# I pit the statement from the US Embassy in Cairo **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 11, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432 "2012-09-11T21:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/1 "2012-09-11T21:24:06Z")
[Here it is.](http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/us-embassy-condemns-continuing-efforts-misguided-individuals-hurt-religious-feelings-muslims_652183.html) > [@](#): > > The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others What the fuck? Abuse of free speech? That is the fucking _practice_ of free speech, to say what you damn well please whoever you piss off. That’s what separates us from countries like Egypt. OK, I understand the Embassy is in an awkward position but that statement is indefensible. How about condemning the fucking mobs tearing down US flags? You abuse privileges, you can’t abuse fucking rights! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/2 "2012-09-11T21:26:35Z")
That is amazingly ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/3 "2012-09-11T21:37:34Z")
It has become a strong belief in certain circles that speech that criticizes Muhammad is offensive per se and should not be protected under the 1st amendment, I thought the whole cartoon controversy of a few years ago was amazing for how many people who normally would be free speech absolutusts were against it. ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/4 "2012-09-11T21:38:29Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > What the fuck? Abuse of free speech? That is the fucking _practice_ of free speech, to say what you damn well please whoever you piss off! Your OP is nonsense, but just to pick on a small part of its stupidity; how can you seriously include the above words in a post that takes offence with what somebody said? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/5 "2012-09-11T21:40:13Z")
The statement is offensive. Those who resort to violence because someone made fun of their religion are shitheads, plain and simple. We need to develop a way to seed clouds with pig’s blood and have it rain on demand. It would be funny as shit to see the throwback barbarians scamper like the rats they are. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/6 "2012-09-11T21:40:16Z")
I haven’t seen the film they are up in arms about. Is there a link to it? ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/7 "2012-09-11T21:47:36Z")
Ok there are apparently some clips here: [The Movie So Offensive That Egyptians Just Stormed the U.S. Embassy Over It](http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-movie-so-offensive-that-egyptians-just-stormed-the-us-embassy-over-it/262225/) It’s all very confusing since they keep talking about a guy called Terry Jones, and I keep thinking about Monty Python, and then Life of Brian, but then i hear the actors have New York accents, and it just doesn’t add up. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/8 "2012-09-11T21:48:31Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > Your OP is nonsense, but just to pick on a small part of its stupidity; how can you seriously include the above words in a post that takes offence with what somebody said? There is a difference between the US government saying something, and a person. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/9 "2012-09-11T21:50:31Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > You abuse privileges, you can’t abuse fucking rights! Rights are just privileges your government has promised not to take away from you. You enjoy them at the pleasure of your leadership. “Rights” are an illusion. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/10 "2012-09-11T21:59:17Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Ok there are apparently some clips here: [The Movie So Offensive That Egyptians Just Stormed the U.S. Embassy Over It](http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-movie-so-offensive-that-egyptians-just-stormed-the-us-embassy-over-it/262225/) > > It’s all very confusing since they keep talking about a guy called Terry Jones, and I keep thinking about Monty Python, and then Life of Brian, but then i hear the actors have New York accents, and it just doesn’t add up. Those clips are fucking awesome. It’s like a live-action Clutch Cargo movie, with murderous Muslims. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/11 "2012-09-11T22:00:40Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Rights are just privileges your government has promised not to take away from you. You enjoy them at the pleasure of your leadership. “Rights” are an illusion. I trust this is a sardonic view of some peoples’ opinions, and not your own? Human rights have strong philosophical underpinnings (if we are going to go there, we should travel to GD) that don’t require political agreement to exist. They may not be recognized in any given instance, but an unrecognized right still exists as a right. Where the rights of two individuals conflict, or at least seem to, is where a government that is operating on good principles can be useful. In fact, the right to free speech cannot be considered to be infinite, it does have limitations. Offending other peoples’ religious sensibilities is not, however, one of those. Unfortunately, many Muslims seem willing to fight to the death over this issue. Non-Muslims may have to step up with an equally firm stance about what free speech means and what it is worth to them, or risk losing the exercise of that right. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Ennui](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ennui/32/3396_2.png) [@Ennui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ennui)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/12 "2012-09-11T22:03:36Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Ok there are apparently some clips here: [The Movie So Offensive That Egyptians Just Stormed the U.S. Embassy Over It](http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-movie-so-offensive-that-egyptians-just-stormed-the-us-embassy-over-it/262225/) > > It’s all very confusing since they keep talking about a guy called Terry Jones, and I keep thinking about Monty Python, and then Life of Brian, but then i hear the actors have New York accents, and it just doesn’t add up. Wrong Terry Jones, this one is [Pastor Terry Jones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones_%28pastor%29). The same guy who got his face in a bunch of papers by burning a Koran which resulted in some reprisal attacks against our troops in Afghanistan. I agree he has a right to do stupid inflammatory shit but that just makes him a stupid inflammatory piece of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/13 "2012-09-11T22:08:05Z")
> [@grude](#): > > There is a difference between the US government saying something, and a person. That is a joke, right? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/14 "2012-09-11T22:10:49Z")
The aggravating thing about this story is that you can guess every single one of the relevant deatils from the headline (or from the title of this thread): someone allegedly says or does something dickish about Islam, some Muslims do something batshit crazy targeting the U.S. or the West, and the U.S./Western governments apologize to Muslims without condemning the violence and insanity. It gets more and more annoying as time goes on. EDIT: Actually if all the crazy people did was tear down a flag, that’s a significant improvement over the usual untargeted mass violence and homicide, but maybe next time they can get their own flag and stage a protest on their own property? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/15 "2012-09-11T22:14:15Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I trust this is a sardonic view of some peoples’ opinions, and not your own? Sorry bro, your trust is misplaced. I’m really _that_ embittered of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/16 "2012-09-11T22:21:25Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Sorry bro, your trust is misplaced. I’m really _that_ embittered of humanity. I’m not seeing how that’s embittered, and I’m not seeing a whole lot of relevance either because even if it’s just a privilege, it doesn’t follow that Rev. Dickwad abused the privilege. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/17 "2012-09-11T22:22:27Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > The statement is offensive. Those who resort to violence because someone made fun of their religion are shitheads, plain and simple. We need to develop a way to seed clouds with pig’s blood and have it rain on demand. It would be funny as shit to see the throwback barbarians scamper like the rats they are. Yeah, that’s much better than the embassy’s statement. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/18 "2012-09-11T22:32:44Z")
If this is the first time I’ve wondered if **magellan01** _is_ Pastor Terry Jones, all I can say is I don’t know why I didn’t think it before. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/19 "2012-09-11T22:35:29Z")
Agreed about the statement, but I’m willing to give them a pass since the wolves are literally at the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432/20 "2012-09-11T22:57:04Z")
I’m having a really hard time with both this and the “Pakistani Christian girl’s family fears for their lives as neighbors threaten to burn them alive” being on the front page at the same time. Really makes me think unpleasant thoughts involving genocide on a planetary scale. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-statement-from-the-us-embassy-in-cairo/634432.md?page=2)