Free speech is like a Ferrari


The cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall has an interesting take on the Muslim cartoons controversy. He asks:
"Which is why, in a nation with a truly free media, there is no line. To hell with the nanny media. Free speech is like a Ferrari: What good is it if you don't use it or if you barely use it, only driving it in town, in stop-and-go traffic? It's useless until you can head out to the Arizona desert and push it past 150 mph. Short of libel, slander and impersonation, anything goes--that is, if you believe in the First Amendment."
I would go further and say that even libel and slander might be justified if what is said is true and said in the public interest. In Australia and Britain free speech can be severely limited if what one says can be shown to harm the reputation of, say a corrupt politician, even if what one says is true. The truth of what one says is not at issue, it is the harm caused to the corrupt politician's reputation. He might not get re-elected. All instances of foolishness, ignorance, and gullibility should be fair game for the cleansing satire of cartoonists, especially political and religious foolishness.
In the Danish cartoon controversy one might ask the question, is this in the political interest of the neo-cons trying to drum up anti-Muslim feeling in order to push for more invasion and conquest in the Middle East? Maybe, but I would say the invasion of Iraq has done far more to stir up anti-American and anti-western feelings in the Muslim world. The killing of scores of thousands of innocent Iraqis is far more offensive to Muslim sensitivities than a few tasteless cartoons published in a conservative newspaper.

no more

Posted: Sat - February 11, 2006 at 06:21 PM        

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