Not everyone at Fox News supports free speech as well as they could
The Wash. Examiner (via Accuracy in Media) lets everyone know why it's a serious mistake to think everybody at Fox is a saint:
Fox News has fallen somewhere in the middle, with several hosts and contributors stressing this week the importance of free speech — so long as it's safe.If that's supposed to mean by being a coward and remaining quiet, then somebody's insulted Christians at that station. Mainly Christians who're now being persecuted in Muslim lands. All this ghastly condemnation of Pamela Geller's group does is prove why Fox isn't much different from their leftist counterparts. Their approach predictably fails to condemn any and all Islamists who encourage these attacks. I'm sure none of this is new to Geller though, since she has spoken against Fox in the past.
"The American Freedom Defense Initiative spurred a violent incident," longtime host Bill O'Reilly alleged Tuesday. "Insulting the entire Muslim world is stupid…It does not advance the cause of liberty or get us any closer to defeating the savage jihad."
He added that free speech is indeed important, but that those principles are "not in play" in the AFDI situation. Further, O'Reilly said, "Just because you can say it doesn't mean you should say it…It is stupid. It accomplishes nothing."
Conservative radio host and Fox contributor Laura Ingraham agreed, saying Tuesday that everyone should avoid being "unnecessarily" offensive.
"It is not beneficial to us as Americans to criticize an entire faith, and what was done at this convention doesn't accomplish anything," she said. "There are a lot of things that we can say, that we have a right to say, that we shouldn't say."
Referring to Chris Ofili's infamous "The Holy Virgin Mary," a likeness of Jesus' mother fashioned out of dung, Ingraham said she supported the artist's right to free expression — but she maintained it's unnecessarily stupid and offensive.
"We shouldn't unnecessarily insult people, personal attacks," she said, adding of the AFDI event that, "It does not…accomplish anything [and] it could make things worse for us."
O'Reilly concurred, saying that his position is "what is best for the country" and not "emotional."
Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum expressed on both television and social media that she disapproved of AFDI and its Muhammad contest.
"Don't stoop to [radical Islamists'] level," she said on Twitter in reference to the controversial art exhibit, adding later, "Just because you have a right to do something, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do."
Referring to Geller's many critics, McCallum explained the arguments against AFDI, saying in an interview with the group's founder that, "If you want to make a difference, you do it in a Christian way, you don't do it in a crass way by insulting someone's religion."
Labels: anti-americanism, Christianity, communications, dhimmitude, islam, jihad, misogyny, Moonbattery, msm foulness, racism, terrorism, United States
