In Defense of Tony Blair
Good job, Tony. The British Prime minister announced his plans to introduce legislation that would deport radical Muslim clerics (and anyone else, I suppose), who engage in "acts preparatory to terrorism," and outlaws "indirect incitement" of terrorism. I think this is a good idea. If Great Britain graciously allows individuals to immigrate in the hopes that they can experience the liberties and freedoms of the country, why shouldn't they then have the right to expel them when those same people act in a way which undermines that very democracy? After all, they probably would have been denied their visa or green card (or whatever permanent residency is called in the UK) if they had been honest up front with the immigration officers and told them that they were coming over to advocate terrorism.
Free Speech? Not really.
People are making all kinds of noises that this is free speech issue, but is it? We've established long ago in all democracies that freedom of speech is not absolute (read the US SCOTUS decision proclaiming that we cannot cry "fire" in a crowded theater). The question remains: if the threat is not immediate, is dangerous speech still overridden by safety concerns? I would argue that it is.
But this is all beside the point. Remember, the British government is not criminalizing this activity. Nobody is going to jail. Instead, Prime Minister Blair is pretty much stating that "If you side with the terrorists, you are no longer welcome here." What is so awful about that?
Not Profiling
Another point that should be made is that this is not racial profiling. We're not going to go around deporting peaceful Muslim clerics, here. The only ones who need to be worried about this are people who are speaking out in support of terrorism. That has nothing to do with race, speech has to do with actions. By very definition, profiling is something that occurs because of personal factors beyond our control. This situation has nothing whatsoever to do with racial profiling. In fact, peaceful Muslims in Britain are applauding this measure!
This is just a common-sense measure that should be passed. I encourage our own congress to introduce similar legislation.
Free Speech? Not really.
People are making all kinds of noises that this is free speech issue, but is it? We've established long ago in all democracies that freedom of speech is not absolute (read the US SCOTUS decision proclaiming that we cannot cry "fire" in a crowded theater). The question remains: if the threat is not immediate, is dangerous speech still overridden by safety concerns? I would argue that it is.
But this is all beside the point. Remember, the British government is not criminalizing this activity. Nobody is going to jail. Instead, Prime Minister Blair is pretty much stating that "If you side with the terrorists, you are no longer welcome here." What is so awful about that?
Not Profiling
Another point that should be made is that this is not racial profiling. We're not going to go around deporting peaceful Muslim clerics, here. The only ones who need to be worried about this are people who are speaking out in support of terrorism. That has nothing to do with race, speech has to do with actions. By very definition, profiling is something that occurs because of personal factors beyond our control. This situation has nothing whatsoever to do with racial profiling. In fact, peaceful Muslims in Britain are applauding this measure!
This is just a common-sense measure that should be passed. I encourage our own congress to introduce similar legislation.
5 Comments:
I have to disagree with you on this post. Exporting terrorists (or those who promote it) won't make the problem go away.
What affect it will have I don't know. Although I suspect it will either fuel the fire by forcing those who profess hate speech to a population more likely to listen or simply make Brits abroad more likely targets.
Although it may not be a popular course of action (due to its free speech implications), I believe legislation making the advocation of terrorist tactics illegal is the only solution.
There is a fine line between free speech and public safety, but it is a line the courts will have to walk.
By
J. James Mooney, at 2:34 PM
First, we must stop pretending that the terrorists so far, by-and-large, have not been of the same ethnic origin. This will reasonably narrow down the search for potential perpetrators. But, it makes ALMOST as little sense to stop every Arab or North African in NYC today as it does to stop every 5th random person. Therefore, the profiling must be even more exact than race to be effective.
Israel has been perfecting the art of profiling, and has successfully prevented El Al (national airline) hijackings since 1970. The profilers are trained to look for signs of suspicious behavior (body language), which provides effective clues of whom to question. Barring exceptional con artists, body language is a dead give away of suspicious behavior. In fact, police officers are trained to look for such clues when dealing with everyday criminals.
The results: plenty of Arabs fly El Al, and yet enough people have been turned away to prevent terrorist attacks since 1970.
By
Kira Zalan, at 10:32 PM
Kira,
Agreed. I found your idea about recruiting Israeli police to train American officers in the fine art of identifying terrorists too substantial of an idea not to follow up on.
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