"The Guardian believes uncompromisingly in freedom of expression, but not in any duty to gratuitously offend. It would be senselessly provocative to reproduce a set of images, of no intrinsic value, which pander to the worst prejudices about Muslims."
...
"The UN's Arab Human Development Reports have devastatingly exposed the shortcomings of societies which centuries ago made huge contributions to science and thought but in too many ways are now intellectually stultified, uncreative and unfree. Freedom of expression as it has developed in the democratic west is a value to be cherished, but not abused. And it is above all a universal value. Insults, in cartoons or elsewhere, are best ignored, not punished - and not incorporated into a culture of victimhood and intimidation." The Guardian
----
Bush 'Plotted to Lure Saddam into War with Fake UN Plane'
by Andy McSmith
The Independent
---
The spending on the Iraq conflict alone is now approaching the cost of the Korean war, about $330bn in today's dollars. Meanwhile the cost of the overall "war on terror" - relabelled The Long War in the Pentagon - is already close to half a trillion dollars, and will soon equal that of the 13-year Vietnam war.
--
2 comments:
I read about that Danish cartoon. It's just weird. On the one hand, nobody should get violent over a stupid cartoon. On the other hand, this kind of seems like "yelling 'fire' in a crowded theater" which isn't covered by freedom of speech, because it's irresponsible and could lead to violence.
Yes it was irresponsible and uncalled for and pretty ignorant, and I also agree that people are free to say what they want to say without being threatened with death as a result...it's really messed up..
Post a Comment