Free Speech
I noticed when Justin first waded into the Archbishop of Canterbury firestorm, that he was jumping to conclusions (which, frankly, surprises me). He accused those of us who were highly critical of Williams’ remarks of not having read his speech. I had and despite being highly literate, I found the unnecessarily opaque verbiage hard going. I also read the transcripts of the Radio 4 interview and I remain as critical now as I did when I first read them, just as I am critical of Williams’ earlier attempts to justify the restriction of free speech on the grounds that religious minorities should not be offended. The reaction was not mob rule – it was a perfectly reasonable and predictable reaction.
At the time, I couldn’t really be bothered to argue. Today, however, Justin throws down the gauntlet and conflates the issue with freedom of speech and implies that we are hypocrites:
So, a Danish newspaper reprints *that* cartoon. Let’s see how many people who savaged the Archbishop defend the right to print it.
Okay, I’ll take up the gauntlet… I will defend their right to print whatever they want to print – just as I would defend the right of the Archbishop of Canterbury to play verbal footsie with Islam (indeed, I did while criticising his remarks). However, the right to free speech means that one has to be prepared to recognise that there may be consequences and accept the outcomes. Rowan Williams wasn’t. The Danish magazine editors, I suspect, are.
I remain consistent in this matter. Roundly condemning Williams’ remarks does not mean that I am in any way attacking his freedom of speech; I am exercising my right to respond. That is how it is supposed to work. There isn’t, as Justin implies, any hypocrisy here.
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Comment by The Great Simpleton
# February 15, 2008,
I too defended his right to use free speech, which I also pointed out was rather ironic given he wanted to curtail the free speech on the rest of us when it came to criticising his religion.
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