE: QandO has similar thoughts.
And a thought I had not mentioned before, and QandO does not either: did the media have treat the supposedly-Christian "militia movement" the way they treat the similarly violent Muslims? Of course not. I suspect it has less to do with the violence level of the violent group, but whether that violent group is denounced or cheered by its near-fellows. But doesn't this then give the incentive to Christians to support violent expressions of Christian intolerance even if they don't agree with the violence or the intolerance just so they will be heard on other matters of real import to them? Again, the incentives being created are all bad.
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» Depending On The Devil's Decency from aubreyturner.org
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Tracked on February 6, 2006 9:54 AM