I have begun to realise that there is no free speech in the world. Or if you really want to speak up something thAt may be contrary to what's in fashion, you'll probably need a strong platform to say it else you'll simple get booed away.
Je suis Charlie became a fashionable post on many a friend's Facebook.
Today while watching Al Jazeera news channel I was surprised to hear other voices and that too from non-Muslims about why the world wasn't acknowledging that the post-shoot out edition of Charlie Hebdo (CH) showing prophet Mohammed as a hooked nose Arab was actually racist. Those words from the lady journalist did challenge my thoughts. Why didn't I think of that? I'm sensitive to these things. Well! Why didn't the CH fans think about it? Is CH also bigoted, like it's attackers were?
Je suis Charlie became a fashionable post on many a friend's Facebook.
Today while watching Al Jazeera news channel I was surprised to hear other voices and that too from non-Muslims about why the world wasn't acknowledging that the post-shoot out edition of Charlie Hebdo (CH) showing prophet Mohammed as a hooked nose Arab was actually racist. Those words from the lady journalist did challenge my thoughts. Why didn't I think of that? I'm sensitive to these things. Well! Why didn't the CH fans think about it? Is CH also bigoted, like it's attackers were?
It was quote evident that the massive gathering in Paris, aiming to show solidarity after the killing of Hebdo's cartoonists, ended more as a revelry than a somber time of introspection. What was also condemned was that some of the world leaders participating in the march would never allow freedom of expression to the likes of Charlie Hebdo and possibly even take punitive actions against such a magazine in their own country.
Anshuman Mondal a reader at a British university has written the book, Islam and Controversy and from his interview I gathered that he possibly intends to expose that bashing Islam has become fashionable, and that if you don't do it, in the non-Muslim world, people consider you to be abnormal. So many people are being criticised for criticising CH's cartoon. Well, if you try to gag those mouths or criticise them, you stand convicted of gagging the freedom of expression yourself, don't you.
And sorry Mr. Pope, CH has the right to make fun of Mohammed and Jesus. But then the rest of the world is also free to assess and critique CH's work. So if the world should be gag-free, it should not be gagged to reveal CH's shortcomings as well. And btw so many people were waiting for this pope to finally say something that they can criticise him about and he has obliged. But hey, wouldn't a heart, a moulvi, rabbi or pundit have done the same (don't they?)
I love free speech, free thoughts, free world etc etc but is any of it really free? I think you have to pay for everything in some way or another. I think free speech should be practiced in a world that practices introspection and allows discussion and debate between differing ideologies, and yet has the good sense to coexist peacefully. But what the fuck, we have to entertain ourselves watching all this defecation of ideologies on TV and in our homes. Hey I'm switching over to Cartoon Network before it gets corrupted as well.
Anshuman Mondal a reader at a British university has written the book, Islam and Controversy and from his interview I gathered that he possibly intends to expose that bashing Islam has become fashionable, and that if you don't do it, in the non-Muslim world, people consider you to be abnormal. So many people are being criticised for criticising CH's cartoon. Well, if you try to gag those mouths or criticise them, you stand convicted of gagging the freedom of expression yourself, don't you.
And sorry Mr. Pope, CH has the right to make fun of Mohammed and Jesus. But then the rest of the world is also free to assess and critique CH's work. So if the world should be gag-free, it should not be gagged to reveal CH's shortcomings as well. And btw so many people were waiting for this pope to finally say something that they can criticise him about and he has obliged. But hey, wouldn't a heart, a moulvi, rabbi or pundit have done the same (don't they?)
I love free speech, free thoughts, free world etc etc but is any of it really free? I think you have to pay for everything in some way or another. I think free speech should be practiced in a world that practices introspection and allows discussion and debate between differing ideologies, and yet has the good sense to coexist peacefully. But what the fuck, we have to entertain ourselves watching all this defecation of ideologies on TV and in our homes. Hey I'm switching over to Cartoon Network before it gets corrupted as well.
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