I give a nod of agreement to the Wednesday column, “Kids Should Not be Billboards.” I am a student and full-time employee who works at a business on University Avenue. While working, I watch mothers pushing strollers (complete with babies) along our sidewalks, donning these “Islam is of the devil” T-shirts. It disappoints me that people feel more comfortable hiding behind their months-old children to spread a discriminatory message. These mothers are persistent, walking with their babies in cold, rainy weather. They approach passers-by with pamphlets and smiles. But why use the infants? Should we be more inclined to trust their message because they are responsible for a tiny human?
The ongoing crusade brought to our neighborhood by the Dove World Outreach Center and its group of utterly brainwashed Islam-haters reminds me of Lamb and Lynx Gaede. These girls were commonly referred to as the Olsen twins of the Nationalist Movement. They starred in music videos that praised not only Hitler but also his accomplices and denounced interracial procreation. These children were quite obviously repeating the verbiage of their extremist Nationalist parents. These are the instances of free speech during which every human rights supporter cringes.
We activists might rather ignore that these people are exercising a basic right that we continue to fight for as U.S. citizens.
To defend our right to the freedom of speech but then denounce those who use it distastefully seems hypocritical. Still, to allow this kind of public discrimination to persist is unethical.
But, as a famous quote reads, “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
