[Freedom of Speech]
“The right to swing your fist ends at the point of another person's nose."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr on the definition of Freedom
In light of the ridiculous cartoon in the Danish papers, I wanted to discuss the idea of “Freedom of Speech”. After all, it’s the excuse being used to defend the aforementioned cartoon. The rationale is that by being sensitive to Muslim position on the matter, we compromise that right. Words like liberty and democracy are buzzwords thrown out on an emotional basis or as part of propaganda. But the fact remains that there is no such thing as pure freedom, or pure democracy for the matter.
Quite frankly, true democracy and freedom would bring chaos. Theoretically speaking, a child should have a say in a true democracy, regardless of maturity. So we limit their definition to suit society, bringing peace and order to the best of our ability. I put that quote up there to remind those who defend the cartoon crying freedom of speech without even considering responsibility that freedom holds.
It’s funny that the same paper would never think of putting a cartoon of a blackface caricature or anything vaguely anti-semitic. Bear in mind I’m completely against allowing such bigotry to be done in response (unlike a certain Iranian paper is advocating). No, we're better than that. But in today’s society, it seems like its open season on Islam and Arabs. One paper quoted a person upset that in a protest someone was burning the French flag. Come on people, do we not see the irony there? Freedom of speech, huh?
But I have to say, some of the Muslim response to the events are appalling. If you blow up embassies, don’t you think you just might be proving their point? Granted, the media takes these isolated incidences and blows them out of proportion, portraying every protest as a riot. For example, in San Francisco, Muslims called the Danish embassies and voiced their disapproval. Maybe we should hold a conference or release a statement for non-Muslim people, educating about why the depiction of the Prophet is offensive, especially one affiliating it with terrorism. It's a heckuva lot better than blowing stuff up like madmen.
To end on a light note, I leave this quote from Austin Powers 3:
“There are only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Danish.”
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