I don't know if it's because I'm Canadian or because I'm a writer or a combination... but I'm not sure I get the big kerfuffle about "the Obama cover" on The New Yorker.
Maybe it's because I'm from Canada and we had this huge controversy where a publisher DARED to print cartoons of Mohammed and was sent death threats, sued and hauled into a kangaroo court called the "Human Rights Commission". Since then I've felt strongly that the freedom of speech we need to protect is the most unreasonable speech.
Why?
Because women didn't get to vote by being reasonable.
Schools weren't desegregated because black people were reasonable about it.
Many things have been accomplished through unreasonable writing. This cartoon is a form of expression that should be protected. When we start to self-censor for fear of offending those with thinnest of skins then we lose something very powerful: the ability to change the world through words and images.
1 comment:
LOVE IT! People tend to be for free speech when it agrees with their views, but when it doesn't, look out - temper tantrum.
Nice post.
Justin
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