Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Free Speech

Ignoring the response of the Muslim communities I’ve had a few thoughts on the whole issue in relation to the cartoons published in the Danish papers.

I was reading the comment by Simon Jenkins in the times, he bought tout the point that ALL new papers are censored, albeit self centred, there is an editor who looks through and edits (or censors) what is in the paper, something’s you don’t put in and leave our for public decadency, therefore the publishing of the cartoons were both deliberate and intentions.

What is free speech; the articles defend freedom of the press/free speech as the ability to satire and parody the sacred and religious…. Frankly if that’s what free speech is I don’t want it. I mean for people who have nor religion and nothing is sacred then free speech becomes just an excuse to dilbretly mock others.

Hang on I tell a lie, I suppose to people there are sacred things, maybe if a Islamic paper published a cartoon of a dog doing obscene acts with the (dead) mother of the editor of whichever newspaper that would be fair game… I mean that would be free speech….

But (you say) that would just be rude and offensive and vindictive. My point, the cartoons were exactly that. It might be free speech yet it certainly wasn’t loving or sensitive.

Also, people are upset with the protesters carrying slogans referring to 7/7 and threatening violence on the newspapers etc… isn’t this free speech? Isn’t this just people excersing the same right the papers did?

Right I say now I condone neither. The cartoons were offensive and rude, and the protests were shocking and excessive. My main thought would be how would we feel if a paper published a cartoon of Jesus in a gay bar? Or perhaps St Peter fast-tracking abortionist killers and bombers into heaven? This is my issue, there may be free speech, yet why do we not have as much passion for when people blaspheme, we just ignore it, or if people mock our saviour, we just stand and take it. I’m NOT advocating any attempts of violence or brutality on people who are irreverent, just a challenge to stand up more for our faith when its being eroded and mocked.

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