Quote:
Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist
Those are fine words to believe we are all targets, but it's simply hogwash. Are you a target for getting bombed, burned or shot because the Herald reprints a stupid cartoon? No, that's ridiculous. It will be the girl at reception, the guy working the press out the saleswoman walking around near the front. Printing cartoons should not ever be justification for any violence. Doesn't mean you can call someone who fears for their staff a coward from behind a computer desk. As usual, the subject is more complex and difficult than a slogan or Hitchens YouTube can solve. We need to show solidarity with the press. Maybe we start by not calling them cowards???
I agree it's the right thing to do, but this holier-than-thou finger waiving from behind a computer screen is the very definition of Internet martyrdom.
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Firstly, I never once used the work coward. I don't know where that is coming from. Holier than thou? I am expressing my point of view and that is about it. I feel strongly about freedom of speech, and I think I have been entirely consistent with that view on this and many other subjects.
We are all targets because limitations on free speech affect everyone. We are having an exchange of ideas now that is likely not possible if those radicals have their way. Offensive and harmful are two different things. There are certainly limits to freedom of speech, causing harm is certainly one of them. Causing offense is not.
To be clear, this is not the same as being at risk of being shot or blown up, or living in fear of being shot or blown up, which is really what I think we are talking about here. So is your solution is not to print? Do you really think that solves anything? I think not.
Reprinting should start the dialogue, not end it.