By Ronald Rover
On the morning (click here) of Nov. 2 in a busy street in east Amsterdam, a 26-year-old Dutch Moroccan named Mohammed Bouyeri pulled out a gun and shot controversial filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who was riding a bike to his office. Van Gogh hit the ground and stumbled across the street to a nearby building. He didn’t make it. As the Moroccan strode toward him, van Gogh shouted, “We can still talk about it! Don’t do it! Don’t do it.” But the Moroccan didn’t stop. He shot him again, slit van Gogh’s throat and stuck a letter to his chest with a knife. He was slaughtered like an animal, witnesses said. “Cut like a tire,” said one. Van Gogh, the Dutch master’s great-grand-nephew, was 47 years old...
The killer took the time to write a letter. That doesn't begin to name all the journalists lost when covering war in the Middle East. Occasionally they are deceased by friendly fire.
Freedom of Speech for the sake of freedom of speech isn't worth anything if the artists most important to the message are all dead.
A democracy is not enhanced if their most devoted practitioners no longer carry their passions to the world. This is not acceptable. There is a need of a resolve to protect some of the most outspoken members of our society. There needs to be a relationship between local authorities and the artists that support freedom. If there is a chance coaching them will assist them to protect themselves and/or be aware of the dangers they face, it might sincerely thwart this hazard in practicing democracy.
The enemy considers the death of such people a victory. I think it is a problem to allow Violent Islam any victories. Everyone of these events are recruitment tools at the very least.
