Those nutty eye-ranians! :)

[wobbegong]

Furthermore Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said:

"The caricatures amounted to a "conspiracy by Zionists who were angry because of the victory of Hamas," he said, referring to the Palestinian militant group that won a surprise landslide victory in last month's elections."

If that's the case then they're even stupider than we thought, the cartoons were published on 30/09/2005, 4 months before the Palestinian election!

[Churchill]

Alas the genie is out the bottle !

Woudlnt it be funny if the entire world was destroyed by a cartoon !

No it wouldnt , Im only joking.

But it is food for thought.

And ...

... it wiznae me ...

This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper...

[AlfredJPruffock]

Does the West's freedom of expression extend to... an event such as the Holocaust or is this freedom of expression only for the desecration of the sanctities of divine religions?" the best-selling paper said in its announcement.

Interesting.

I was against the publication of material which is likely to cause offence on the grounds of bad taste and inciting hatred, yet there have been many of this board arguing vehemently that for purposes of free speech my view was somehow incorrect.

By this token these same people no doubt they will enjoy cartoons of the Holocaust and the hatred it will incite ... and by my values I will choose not view them as this notion is repugnant and not suitable topic for humour , as with the Danish cartoons.

But dont let me spoil your fun chaps, or will you squeal when the boot is on the other foot ?

Free speech and all that.

[darmstadt]

Write them a letter

[Joe Black]

Does the West's freedom of expression extend to... an event such as the Holocaust or is this freedom of expression only for the desecration of the sanctities of divine religions?" the best-selling paper said in its announcement.

Interesting.

I was against the publication of material which is likely to cause offence on the grounds of bad taste and inciting hatred, yet there have been many of this board arguing vehemently that for purposes of free speech my view was somehow incorrect.

By this token these same people no doubt they will enjoy cartoons of the Holocaust and the hatred it will incite ... and by my values I will choose not view them as this notion is repugnant and not suitable topic for humour , as with the Danish cartoons.

But dont let me spoil your fun chaps, or will you squeal when the boot is on the other foot ?

Free speech and all that.

An argument argued by many Alf.

Still I tend to see a difference between mocking/denying an actual event, e.g. the actual murder of x million people, and making fun of something/someone which may not exist/may never have happened and is based simply on a belief.

Bit like the idea of trying to compare someone willing to kill you simply because you said the Sun isn't the center of the universe (ala Galileo), and comparing that with the anger of someone whose parents/grandparents were actually killed.

Moral equivalency tends at times to be a very weak argument...

[Fungus]

An argument argued by many Alf.

Still I tend to see a difference between mocking/denying an actual event, e.g. the actual murder of x million people, and making fun of something/someone which may not exist/may never have happened and is based simply on a belief.

Bit like the idea of trying to compare someone willing to kill you simply because you said the Sun isn't the center of the universe (ala Galileo), and comparing that with the anger of someone whose parents/grandparents were actually killed.

Moral equivalency tends at times to be a very weak argument...

I suspect that these extreme Islamo-Nazis live in an authoritarian and patriarchal society, and that fear and blind adherence to religious strictures is the way to keep the people under foot. A bit like here in the 17th century. It took us centuries to become more tolerant and not kill someone because they did not worship the right God. My worry is that societies cannot change overnight just because you add the superficial trappings of Western civilisation. It needs a complete cultural about turn. So we will see a new Islamo-Nazi regime arise in a free Palestine as in Iran.

To an Islamo-Nazi mocking Allah/God/Mohammed probably is as bad as insulting a parent, or making jokes about murdered relatives.

We do have ways of preventing free speech. If someone says something too abhorrent, though not inciting a crime, they are often sacked from their job. Think about the NHS driver sacked for doing Hitler impersonations.

I think the Danish government got it about right. They said that they were saddened that Arabs felt insulted, but could not suppress free speech.

Fungus