I don’t read Right Wing Howler as a matter of course, but the blog is part of a ring this site also belongs to. Now, I support the First Amendment at least as much as anyone dubbing him or herself with such a moniker. However, I find this at best unproductive and, at worst, disgusting. The blog reprints a twist on the lyrics to John Lennon’s “Imagine” to visualize a world without Muslims.

Aside from just plain hateful, the lyrics scream ignorance. I hesitate to even link to the post, but it’s short-sightedness struck me as grandiose. The lyrics’ author even ends with the clever and imaginative line “So let’s kill them and be done.”

Remember the “ayatollah asshola” shirts from the late 70s and early 80s, and how knee-jerk creative those were. How about the UAW organized events in the 80s where shop workers could get their frustrations and kicks out by taking bats to Japanese cars. Look where those got us. Iran is still piloted by ayatollahs, and Japan’s still serving the U.S. its ass in the car market.

Free speech is great and should enjoy the highest levels of protection. That plateau of reverence, however, comes with the responsibility to use that speech with reason and wisdom.

Flinging feces is what chimps do. I’d hope we’d evolved beyond that by now. But, you may say I’m a dreamer.

PS: The RWH’s permalink for that post take’s you to a huh-could-not-process-the-request page, so the link above is to the main site.