In the wake of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, people have been falling over themselves to defend the right of free speech. Despite this it appears all speech is free, but some speech is more free than others. It raises an interesting question of where the line should be drawn. Some people might be supportive of the right of some to say something that others would rather was illegal to say. I can only throw in my two cents and hope that none of you think what I'm saying should be illegal.
I'll start in France where the attacks occurred. After the attacks there were marches in Paris led by world leaders including President Francois Hollande. Yet only three days later, the controversial French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala was arrested for publicly supporting terrorism in a facebook post. The post in question said "As far as I am concerned, I feel I am Charlie Coulibaly." mixing the popular proclaimation "Je suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) with the name of one of the men who carried out the attacks. Dieudonne claimed he meant that he support freedom of speech, hence Charlie, but people treated him like Coulibaly. Dieudonne's explanation may be perfectly legitimate, or it may be a load of bullshit. Is it not however hypocritical of France to arrest someone for something they said after marching in support of freedom of speech? I've never seen any of Dieudonne's routines, so I don't know how bad they are, but surely they shouldn't be banned. If his material is as bad as people say it is, he won't get much attention from people and his audience will be filled with people nobody would rather associate with.
Je suis Raif Badawi. Before I say who Raif Badawi is, I'd like to point out that the Saudi ambassador to France was present at the march in Paris. Raif Badawi is a Saudi blogger who is currently serving a sentence for insulting Islam. He has to pay a fine of one million riyals (£175,714.29 or €230,303.73 or CHF 229,086.19). He has to spend ten years in prison. He has to receive 1000 lashes. He receives 50 lashes every Friday in front of the Jeddah mosque in front of whatever crowd gathers (and crowds do gather). This one really hits home with me because a recent post I made might just have caused me to lose a friend because he believed I was insulting Islam. It made me realize I would've lost more than a friend were I in Saudi Arabia. I might have lost my head as well. Raif has received 50 of his 1000 lashes and the Saudi government has decided to review his case. Saudi Arabia marching for freedom of speech is about as ironic as North Korea marching for demilitarization. Je suis Raif Badawi.
The Pope gave his two cents about freedom of speech. I like Pope Francis. If every religious person was like Pope Francis, I would not be an anti-theist. So it really disappointed me to learn that he like many other religious people in the world is part of what Salman Rushdie would call the "but" crowd. Those who don't condone the killings BUT... Like the man who may or may not still be my friend, Pope Francis portions some of the blame to the victims. He stated that we should avoid blasphemy because of how seriously people take their religion. I would simply say that if Pope Francis doesn't want to have religious beliefs ridiculed, then he shouldn't have ridiculous religious beliefs.
Here in the western world we have certain values we cherish. One of the biggest one is freedom of speech. Whether we want to blaspheme, insult a religion or make poorly worded statements regarding how people see us should not matter. So I am going to say a few things here and now that in other places I would not be allowed to say. Fuck the king of Saudi Arabia for ruling over a country where people are publicly flogged. Fuck anyone who thinks that I have to abide by the rules of their religion. Most of all fuck anybody who tries to tell me or anyone else what they can or cannot say.
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