by Ciwan wrote:Hello Friends
I am a little confused with freedom of speech and expression and was hoping you guys could shed some light on the matter to help me understand a little better.
We have all heard of the Charlie Hebdo incident, and I have just been watching Question Time on BBC iPlayer and some interesting things came up.
One point raised was about 'social responsiblity'. A man in the audience said, sure the magazine had the RIGHT to publish the things they did, but perhaps they should not have due to social responsibility, they KNEW many muslims would get offended, and the posiblity of some of those offended ones to go on killing would be increased with their publication, but they went ahead and did it anyway.
What are your thoughts on the above raised point?
Also, is it true about the double standard that Mehdi Hasan mentioned? France who is supposedly a firecly secular country and a champion of freedom, refused to allow an artist to make t-shirts with the last super on them? Also the president taking some rappers to court cause they were being offensive to France as a country? Finally a comedian going to jail because he wore a shirt saying 'I am Collaborator' instead of 'I am Charlie'?
Finally, is it true that we can't say that the holocaust did not happen? That there are laws that might land us in prison if we say so!?
Any clarification on the above would be great
Thank You.
In the U.S., freedom of speech is only a fairy tale told to children. The government may not be allowed to restrict it. But that means nothing. The private sector can and does restrict it. Such as every political or any other kind of forum I have ever been to. And it is the private sector, such as business, that controls the U.S. To paraphrase Calvin Coolidge, "The business of America IS business."
