Vocal Voices

All is not forgiven then goes on to show who has published what around the EU and outside of it.

One of the most enlightening points in the article was this one from Belgium.

Le Soir also retweeted a mocking portrait of Flemish separatist Bart de Wever, in which he bears an uncanny resemblance to Adolf Hitler. De Wever’s comment on the image was a direct reference to reactions to the front page of Charlie Hebdo.

“Being mocked is the price of freedom, and we pay it gladly,” writes de Wever.

That, to me, is what we should all be saying. Anybody who can't accept that, whether in good or even bad grace, does not belong in a modern western society and should go way to where values from the 7th century dominate. Of course they'll have to give up their alcohol, easy access to goods, food and services and live a much harsher life.

Tough!

Being mocked is one thing but it can go OTT, like the Pope waving a condom.

pederito1 wrote:Being mocked is one thing but it can go OTT, like the Pope waving a condom.

Yes, well, of course, this is the issue. isn't it? How do you regulate good taste? How do you even define good taste? And if you've actually driven a section of your community into a state of apocalyptic rage, do you compound matters and produce even more tasteless literature / pictures?

Are we, ultimately, just exchanging one set of veiled bearded thought police for another set of righteous atheistic thought police? You know, the sort that will prosecute or persecute you if you're not happy with baking a LGBT cake, or allowing breastfeeding in a restaurant, or if you don't object to foxhunting?

Politicians keep trumpeting about the freedoms we have in our democracy. I think there's some funny definitions of freedom out there ....

It is one thing to be mocked and another to be provoked, though the two can be combined.

The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo is both. It mocks Islam and its prophet in a way that is deliberately provocative. I have no problem with that; it can mock all prophets and religions for all that I care. However, as Islam is so intolerant by design, it will not surprise me if there is some sort of backlash from its followers.

I would not go out of my way to insult someone; I wasn't brought up like that. But I wouldn't expect someone who insulted someone else to be murdered for it.

There is a place for Satire in our society. It allows us to poke fun at the self righteous and, hopefully make people take a step back and reassess what they are saying and doing.

Hence, the prophet or Allah with a bomb in his turban == People are claiming that it is right for them to bomb and murder because the prophet said it was all right, time to come out and say it is not right.

The response is very telling. Rage, riot, burn, condemn, Murder.

So who's wrong? Those who point the finger or those who are so wrapped up in their personal little fantasies that they can't see that they are ostracising themselves. Another case in point. Planet overpopulated, people starving due to overpopulation, pope bans contraception, hence pope with a Condom.

The message is clear. Stop being offended and start thinking.

So now we come to the latest release. It is a fundamental thing and time people took it on board. Islam bans _Moslems_ from depiction of Allah, or the prophet (supposedly as it does not come right out and say it), also it bans alcohol, pork and a whole lot of other things like women dressing to allure. Islam also gives Men a pretty free ride and Women a hard ride, much as Christianity did not so many centuries ago.

However, to the key point, Islam does _Not_ ban others from depicting Allah, Mohammed or anyone else. It doesn't ban them from Alcohol or pork or any of the other of the Islamic "vices". So it's about free speech. Don't like being ridiculed? Then don't be ridiculous or don't buy the magazine.

What you do NOT do is go around declaiming them as some kind of child murderer and then insight the crazies in the religion to murder them.

That is what this is all about and that is what the press should be saying. Charlie Hebdo are not Moslem. Ergo they are not bound by Islamic rules. Don't like what they have to say? Grow a thicker skin.

Otherwise there will, eventually, be religious war. On that score there are more of us and we have the technology.

I'm not going to apologise for anything Charlie Hebdo has done. It's part of our society. Integrate or get out. There are plenty of Christians who don't like what CH has to say, but they won't try and close them down as they recognise they have an important place in our society. Otherwise we'd turn into some kind of communist state and that would be no better.