"The notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete"

Despite those in his administration who now say events in Libya were the result of a terrorist attack having nothing to do with an offensive YouTube video, the President is moving forward, in front of the world, with blaming these attacks on the video and decrying the fact that information flow cannot be controlled:

“In every country, there are those who find different religious beliefs threatening; in every culture, those who love freedom for themselves must ask how much they are willing to tolerate freedom for others,” Obama told the United Nations.

“That is what we saw play out the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world,” he said. “I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity. It is an insult not only to Muslims, but to America as well--for as the city outside these walls makes clear, we are a country that has welcomed people of every race and religion. We are home to Muslims who worship across our country. We not only respect the freedom of religion--we have laws that protect individuals from being harmed because of how they look or what they believe. We understand why people take offense to this video because millions of our citizens are among them.

“I know there are some who ask why we don’t just ban such a video,” said Obama. “The answer is enshrined in our laws: our Constitution protects the right to practice free speech.

“Here in the United States, countless publications provoke offense,” said the president.

“Like me, the majority of Americans are Christian, and yet we do not ban blasphemy against our most sacred beliefs. Moreover, as President of our country, and Commander-in-Chief of our military, I accept that people are going to call me awful things every day, and I will always defend their right to do so. Americans have fought and died around the globe to protect the right of all people to express their views – even views that we disagree with.

“I know that not all countries in this body share this understanding of the protection of free speech,” said Obama. “Yet in 2012, at a time when anyone with a cell phone can spread offensive views around the world with the click of a button, the notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete. The question, then, is how we respond. And on this we must agree: there is no speech that justifies mindless violence.

“There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents,” said Obama. “There is no video that justifies an attack on an Embassy. There is no slander that provides an excuse for people to burn a restaurant in Lebanon, or destroy a school in Tunis, or cause death and destruction in Pakistan.”

“More broadly, the events of the last two weeks speak to the need for all of us to address honestly the tensions between the West and an Arab World moving to democracy,” said Obama. “Just as we cannot solve every problem in the world, the United States has not, and will not, seek to dictate the outcome of democratic transitions abroad, and we do not expect other nations to agree with us on every issue. Nor do we assume that the violence of the past weeks, or the hateful speech by some individuals, represents the views of the overwhelming majority of Muslims--any more than the views of the people who produced this video represent those of Americans.”

Someone check me on this but nowhere in the President's speech am I seeing any reference to Islamist extremism and how that ideology is at the root of all that ails the Middle East and even the world.

The man is either blind to this truth... or willfully ignoring it.

Neither option bodes well for America and the West should he be re-elected.

Comments

[Jason M.]

"The notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete"

This is a correct statement, but believe me, it goes beyond what the president said in this speech. Freedom of speech cannot / shall not be limited for our citizens, and the government cannot restrict citizens from making their opinions known. But the other side of this argument is that the government cannot control what gets out to the American people. If the current administration could have had it known that these riots were caused by nothing but the video and that they could suppress anything to the contrary, they would have.

"The notion that we can control the flow of information is obsolete"...but the desire to control it is definitely still there.