Scots Taffer on 14/2/2006 at 02:57
A very well written and cogent, albeit tardily released, rant.
Swiss Mercenary on 14/2/2006 at 03:27
Quote:
The mob has turned this into a test case for freedom of speech in the West. The German, French and Italian newspapers that republished these cartoons did so not to inform but to defy — to declare that they will not be intimidated by the mob.
This is exactly why I feel so ashamed that the (vast majority of?) Commonwealth and US newspapers did not publish those cartoons.
:erg:
Rogue Keeper on 14/2/2006 at 08:44
Stitch. I got you. But.
Why not trying to be better and focus on development of our own humanism
instead of pointing at animalism of the others? And not just that - we know very well what primitivism of simple-mindedness and undereducation can do, but we are provoking them anyway. Only to have reason to point at them and feel so "superior".
I think we should do everything wiser. But we don't, because in the essence we are the same creatures like those "animals". Erratic people.
It is of course very convenient for everyone to think how "better" we are than someone else. But you know it's just a convenient delusion. Often we use this delusion to support our own flawed egos, chill our inner demons and ease our not-so-perfect lives.
Absolute majority of civilized people are able to commit far more horrible acts than just burning embassies. What it demands? Not really much. Just a boost of some primal instincts and emotions. You know what things result from the idiotic feeling of civilizational superiority. Fascism, Nacism, despotic Communism? Perfect example. It was the civilizationally superior West which spawned two destructive World Wars afterall. Wars we are waging are not children of under-education and religious fanatism - they're being born in well educated, intelligent heads with destructive ambitions, lust for power and influence. It's very cold and calculated. Civilizationally superior violence?
That peel of our civilized behavior is damn thin.
Gingerbread Man on 14/2/2006 at 08:58
This thread is an incredible example of the words : ideas ratio gone horribly awry.
Zygoptera on 14/2/2006 at 10:42
Quote Posted by Swiss Mercenary
This is exactly why I feel so ashamed that the (vast majority of?) Commonwealth and US newspapers did not publish those cartoons.
Personally, I'm more ashamed that newspapers in my country saw fit to publish cartoons whose sole purpose (now) is to offend- and if that wasn't clear to the original publishers it
is clear as mud now. Publishing those cartoons does not in any meaningful way protect 'freedom', of the press or anything else, only the 'right' to be deliberately insulting and offensive.
mopgoblin on 14/2/2006 at 11:56
I disagree. The responsibility to provide all of the relevant information is more important than not offending people. Seeing the cartoons is necessary for anyone to have much chance of fully understanding the situation.
Zygoptera on 14/2/2006 at 12:41
The cartoons are all over the internet (in fact this sort of dissemination is one of the things the internet is undoubtably good at), and if you don't have internet access you're unlikely to be interested in the issue. Thus no need to publish to inform- most of the papers did fine with a written description anyway.
Malygris on 14/2/2006 at 14:49
Quote Posted by Zygoptera
if you don't have internet access you're unlikely to be interested in the issue.
How the hell do you figure that?
Zygoptera on 14/2/2006 at 20:51
Logic. Pretty much everyone in New Zealand has access to the internet, either at home or at work or from a library or from a cybercafe- some of these places even have people who can help the computer illiterate! If you wanted to find out what the cartoons look like (pretty much the definition of being interested in them) then you can, for minimal effort.
