I have been thinking about the cartoon controversy flaring up around the world and it seems to pose a few questions.
What is the result when everyone tolerates free speech?
Freedom of speech for all.
What is the result when everyone tolerates the free speech of the intolerant?
Violence followed by the spread of intolerance. In other words, freedom of speech for the intolerant alone.
So, what is the proper response of advocates of democracy (civil society) in the face of the intolerant?
To defend free speech against the intolerant, since tolerance demands intolerance of intolerance.
Why, then, haven't American papers supported the Danish cartoonists in the same fashion as European papers?
Why should anybody appease those spreading intolerance by claiming the cartoonists were unreasonable?
What can we gain by tolerating intolerance?
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