December 23, 2014 | The Washington Times

The War on Free Speech

Last Friday, in his end-of-the-year press conference, President Obama scolded Sony Pictures. Cancelling the theatrical release of “The Interview” following cyber-attacks from North Korea, he said, was “a mistake.” Two days later, on CNN, he added that North Korea had committed an act of “cyber-vandalism.”

Where to begin?

Perhaps with what should be the most obvious point: This was not an attack on a single movie or company. This was a state-sponsored cyber-attack on the United States of America and it was followed by threats of violence against innocent American citizens. It also was an assault on freedom of speech — the most fundamental of our civil rights.

On one hand, Mr. Obama rightly said: “We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States.” On the other hand, he implied it is primarily corporate America’s responsibility to stand up to such dictators. Since when is that not in the job description of the leader of the Free World?

Mr. Obama also said he was concerned that “if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they do when they start seeing a documentary they don't like, or news reports they don't like. Or even worse, imagine if producers or distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don't want to offend the sensibilities of someone whose sensibilities probably need to be offended.”

If?  Imagine? Among those that have practiced self-censorship in response to threats from Islamists are Comedy Central, Yale University Press and the Deutsche Oper. 

In 2004, Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote a film critical of the treatment of women under Islam, the religion into which she was born and raised. Soon after its broadcast on TV, the producer, Theo van Gogh, was murdered in the street by a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim who objected to such criticism. Ms. Ali also was threatened. She moved to America where Islamists and their allies have been attempting, with some success, to block her from speaking on campuses.

Four years ago, cartoonist Molly Norris came up with an idea intended to protect artists satirizing jihadists: “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.” A fatwa was issued calling for her to be murdered by any Muslim willing and able. She recanted but it was too late: The FBI advised her to “go ghost” – quit her job, move and change her name. She hasn’t been heard from since — although she was included in a list that appeared recently in Inspire, al-Qaeda’s online magazine, along with a caption: “Yes We Can: A Bullet A Day Keeps the Infidel Away.”

The Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian has been in an Iranian prison since July. No one knows what he did to anger the authorities. But his incarceration sends a clear message to other reporters working in the country.

Journalist Matti Friedman has described in great detail how Hamas uses intimidation not just to censor the media but to shape the narrative regarding Gaza and the Palestinians.

This, too, should be mentioned: The cause of freedom was not strengthened when the Obama administration blamed the 9/11/12 attacks in Benghazi on an amateurish trailer of a video called “Innocence of Muslims” and threw the producer, an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian, in jail on unrelated charges.

By now, I hope, you’re connecting the dots: A war is being waged against free speech in the West. I’d argue it began a quarter century ago — in 1989 when Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, issued a fatwa calling for the killing of a British subject, Salman Rushdie. They ayatollah considered Rushdie’s novel, “The Satanic Verses,” insulting to Islam. UK and EU leaders had a choice: defend their values or pretend the problem was primarily Mr. Rushdie’s and that he should hire bodyguards.

They chose the latter — even though Iran was then a decidedly second-rate power with no nuclear weapons. Mr. Kim, of course, rules a third-rate power but does have nuclear weapons – because American negotiators failed to find a diplomatic solution to the North Korean threat. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is now attempting to acquire – with North Korean assistance– his own nuclear weapons capability. No evidence suggests American diplomats will be more successful this time around.

Ample evidence does suggest that Hollywood will henceforth take care not to offend the world’s worst despots. Actually, that’s already happening: Plans to make a thriller set in North Korea starring Steve Carell have reportedly just been cancelled.

President Obama has vowed to “respond proportionally” to the North Korean attack. Such language is unlikely to cause Mr. Kim to shiver in his shoes. The young dictator no doubt recalls that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad suffered no serious consequences after crossing Mr. Obama’s “red line” by using chemical weapons to mass-murder his own citizens.  He knows, too, that the Islamic Republic of Iran plotted to bomb a Washington, DC restaurant a few years back. Nothing dire transpired as a result.

A successful cyber-attack against American movie moguls has diminished American freedom. A successful cyber-attack against American financial institutions, the electrical grid or the Defense Department could do much greater damage.  Is the Obama administration doing all that is necessary to address this threat?

Not so long ago, America’s leaders knew that some terrorists highjack planes. They also knew that some terrorists were prepared to die if they could slaughter infidels in the process. Yet America’s leaders failed to imagine how these two behaviors might be combined into a devastating atrocity. In the wake of a state-sponsored cyber-attack coupled with terrorist threats, have their imaginations become more vivid?

Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times.

Issues:

Iran North Korea