Titanic Post

What good is free speech, if you don’t use it? I am referring to the Danish cartoons that have caused so much violence among fundamentalist Muslims, but I also refer to the American government’s policy of mis-information and our press with their incessant tongue-clucking fear of offending somebody (mostly their advertisers) by showing the cartoons so we would know what the matter is.

The cartoons were requested by an editor to test whether or not Danish cartoonists were self-censoring; some were, but twelve cartoonists submitted work equating Islam with terror and suppression of women. One of the interesting results of the uproar that followed, is the insinuation by some that being provoked justifies a violent reaction. That could lead to thinking that free speech causes violence and would be a great pretext to suppress free speech. Another, more concrete result has been the long term self-censorship by our mainstream media.

It is the fundamentalism part of the equation, the rigid belief that ones own belief is the only true and everlasting belief that leads to violence when that belief is challenged or ridiculed. It also leads to censorship, political correctness, and the absurd fear of offending some group by anxious non-fundamentalists. It is, of course, quite alright that government treats this group like pieces of inferior shit or is even delighted to bomb them into blobs of bloody protoplasm–just don’t offend anybody.

Our government, however, is acting very sensibly in their policy of mis-information. Because, if we actually knew what they were up to, we just might vote the bastards out of their jobs. if we don’t begin to use what’s left of our free speech, we will eventually lose it!