Adaś

Brother: Hey, nobody hassles my little brother.
 
Martin: Hey!  And no one manhandles the bosom chum 
of Nelson Muntz. Spring forth, burly protector, and save 
me!
          [long pause; the kids look around. Nelson 
             emerges from behind
             a tree, looking rather embarassed]
 
Nelson: Aw, jeez.  I never hang out with him, normally.
          [throws the brother off Martin]
 
Martin: [skipping around Nelson and singing]
Hark to the tale of Nelson,
and the boy he loved so dear.
They remained the best of friends
For years and years and years.

 I’ve been giving this matter a lot of thought since it surfaced, not really knowing where I stand on the issue. On one hand the recent push from the Islamic world to have their way on things has been irritating me ever so much. Events such as the head-scarf protests in France and the matter of Sharia Law here in Ontario had made me (along with a lot of westerners) quite irritated with the culture, often asking, “Why are we constantly bending over backwards to please them?” among other questions. Then this thing hit the fan and I found myself much more on the fence with the issue than with the previous matters. You see, long before someone drew cartoons depicting and satirizing Mohammed, many, many people used Jesus and other religious entities and symbols in similar ways. If it wasn’t Kanye West with a crown of thorns it was ‘Jesus is my Homeboy’ t-shirts, and so on. And I always thought that maybe that was something that was crossing the line and could be seen as offensive. Hence, I could sympathize with these Muslims in a way and almost applauded the reaction they managed to get out of so many European leaders. Apologies flowed like vodka at a Polish party, and I wondered to myself – Now if we could only get people to apologize for the kind of trash popular culture has recently put out about Christianity….maybe what we need to do is protest in the streets and throw stones…Of course, upon careful consideration, I realized that it was a silly idea. We didn’t advance this far as a society only to plunge back into angry mob mentality tactics. So I began to think once more about what I really thought about this whole mess. Who was right? Who did I agree with?

Well the other day during a conversation with a couple of friends of mine, I finally came to my own conclusion. Basically, it is this – People should have the freedom of expression and cartoonists should be able to satirize whomever they please. However, if it just so happens that something that has been said or certain work which has appeared is found to offend a large group of people and they are upset, such works should not continue to be published. These groups should express their dislike of the work, PEACEFULLY, and the artists and media should have enough decency and common sense to cease publication of something that offends such a large group (it would have to be a large group, because let’s be honest, we can’t be yanking things off the TV because Joe Six Pack got offended). Having said that, I don’t think anyone should have to apologize for such work. These people aren’t really sorry for their work. They are sorry that it’s created a shit storm, but they made it or said it because they feel a certain way. Finally, the kind of protests that have been going on in the Muslim world should be condemned by every single developed country in the world. There is no justification for such an overreaction. Such protests should only take place if an event has occurred which has threatened people’s lives and all other forms of protest have been unsuccessful. If we don’t condemn this kind of behaviour and continue to apologize for one of our fundamental rights, the right to free speech, we are lost as a civilization.

“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” – Voltaire