Death by Art - Freedom of Speech Drawn Together

Hello my lovely people!  On May 3rd, two radical Islamic men (Elton Simpson and Nadir Sooti) shot at a group that was holding a drawing contest on who could draw the best characterization of the prophet Muhammad.  This group is called "American Freedom Defense Initiative" (AFDI) and is led by Pamela Geller, a well known anti-Islamic activist.  Luckily Simpson and Sooti were bad shots and only hit a security guard in the ankle (he was released from the hospital that day).  Simpson and Sooti were not so lucky however, and were killed by a different officer.

Where the debate lies is there are groups (on both the conservative side as well as the liberal side) that are victim blaming the AFDI for "spurring an attack".  Nobody is "asking" to be physically harmed when they practice the 1st Amendment.  Even though most people (rational people) disagree with what the AFDI stand for and believe, that does not mean we as a people should attempt to censor or silence their freedom of speech.  

These two religious zealots attempted to murder people for drawing a picture.  Instead of focusing on how to stop these kind of attacks from happening at the core (the religious implications), we have people who are saying that people should give up their freedom of speech for safety.  Does that not imply to give into the demands of a bully?  My main question to you is if the Westboro Baptist church members were massacred for their bigoted, hateful speech, would you defend them?  Even though they (Westboro) are a hate group, do they not deserve their freedom of speech?

Until next time,
The Secular Panda

References: YouTube link HERE

Picture link HERE

Article Reference #1 HERE

Article Reference #2 HERE