Daniel Keyes

Following my most recent post, a reader (my dad) directed me to this story.

Tragicomic irony as the United Nations Human Rights Commission urges laws banning free speech. You guessed it … it’s a Motoons thing, pushed by Pakistan and other Muslim nations, horrified that the publication of a cartoon in Denmark forced thousands of Muslims to burn cars, Danish flags and consular buildings and in a couple of cases, to kill each other.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.’s top human-rights body approved a proposal by Muslims nations Thursday urging passage of laws around the world to protect religion from criticism.

The proposal put forward by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic countries — with the backing of Belarus and Venezuela — had drawn strong criticism from free-speech campaigners and liberal democracies.

Free speech, apparently no longer a human right.

As I wrote in my previous post, while the Danish cartoon scandal is old news, the true battle rages on – the battle of free speech, and freedom in general. And as the cartoons were used as ammunition in the battle against free speech during the scandal, the scandal itself continues to be used as ammunition today.

A democratic society depends on the ability of its citizens to openly exchange, debate and criticize ideas. The United Nations wants religion protected from that criticism. It’s an attack on freedom and an attack on our democratic society. While the danger of offence resulting in violence is real (we’ve seen what happens when a group gets offended by some cartoons,) it’s much more dangerous for society if we allow ideas to go unchallenged.

Here’s the original story Jules Crittenden was quoting from in his blog entry.

Update:

I didn’t post the cartoons because I figured they were accessible enough. But, as requested, here’s a link to the cartoons that caused so much commotion.

I accept no man’s authority to approve or disapprove my right to publish something.

Hear, hear!

While the Danish cartoon debate is old news, the free speech debate is as relevant as ever. In light of the release of Levant’s new book, Shakedown, I decided I’d share an essay I wrote on this subject for my “Language of Persuasion” class about a year ago. In the paper, I defend the thesis that the Danish cartoon riots were not about cartoons at all – Muslim fundamentalists used them to fuel outrage and create fear, which became a powerful tool in an organized effort to attack free speech, and the Western media submitted to that fear. Levant was one of the few who did not, and he was taken to the human rights tribunal for it.

Read it here: Terror as a persuasive medium in the attack on free speech

The Danish cartoon scandal was not about cartoons at all. It was about the freedom of speech. The riots were an organized campaign designed to silence any criticism of fundamentalist Islam and it managed to strike fear in the hearts of the Western media. Fear prevailed over the freedom of speech during that violent time. But the battle is far from over. If the Media realizes that submitting to fear will only encourage more violence the next time someone speaks out, and if they approach sensitive issues with more courage the next time, free speech will reign once again.