01-31-2006, 11:34 AM
The cartoons were in very bad taste and freedom of speech or not, the editor of the paper made a huge mistake in allowing those to be published. Once again ignorance and lack of respect for other cultures is deemed accepted under the guise of "free speech". Despite this, the world should know by now not to make a mountain out of a mole hill when it comes to these kinds of paper-selling techniques, because in the West freedom of speech is often used for shock value and commercial purposes.
Boycott if you like, but those Danish companies had nothing to do with the newspaper publishing those pictures. Freedom of speech will always be defended because it is better to suffer through the misuse of freedom of speech than be censored on important topics. This is why the Danish people support the right to free speech in this case, even if they found the cartoons to be distasteful. Punish them if you like, but if you really understand their perspective you might think twice.
And for some of you mentioning Ahmadinejad and his comments about the holocaust - he is being just as sensational as the Danish newspaper was trying to be. However, Ahmadinejad is going one step further by hosting a conference on whether the holocaust really happened or not. The idea that the holocaust is a myth and was used as a basis for establishing the state of Israel is such a load of crap. I'm guessing it will be a short conference because there is overwhelming evidence that the holocaust was real and millions of innocent Jews were murdered! There should be more fuss over Ahmadinejad than some cartoons in a Danish newspaper. Just because many Australians dislike Israelis doesn't mean brainless people like Ahmadinejad should be supported with his stupid claims.
(The Ahmadinejad topic should be put in a new thread if it becomes the focus now. I was just saying it is related to this topic in that Ahmadinejad was using "free speech" just as irresponsibly as the Danish newspaper was.)
Boycott if you like, but those Danish companies had nothing to do with the newspaper publishing those pictures. Freedom of speech will always be defended because it is better to suffer through the misuse of freedom of speech than be censored on important topics. This is why the Danish people support the right to free speech in this case, even if they found the cartoons to be distasteful. Punish them if you like, but if you really understand their perspective you might think twice.
And for some of you mentioning Ahmadinejad and his comments about the holocaust - he is being just as sensational as the Danish newspaper was trying to be. However, Ahmadinejad is going one step further by hosting a conference on whether the holocaust really happened or not. The idea that the holocaust is a myth and was used as a basis for establishing the state of Israel is such a load of crap. I'm guessing it will be a short conference because there is overwhelming evidence that the holocaust was real and millions of innocent Jews were murdered! There should be more fuss over Ahmadinejad than some cartoons in a Danish newspaper. Just because many Australians dislike Israelis doesn't mean brainless people like Ahmadinejad should be supported with his stupid claims.
(The Ahmadinejad topic should be put in a new thread if it becomes the focus now. I was just saying it is related to this topic in that Ahmadinejad was using "free speech" just as irresponsibly as the Danish newspaper was.)