POLITICO
by Rich Lowry
May 6, 2015

Respectable opinion can’t bear the idea that she has become a symbol of free speech

How dare Pamela Geller get targeted by terrorists bent on committing mass murder. That’s been the reaction of a portion of the opinion elite to news that Geller’s “draw Muhammad” contest in Garland, Texas, was (unsuccessfully) assaulted by two heavily armed Muslim men in an attack the Islamic State took responsibility for. The Washington Post ran an article on Geller headlined, “Event organizer offers no apology after thwarted attack in Texas.” News that the Post has yet to break about other terrorist targets: “Malala Yousafzai refuses to admit fault for seeking an education”; “Coptic Christians won’t concede error for worshiping wrong God”; “Unrepentant Shiites continue to disagree with Sunnis.”…For better or worse, we live in a society in which nothing is sacred. If we are to accept the assassin’s veto, the only exception (for now) will be depictions of Muhammad, which would be perverse. A free society can’t let the parameters of its speech be set by murderous extremists. READ MORE