Megyn Kelly vs. Richard Fowler On Free Speech: "You Are Fundamentally Confused And Wrong... Explain That To The Jihadis" Fox News’ primetime lineup is divided on the wisdom of the “Draw Mohammed” cartoon contest that two shooters showed up at on Sunday night. Greta Van Susteren scolded the American Freedom Defense Initiative and Pamela Geller for putting cops at risk, while Bill O’Reilly said that “insulting the entire Muslim world is stupid” and only hurts the cause of fighting the jihad. But Megyn Kelly is standing firm on the importance of the free speech issue, and a lot of what she had to say tonight was in response to O’Reilly, rebutting him by saying the relevant question isn’t whether they “said something offensive,” but “what do we want to do about a group that wants to kill us.” RELATED: ‘Should We Get Rid of All Jews?’: Megyn Kelly Challenges O’Reilly on TX Shooting She ended up clashing with guest Richard Fowler, who was surprised to find himself agreeing with O’Reilly. He insisted it’s offensive and unhelpful, but Kelly passionately argued, “Even if you hate her message, she was promoting free speech.” She very blatantly rebutted what O’Reilly said, told Fowler he’s “fundamentally confused and wrong,” and ended the segment by saying, “I’m concerned about the America you would have us live in.” Fox News host Megyn Kelly is fired up about what Pamela Geller called "the language of the conquered" -- self-censorship imposed via fear by violent extremists. Radio host Richard Fowler finds himself agreeing with Bill O'Reilly that "it is stupid to insult the entire Muslim world" and their religious holy figures, lest they provoke violence, and Megyn Kelly can only respond: "Wow. Richard, I am concerned about the America you would have us live in. That is not the way it was set up." "It is just like going into a theater and yelling out fire, or going into a black church and yelling out the n-word" says Fowler of the idea of hosting a draw-Mohammed contest. "Freedom of speech comes with limits. This is a clear limit." "No," says Kelly. "You are fundamentally confused and wrong. And the U.S. Supreme Court has been very clear on this... I'm telling you this is protected speech." "This is not about case law, this is about common sense," comes the reply. "It is a complete and utter loss of common sense. It doesn't make any sense, why would you paint a caricature of another person's god and say it is ok and laugh at it, and expect them not to respond?" "You're putting the cart before the horse," he continues. "If they never had that event, the jihadis would have never shown up, it is the cart before the horse. It is that simple." "Wow" says Megyn Kelly. "When people exercise their first amendment rights, and two jihadis show up to murder them, the relevant question at that time is not what were they saying... The more offensive the speech is Richard, the more protection it needs. That is how the first amendment works... I am concerned about the America you would have us live in. That is not the way it was set up." Fowler says he wants "to live in an America where everybody accepts everybody and doesn't make fun of their respective gods." Kelly fires back,with a question: "why don't you just explain that to the jihadists? Explain that to them, they need a little lesson in being respectful," before she gives Fowler the last word: "How we beat terrorism is with love, not hate."

• published: 06 May 2015
• views: 115256