So last month HBO ran a documentary about a religion. They portrayed the central figure of that

[Warren DeMontague]

258. Oh, give me a break.

I have consistently defended 1st Amendment rights, all the way back to the Nazis marching in Skokie and the ACLU backing them up. I still support the ACLU to this day, and I come from a family of Jews.

Every damn time we've discussed "hate speech" on DU, I've been of the express opinion that you can't criminalize an opinion, even a bigoted or hateful one- not in the US. Doesn't matter what the opinion is.

When someone gets arrested for Holocaust Denial in Europe, I invariably point out that such speech is protected in the US. Doesn't mean I think Holocaust denial is great, but the 1st Amendment is, and that protects the right of people to be wrong, or bigots, or both.

Actually, you're projecting- rather than me being inconsistent, it's you; you simply don't want to address this matter, or you want people to shut up about it, because you realize that demanding no one ever draw "blasphemous" cartoons is a totally fucking untenable position, but you've also got this script running in your head that every time someone brings it up it's part of a plot to demonize Muslims- a point I've certainly never made, not once- so you need to change the subject or ignore it or get all defensive.

It's very simple. If someone's belief system is so fragile and rigid that they are compelled to violence over the fact that someone else draws a cartoon they find offensive, THEY ARE THE PROBLEM. Period.