{"id":7156,"date":"2015-05-16T06:25:11","date_gmt":"2015-05-16T06:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/05\/16\/a-dog-named-muhammad\/"},"modified":"2015-05-16T06:25:11","modified_gmt":"2015-05-16T06:25:11","slug":"a-dog-named-muhammad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/05\/16\/a-dog-named-muhammad\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dog Named &#8216;Muhammad&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/maverickphilosopher.typepad.com\/.a\/6a010535ce1cf6970c015391d2deb0970b-pi\" style=\"float: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"PillarsofWesternCivilisation\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.typepad.com\/.a\/6a010535ce1cf6970c015391d2deb0970b-800wi\" style=\"margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;\" title=\"PillarsofWesternCivilisation\" \/><\/a> <span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino;\">There is a sleazy singer who calls herself &#39;Madonna.&#39;&#0160; That moniker is offensive to many.&#0160; But we in the&#0160;West&#0160;are tolerant, perhaps excessively so, and we&#0160;tolerate the singer, her name, and her antics.&#0160; Muslims need to understand&#0160;the premium we place on toleration&#0160;if they want to live among us.&#0160; <br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino;\">A San Juan Capistrano councilman <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/news\/reeve-318388-kramer-council.html?plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:5ef1d585-445f-4986-a095-826e7312fd05&amp;plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:3180b15e-0d34-4527-b347-32384932e709\" target=\"_self\">named<\/a> his dog &#39;Muhammad&#39; and mentioned the fact in public.&#0160; Certain Muslim groups took offense and demanded an apology.&#0160; The councilman should stand firm.&#0160; One owes no apology to the hypersensitive and inappropriately sensitive.&#0160; We must exercise our free speech rights if we want to keep them.&#0160; Use &#39;em or lose &#39;em.&#0160; And support the Second Amendment while you&#39;re at it.&#0160; It is the Second that backs up the First.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino;\">The notion that dogs are &#39;unclean&#39; is a silly one.&#0160; So if some Muslims are offended by some guy&#39;s naming his dog &#39;Muhammad,&#39; their being offended is not something we should validate.&#0160; Their being offended is their problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino;\">Am I saying that we should act in ways that we know are offensive to others?&#0160; <em>Of course not<\/em>.&#0160; We should be kind to our fellow mortals whenever possible.&#0160; But sometimes principles are at stake and they must be defended.&#0160;&#0160;&#0160;Truth and principle trump feelings.&#0160; Free speech is one such principle. I exercised it when I wrote that the notion that dogs are &#39;unclean&#39; is a silly one.&#0160;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino;\">Some will be offended by that.&#0160; I say their being offended is their problem.&#0160; What I said is true.&#0160; They are free to explain why dogs are &#39;unclean&#39; and I wish them the best of luck.&#0160; But equally, I am free to label them fools.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: georgia,palatino;\">With some people being conciliatory is a mistake. They interpret your conciliation and willingness to compromise as weakness.&#0160; These people need to be opposed vigorously.&#0160; &#0160;For the councilman to apologize would be foolish.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<fieldset class=\"zemanta-related\">\n<legend class=\"zemanta-related-title\">Related articles<\/legend>\n<div class=\"zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image\" style=\"margin: 0; padding: 0; overflow: hidden;\">\n<div class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li\" style=\"padding: 0; background: none; list-style: none; display: block; float: left; vertical-align: top; text-align: left; width: 84px; font-size: 11px; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/maverickphilosopher.typepad.com\/maverick_philosopher\/2015\/05\/free-speech-and-islamic-terror-locating-the-bone-of-contention.html\" style=\"box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; padding: 2px; display: block; border-radius: 2px; text-decoration: none;\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i.zemanta.com\/341684119_80_80.jpg\" style=\"padding: 0; 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margin: 0; border: 0; display: block; width: 80px; max-width: 100%;\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/maverickphilosopher.typepad.com\/maverick_philosopher\/2015\/05\/not-always-right-to-say-what-one-has-a-right-to-say.html\" style=\"display: block; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; line-height: 12pt; height: 80px; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px;\" target=\"_blank\">Free Speech: Is It Always Right to Say What One has a Right to Say?<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a sleazy singer who calls herself &#39;Madonna.&#39;&#0160; That moniker is offensive to many.&#0160; But we in the&#0160;West&#0160;are tolerant, perhaps excessively so, and we&#0160;tolerate the singer, her name, and her antics.&#0160; Muslims need to understand&#0160;the premium we place on toleration&#0160;if they want to live among us.&#0160; A San Juan Capistrano councilman named his dog &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2015\/05\/16\/a-dog-named-muhammad\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A Dog Named &#8216;Muhammad&#8217;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-speech","category-islamism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}