Well guess what time it is? Actually it’s way overdue but WHATEVER. It is time for a month in review.
This
month has been a bit more crazy than previous months. There was the
attack I mentioned earlier; then soon after that YouTube video that came
out insulting Muhammad. As you can imagine, things have been pretty
locked down over here. I would like to take some time to say a few
things about that video.
First of all, I am a big proponent of
free speech. That DOES include speech like this video. The author of
this video (ignoring any restrictions he may have had on him due to
other offenses) absolutely has the right to create a video like this. I
applaud YouTube (thus Google) for acknowledging this fact and not taking
the video down. HOWEVER, just because you have a right to do
something, does not make it right! This great nation, the United States
of America, was founded on freedoms… freedoms I will fight for. It
does mean that some will abuse said rights. That is an unfortunate
necessary evil to preserve these great freedoms. Once you start
chiseling away at these rights, banning something you do not agree with,
you break the entire foundation on which these rights were founded. So
yes people can publish completely offensive material and, although I
may thoroughly disagree with the message, I will always stand up for
their right to produce said material. This may be a pamphlet promoting
Nazism, a book teaching child predators how to seduce children, or a
video completely insulting a religion. That is the price of freedom.
That
said I do condemn this video. I also believe that the man behind the
video IS ABSOLUTELY partially to blame for the deaths during the
protests over this video. Words can be more powerful that any sword or
gun. Just because one didn’t pull the trigger doesn’t mean one can
claim to be innocent. That is a very naïve way of thinking. Actions
have consequences. The blood of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Sean
Smith (or ‘Vile Rat’ of GoonSwarm as he was known in Eve Online. He was
a very prominent player, a diplomat in game, and known by almost
everyone, including me, that plays. Most had no idea of his position in
real life though.), the rest of the Embassy Staff that was killed, and
everyone else injured or killed in the protests are on that man’s hands.
In addition he jeopardized many more lives, people like the brave men
and women in the military over here risking their lives so that that man
can RETAIN his freedoms. Was it worth it? Actions have consequences.
Of course the men participating in the attack are also to
blame. It was a video by one man, yet they blame the entire country and
kill innocent lives. They absolutely have the right to protest but so
many went way too far. At that point they become nothing more than
criminals, thugs, and murderers. Yet many demand an official apology
from President Obama. Apologize for what? Obama didn’t make the video,
in fact he condemned it. There is no reason and nothing Obama can
apologize for. They also call for the man to be punished. Again for
what? I remember one statement that attempted to justify the protests
by asking how the American people would feel if films were created
insulting Christian figures or historical figures like Abraham Lincoln.
This statement just shows how little they understand about American
life. We absolutely value the freedom to express whatever you want,
whether we like it or not. In fact comedy shows like South Park mock
all kinds of things like this all the time. Also it just so happens
that a movie is coming out, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Which I do
want to see BTW). Can you imagine if ‘Muhammad, Zombie Hunter’ came
out? It just shows how far off their way of thinking is compared to
true freedoms. >_<
So yah… that’s that. In other news I
am now 2/3s done! I finished the Legend of Zelda game I have been
playing at night. That was an awesome game. I never had a chance to
play it on the Nintendo64 and am glad I finally got to play it on my
3DS. Back then it was way ahead of its time. I started on a new game,
one of the Kingdom Hearts games. For those of you that do not know what
Kingdom Hearts is, it is kinda heard to explain. Basically two
companies got together, Disney and Japanese gaming company Square Enix
(popular for RPG series like their Final Fantasy series) and created a
game (and later a series of games) where every movie or show by Disney
and every game by Square Enix is in its own “world”. These worlds are
under attack by the Heartless. You, the hero, have your world
completely destroyed by the heartless at the beginning of the first
game. You take up the Keyblade and must journey through all these
different worlds to save them and achieve your goal while also killing
any heartless on the way. One moment you might be sailing on the seas
and meet one Captain Jack Sparrow, then the next fall into the digital
world of Tron, or find yourself in a dark castle run by a true Beast and
all the servants having been changed to things like a clock or a candle
holder by some dark magic. You might meet characters like Cloud from
Final Fantasy or a fairy called Tinker Bell that can make you fly. It
is a pretty awesome series of games, and they have become immensely
popular.
Well that is about it for this month… until next time!
~David
