Innocence of Muslims and Vietnamese video stores

The recent arrest of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the alleged creator of the inflammatory film, Innocence of Muslims, reminds me of something that happened about 13 years ago. I don't remember if it received national or international coverage, but I thought it worth mentioning, as it was a big deal at my high school.

In 1999, Truong Van Tran operated Hi-Tek, a video rental store in Westminster, California. Westminster goes by the nickname "Little Saigon" because of its sizable Vietnamese population. Most were refugees fleeing from the Communists, and many were ex-ARVN. As you can imagine, the vast majority absolutely hated Ho Chi Minh. Memories of "reeducation" were fresh in that community.

The community erupted around the holiday season of Tet when Tran put up a picture of Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Vietnamese flag in his store. The number of protesters reached 10,000, with many chanting, singing patriotic songs, and waving South Vietnamese flags. I don't recall that the protests ever turned violent, but they got close a few times.

The story resonated at my high school because there was a number of Vietnamese in the student body (and one somewhat eccentric history teacher, named Mr. Dong). Perhaps differently from those in Little Saigon, many emigrated from Vietnam long after the Vietnam War. It's not obvious whether that made them more or less likely to hate the Communist regime. I know that my friend emigrated in the 1990s, and that his father, a former South Vietnamese government official, had been "reeducated". There may have been others with similar stories.

Eventually, Tran was arrested for video piracy, documented by news cameras that showed lots of bootleg videos in his store.

Similarly, Nakoula was arrested for parole violations, something unrelated to his film.

Now there are important differences. The Westminster protests in 1999 were largely localized and largely peaceful, and directly affected a relatively small group. By contrast, the protests over Innocence of Muslims is global (around 1 billion Muslims and counting) and violent.

But both provide a window into the sometimes conflicting goals of free speech and public order in America.

Some critics would argue that both cases were the result of government and interested parties finding a convenient excuse to make a problem go away. Others would argue that anyone under such high scrutiny would probably be shown to have broken some law. And, finally, it has to be acknowledged that anyone willing to do things that are so mind-numbingly stupid might be more likely to run afoul of social norms and the legal system. (Remember folks, just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean that you should, and it definitely doesn't guarantee it's smart.)

The truth is, all of these factors were probably operating. There is a gulf between our ideals, whether free speech or otherwise, and the extent to which our society reflects them.

We'll see what happens with this guy. Based on the Tran case study, Nakoula probably won't go away -- Tran protested Garden Grove's resolution to make it harder for Vietnamese government officials to pay visits.

We'll also see how this gets reported in the Muslim world, and if this does anything to stem the violent protests.