A federal judge in New York ruled yesterday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could not ban a pro-Israel ad from the buses in the city. The ad was just text; here is what it says:
In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel/Defeat Jihad.
The MTA had refused the ad on the ground that it "demeaned" Muslims. Get it? Calling those who engage in jihad "savage" demeans them. I guess that the guys who brought us 9-11 are really not savage at all. And those jihadis who killed thousands in Afghanistan and Iraq, they are not savage either.
The funny thing is that the court ruled against the MTA because the restrictions place on ads on the buses were not uniform. Under the MTA's rules, it was ok to demean certain groups, but not others. For example, an ad could call lawyers sleazy. An ad could call blondes dumb. An ad could call conservatives neanderthal. An ad just could not be directed at a racial or religious group. The judge, who was appointed by Obama, decided that this violated the first amendment.
I guess that the right result for the wrong reason is better than the wrong result for any reason. Still, you have to wonder when you read a decision like this one.
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