Anti-jihad ads going up in NYC subway
In this Sept. 11, 2012 photo, anti-Islamic blogger Pamela Geller, speaks at a conference she organized entitled "?"Stop Islamization" of America" in New York. / AP Photo/David Karp
(AP) NEW YORK - A provocative ad that equates Muslim radicals with savages is set to go up in the city's subway system as violent protests over an anti-Islamic film ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad sweep over much of the Muslim world.
A conservative blogger who once headed a campaign against an Islamic center near the Sept. 11 terror attack site won a court order to post the ad in 10 subway stations next Monday. The ad reads, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."
The ad was plastered on San Francisco city buses in recent weeks, prompting some artists to deface the ads and remove some of the words, including "Jihad," or holy war. The blogger, Pamela Geller, said she filed suit Thursday in the nation's capital to post the ad in Washington's transit system after officials declined to put up the ad in light of the uproar in the Middle East over the anti-Islam film.
Abdul Yasar, a New York subway rider who considers himself an observant Muslim, said Geller's ad was insensitive in an unsettling climate for Muslims.
"If you don't want to see what happened in Libya and Egypt after the video — maybe not so strong here in America — you shouldn't put this up," Yasar said.
But "if this is a free country, they have the right to do this," he said. "And then Muslims have the right to put up their own ad."
Geller, executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative and publisher of a blog called Atlas Shrugs, called an order by a federal judge in New York allowing the ads "a victory for the First Amendment" and said she wasn't concerned that her ad could spark protests like the ones against the depiction of Muslims in the video "Innocence of Muslims." Violence linked to the movie has left at least 30 people in seven countries dead, including the American ambassador to Libya.
"If it's not a film it's a cartoon, if it's not a cartoon it's a teddy bear," she said. "What are you going to do? Are you going to reward Islamic extremism? I will not sacrifice my freedom so as not to offend savages."
New York police aren't anticipating adding any security to subways when the ads go up and have received no threats or reports of violence relating to them, chief spokesman Paul Browne said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York initially refused to run Geller's ad, saying it was "demeaning." But U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled last month that it is protected speech under the First Amendment.
"Our hands are tied," MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. "Under our existing ad standards as modified by the injunction, the MTA is required to run the ad."
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, backed publication of the "patently offensive" ads.
"More offensive would be their censorship because that would violate the guarantee of free expression of all ideas regardless of how distasteful they are," she said.
Geller said the subway ads cost about $6,000. Donovan said they will be up for a month.
Opponents say the ads imply that Muslims are savages.
"We recognize the freedom of speech issues and her right to be a bigot and a racist," said Muneer Awad, the executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
But he said he hopes elected officials and the MTA, which runs the nation's largest mass transit system, "take on a leadership role in denouncing hate speech."
Geller, as head of a group called Stop Islamization of America, helped spur a monthslong campaign two years ago to remove a planned Islamic community center blocks from the World Trade Center site, which she called the "ground zero mosque." Plans to build a larger center are pending, although Muslims still have regular prayer services at a mosque in the building.
When the ad ran in San Francisco from Aug. 13 to Sept. 4, transit officials took the unusual step of running disclaimers on the sides of the buses, while some artists painted over "Jihad" or photoshopped pictures that said instead, "Defeat Racism."
Geller's group has also placed ads in Metro-North Railroad stations north of New York City that read: "It's not Islamophobia, it's Islamorealism."
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority hadn't seen Geller's lawsuit on Thursday, spokesman Dan Stessel said. The agency told Geller the ad would be "deferred" because of the ongoing violence in the Middle East, he said.
"To be clear, we have not rejected the ad," Stessel said, but "merely asked the advertiser to be sensitive to the timing of the placement out of a concern for public safety, given current world events."
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Those who practice the Islamic religion might be thinking the same way about us. "The Great Satan" didn't come out of a card slipped inside a box of Cracker Jacks, you know...
People on both sides are using religion as means to engage in activities their respective deities would claim to be disgusted over... since you don't lie about using your religion as means to do something immoral, unethical, illegal, etc, and plenty on both sides do... that's all a glib generalization, meant to counter yours, and we both know the truth is somewhere toward the middle...
I'm staying out of this idiotic catfight.
Let's just send a message world wide... "We don't want violence and won't stand up to it!"?
People having the courage to face the burning building, in spite of the potential dangers are the hallmark of this country... NOT the disdain.
Jihad is a religious duty of ALL Muslims. mooslums believe in self defense. They have learned that self defense can include preemptive strikes. (Wonder where they got that from?) ANYONE WHO IS NOT A MOOSLUM IS THE ENEMY. ALL ENEMY MUST DIE. ALL-MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN.
WE DID NOT START THIS JIHAD.
In the Bible God often ordered the Israelites to go to war with other nations (1 Samuel 15:3; Joshua 4:13). God ordered the death penalty for numerous crimes (Exodus 21:12, 15; 22:19; Leviticus 20:11). So, God is not against killing in all circumstances, but only murder. War is never a good thing, but sometimes it is a necessary thing. In a world filled with sinful people (Romans 3:10-18), war is inevitable. Sometimes the only way to keep sinful people from doing great harm to the innocent is by going to war.
In the Old Testament, God ordered the Israelites to "take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites" (Numbers 31:2). Deuteronomy 20:16-17 declares, "However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them...as the LORD your God has commanded you." Also, 1 Samuel 15:18 says, "Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out."
THE LORD, YOUR GOD, HAS SPOKEN, PEOPLE.
What about speeches for Gay rights? Sure to get some crazed white supremist upset, and possible they will act out.
What if they defined "limits" on the free speech, would it still be "free"... by definition it would be "limited"...
And what about opposition, it's not far fetched to see, that if speech is censored at the point when life is at risk, than one just needs to put lives at risk to get the opposition censored.
Once you allow any form of censorship, you allow individuals to use those provisions to their advantage, and you invite corruption.
Absoluteyly correct. Let this be a discussion with words rather than fists and weapons. In a free society each is entitled to their opionion but should not incite violence with that opinion; neither should one be intimidated to speak freely for fear of retribution. If you beleive your opinion valid do not suppress those who oppose you; debate the matter logically and intelligently.