Free speech?

Should you say or do something just because you can? Maybe just to demonstrate your right to express anything that comes to mind. Or perhaps to demonstrate that, in western democracies, nothing is sacred. I guess both reasons are valid ones, so yeah, maybe you should. Sometimes you do need to provoke others in order to make people think. Occasionally, the best way to get a reaction from people is to step on a toe or two. And after all, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are fundamental rights in any democracy.

But does that mean that you should flash your inherent power to insult anyone you want, whenever you feel like it? And is it justifiable to do so repeatedly? I think that while journalists are obligated to push freedom of speech and freedom of the press, you should always put things into context. A possible insult can serve as a means to an end, but should never become and end in (and of?) itself.

What I am referring to is some Danish newspapers’ publication of drawings of the prophet Mohammed in 2005, which led to great commotion across the Muslim world. Soon, other western countries were publishing the same drawings, all while the Danish flag was being burnt in the Middle East and parts of Asia.

No one could have anticipated the reaction that followed the publication of the drawings and luckily all the commotion died down as time went on. It wasn’t a case of two parties settling on a common ground, but more of a truce-situation. Nor could any agreement on freedom of expression be expected between fundamentalist fractions of Islam and western governments and news organizations. But at least things had gone back to ‘normal’ for a while.

So why would you want to go and publish those same drawings two years later? Was it to celebrate the annual “Piss-Muslims-off day” or to demonstrate the joys of free speech? Whatever the reason, let’s just be happy that things didn’t escalade to the same heights of anger around the world this time.