OFF: Freeedom of Speech

[M Holmes]

Carl Edlund Anderson writes:

> I don't entirely understand this (now somewhat convoluted) debate.
>
> Insofar as I am aware, no cartoon of Mohammed published in any European
> country of late has actually been published in violation of the laws of
> those countries.

Correct.

> If this understanding is true, then any further debate
> over the legalities of the issue is surely moot?

If you take the view that Islamic rules apply to Muslims and they have
no more right to apply them to us than they have to demand we don't eat
bacon rolls, then yes, it's pretty moot in the American sense of the
word - the British sense means the opposite).

> Whether these cartoons
> may be illegal somewhere else, or even whether they are offensive to
> some citizens of the countries in which they have been published, seems
> irrelevant.  Lots of things that are offensive to some are still legal,
> and rightly so (IMO).

Yup.

> Moreover,if some people want the laws about what's legal to publish
> changed, then there are existing legal avenues for them to pursue this
> end.

Indeed, but religions are often populated by idiots who'd rather throw
their toys out of the pram and threaten others with harm than engage in
the hard work of trying to persuade others of their cause. It may not be
the case that Islam is more choc-full of this type of person than other
religions, but the press they're getting of late is certainly making it
look that way. It's well past time for the sane Muslims to rein in their
loonies.

The one thing we can be grateful of in the past couple of weeks is that
in Britain at least, a start seems to have been made on that project.

FoFP