Journalist Leigh Phillips has an excellent article on Ricochet about free speech in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo atrocities. If you've seen some of the Hebdo cartoons and thought, "Hey, the world *would* be a better place without that shit," you really really
REALLY
need to read this.
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3 comments:
The exercise of freedom without responsibility is immoral, and -- at its most basic -- human life, if lived properly, must be moral. But perhaps I am overstating the case.
To whom is the responsibility owed? If the subjects of what you and I might think are disgusting or disrespectful cartoons are targets because of their own vile actions, does the artist not owe it to the victims to expose and vilify those actions? To strip powerful people of their cloak of sanctity and respect to show them for what they are to the world?
I am not coming down on either side of the Charlie Hebdo debate. I am merely make a philosophical argument about freedom. As social animals, we are all responsible for everything we say and do. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." Perhaps I have quoted incorrectly, but I stand by the philosophy embraced by that statement.
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