Everyone has opinions, but at what cost are they worth expressing?
A U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed Tuesday [in an attack on the Benghazi consulate in Libya](http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13/world/africa/libya-us-ambassador-killed/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews).
Reports state that an amateur film, promoted by a U.S. pastor from Florida — the same [who triggered deadly riots in Afghanistan](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/) last year over threatening to burn the Quran — incited the riots.
Ansar Al-Sharia, an Al Qaeda-style Sunni Islamist group, is rumored to have carried out the attack, but the group has denied that claim, [according to the BBC](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19584734). The attack was carried out under the guise of a riot outside the consulate in Benghazi. Later Tuesday evening, [another riot occurred](http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/12/world/meast/egypt-us-embassy-protests/index.html) right outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo, where a mob stormed the walls, burned an American flag and replaced it with a black Islamic flag.
Both of these attacks are said to have been incited by a relatively unknown film uploaded to YouTube. The film portrayed Muhammad as a fool, philanderer and religious fake. Another clip pictured Muhammad in an apparent sex act with a woman.
The video spread in Libya and was rumored to be the trailer for a major Hollywood blockbuster movie that thousands of Americans would flock to on the anniversary of 9/11, according to Morning Joe.
People are entitled to express their views, even views that demean another religion. But how far is too far? This incident just goes to show how one person’s expression can affect other people. With one unknown film, four people have died and violent acts against America are occurring in the Middle East and Africa. Was your opinion really worth this chaos and bloodshed?
This isn’t the first time an incident like this has occurred. Other countries have attacked Islam and its followers and incurred the anger and violence of small extremist groups before. Now, because of a small “extreme” group of so-called comical geniuses, the U.S. has been shed in a bad light. These people have now come to represent the entire American public. We don’t particularly like being slandered as insensitive to other religions, but isn’t this generalization similar to how we generalize Muslims? With violence like this, we stereotype Muslims as extreme terrorists. No race or country should be represented by its extremist minority.
New reports now state that although the attack on Cairo was in fact a direct response to the video, the attack on the Benghazi consulate [might have been planned in advance](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/news-agencies-us-ambassador-to-libya-killed-in-attack-outside-consulate/2012/09/12/665de5fc-fcc4-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_story.html). U.S. government officials perceive the situation as having “hallmarks of an organized attack,” according to Reuters.
No official reports have confirmed the allegations of the Benghazi consulate attacks being pre-planned, yet the reports confirm the riots in Cairo were in direct response to the film. Investigations are still underway in uncovering the origins of the attacks in Libya.
It’s hard to believe that one video can cause so much bloodshed.
The line between exercising your freedom of speech and endangering others has to be respected. Yes, the First Amendment protects people in the U.S., but this video went too far. Denouncing another religion through blasphemy is wrong. With globalization and the omnipresent Internet, you never know what people might see and how they might respond. The media isn’t secure and it isn’t safe.
Now, because of one grossly idiotic film, four people have died and diplomatic relations between the U.S. and two other countries are on the brink. Expressing one’s opinion is a right, but rights can be pushed too far.
