Charlie Hebdo killings in France and "FREE SPEECH"

[adrianh]

We are free to poke whomever we like, one simply needs to remember that every action has consequences. Like throwing a cigarette butt into a veld, a small action may have huge consequences. If you have a schizophrenic child living in your house and you poke him with a stick all day long then something bad is bound to happen....so once the child kills all the kids at school then we get to claim that it was the child's fault because the child was "bad"

You see, the point is simply that they did not consider the consequences of their actions even though they were warned on numerous occasions....and of course those fools who shot them also did not consider the consequences of their actions because they've unleashed a $h1tstorm of religious hatred. At the end of the day both sides are wrong!

[pmbguy]

I think they knew full well that their lives were under threat and decided that their message was more important than their lives. They were martyrs for a cause and the people who killed them were martyrs for their cause... which cause do you think is more just?

[adrianh]

Neither, one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist so judgement can only be made from a particular side of the fence.

[pmbguy]

Surely people like this cannot be classified as terrorists in any definition of the term. Then when I consider that their cause was freedom of speech I have to put my hat in their corner. Jeez Adrian for a member of the Church of the Spaghetti Monster (CSM) I thought you would hail them as honorary members of your cause... surely spaghetti law and doctrine advocates science and truth which necessitates freedom of speech.

Even if you judge them as fools for risking their lives then surely they are at worst useful fools.

[flaker]

this has been playing in my mind all day.

On the one side we have a graduate school of okes some owning and others working in running a magazine that pokes fun at at all sorts, politics,actors, famous people and RELIGION (be it Christianity,Islam,Hinduism,& every other.) But religion!! why? ,there are a set of persons that have their particular set of believes and obedience to their Lord . Why denigrate, why poke fun at these beliefs. There has to be a line drawn somewhere for this "freedom of expression".

Now on the other side we have these four folks, 2 brothers one of whom is a failed rapper.The 3rd & 4th is a career criminal and his girlfriend. 2 of them have spent time in french prisons. Young, marginalised,vulnerable. Easy prey for Yemenis' Al Qaeda

we now have had this million man march. Tomorrow it would be forgotten

it would be forgotten in the same manner as the 15 that died in Yemen recently when an USA drone missed its target & blew out a convoy of wedding procession. All lost & forgotten

Let us learn to respect all religions. Let us be tolerant of all religions and then we would have learnt "what freedom of expression" truly is

[CLIVE-TRIANGLE]

Look at it from a different perspective: if a group of people continually goad another group who are prone to violence then they have to take part responsibility for the consequences. I am not saying that the killings were justified, hell no, but if you continue to taunt people then you shouldn't be surprised when they react.

Put another way, when your beliefs are continually shown to be downright ridiculous and untenable....

A caricature of de Gaulle, or Jesus or TB Joshua might be an appropriate tit-for-tat. But slaughter? But then again, they did EXACTLY what the Qu'ran calls for.

I will never agree with your point of view, ever. The fact that you may have correctly predicted the consequences does not make it reasonable. Rushdie wrote about their absurdities, they drew cartoons. What's in between? Ignore it like it doesn't exist?

[Justloadit]

If one does protest too much, does it not show that there may be some truth in it?

It is also a sign of insecurity, it may be they do not wish the masses to be educated on the flaws, which ultimately means loss of membership.

The Spanish inquisition was also ruthless in its madness to sow the seed.

How the Spanish Inquisition Worked http://history.howstuffworks.com/his...quisition4.htm
While most people think of a single Inquisition, history isn't quite that simple. Most of the inquisitions had little to do with creating unity. Instead, the goal was to maintain authority and discourage rebellious behavior.

[adrianh]

I never said that it is 'reasonable' I said that if you poke fun at a schizophrenic child then that child will react. I am not looking at it from an emotional perspective nor a perspective of what is said to be right or wrong, I am merely stating my view on cause and effect.

The two groups are both wrong, the cartoonists knew full well that those people would react sooner or later and of course the reaction that they got was over the top.

[wynn]

I think this says it all!!

[ians]

Both made a statement, just in a different manner.