Senegal’s President is an Idiot

Senegal’s President is angry about the Danish publication of a cartoon that had a visual representation of Muhammad way back in 2005. “I don’t think freedom of expression should mean freedom from blasphemy,” said Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade, the chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference. “There can be no freedom without limits.”

No freedom without limits? How Orwellian can you get?

Anyways, there are plenty of limits on freedom of speech, but they’re all there for a reason. Defamation, slander, libel, obscenity, threats, perjury, and hate speech are just some examples of ways in which it’s illegal to express yourself. Yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater is another way to break the law while speaking. These limits are meant to maintain domestic order.

The printing of a Muhammad figure in a Danish newspaper didn’t cause rioting in Denmark. No Danish laws were broken. Foreign Muslims opposed to the characterization should choose to avoid looking at the Muhammad page. Instead, they rioted, with 139 dead at last count. The rioters were mostly Nigerian, Libyan, Pakistani and Afghan. Danish embassies were torched in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.

Foreign popular opinion cannot change laws across borders, and doing so would set a striking precedent and would be considered an assault on conventional sovereignty.

AP: Muslims nations: Defame Islam, get sued?