{"id":9570,"date":"2015-02-16T03:32:12","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T03:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=9570"},"modified":"2015-02-16T03:32:12","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T03:32:12","slug":"but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/but\/","title":{"rendered":"‘But’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lars<\/a>Cross-posted on the Corner.<\/a><\/p>\n

A writer<\/a> for the Guardian<\/em>, on cue (my emphasis added):<\/p>\n

We are in perilous territory. Slaughter as political protest cannot be defended. Free speech as legal and moral pre-requisites in a free society must be defended. But there are also other obligations to be laid upon those who wish to live in peaceful, reasonably harmonious societies. Even after Paris, even after Denmark we must guard against the understandable temptation to be provocative in the publication of these cartoons if the sole objective is to establish that we can do so. With rights to free speech come responsibilities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ah yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cResponsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the uproar that followed the appearance of the original Mohammed cartoons, an article was<\/a> published in Jyllands-Posten (the newspaper that first published those cartoons) included this phrase: \u201cYtringsfrihed er ytringsfrihed er ytringsfrihed. Der er intet men<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The translation? \u201cFree speech is free speech is free speech. There is no but.\u201d<\/p>\n

But<\/em> there is.<\/p>\n

As I noted the other day<\/a>, Jyllands-Posten<\/em> is singing a different tune these days, made all the bleaker by its bluntness. The newspaper declined to republish the Charlie Hebdo<\/em> cartoons after the Paris murders saying this:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have lived with the fear of a terrorist attack for nine years, and yes, that is the explanation why we do not reprint the cartoons, whether it be our own or Charlie Hebdo\u2019s,\u201d Jyllands-Posten said. \u201cWe are also aware that we therefore bow to violence and intimidation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In writing<\/a> about the (first) Copenhagen murder last night, I linked to a 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer story that revealed how a number of the meetings due to be addressed by Lars Vilks (the artist whose event was attacked) had been canceled.<\/p>\n

If I had to guess, I suspect that those who, however sadly, canceled those events, are today feeling, however sadly, that they did the right thing. Violence works.<\/p>\n

There will be many more cancellations, many more invitations that go unissued, many more articles that do not get written, and many more cartoons that do not get drawn.<\/p>\n

The noose tightens a bit more.<\/p>\n

In a piece<\/a> published by The Spectator<\/em> before Copenhagen, Douglas Murray writes about a rally held in London a week or so ago:<\/p>\n

Yesterday in London a crowd of more than a thousand British Muslims (carefully divided between males and females) gathered outside Downing Street. The rally \u2013 organised by something calling itself \u2018The Muslim Action Forum\u2019 \u2013 was a protest against freedom of speech, specifically to cartoons of Mohammed in the French publication Charlie Hebdo. Among the banners carried by protestors were ones that read, \u2018I am a servant of holy prophet Muhammad (pbuh)\u2019, the sinister \u2018We love prophet Muhammad (pbuh) more than our lives\u2019, \u2018Jesus and Moses were prophets of Islam\u2019 and the even more presumptuous \u2018Learn some manners\u2019. Among those holding a banner reading \u2018Charlie and the abuse factory\u2019 was a little boy. Others bore banners with the fantastically awful words spoken by the Pope last month: \u2018Insult my mum and I will punch you (Pope Francis).\u2019 A large banner hung beneath the stage from which speakers addressed the crowd carried the barely concealed threat: \u2018Be careful with Muhammad.\u2019<\/p>\n

Meanwhile a group of tribal leaders presented a petition to Number 10 Downing Street which they said had been signed by 100,000 UK Muslims criticising publications which \u2018sow the seeds of hatred\u2019\u2026. Among the speakers was one Shaykh Tauqir Ishaw, a spokesman for the organisers who said:<\/p>\n

\u2018Perpetual mistakes by extremists, either by cold-blooded killers or uncivilised expressionists, cannot be the way forward for a civilised society. The peace-loving majority of people must become vociferous in promoting global civility and responsible debate. At this time of heightened tension and emotion, it is crucial that both sides show restraint to prevent further incidents of this nature occurring.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cRestraint.\u201d \u201cResponsibilities.\u201d \u201cBut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murray:<\/p>\n

Of course much though these fanatics may like to pretend otherwise there are no \u2018two sides\u2019 of the same coin going on here. The \u2018expressionists\u2019 and the \u2018terrorists\u2019 are not \u2018as bad as each other\u2019. The only two things which are in fact conjoined are the people who use guns and bombs to terrorise people for exercising their rights as free Europeans and the very large number of people from the \u2018moderate majority\u2019 who back up such violence (even while, like yesterday\u2019s speakers, claiming to deplore it) with warnings that non-Muslims should be \u2018careful\u2019 when addressing their religion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Quite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted on the Corner. A writer for the Guardian, on cue (my emphasis added): We are in perilous territory. Slaughter as political protest cannot be defended. Free speech as legal and moral pre-requisites in a free society must be defended. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[15,711],"tags":[51,501,50,804],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9572,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9570\/revisions\/9572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}