Why Suppressing Free Speech to Protect Religion Is a Bad Idea

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sanjay-sanghoee/why-suppressing-free-spee_b_6498198.html

Sanjay Sanghoee
Author and commentator

Posted: 01/19/2015 4:01 pm EST Updated: 01/19/2015 4:59 pm EST

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, much of Europe and now the U.S. it seems is edging towards censorship of anything that could be construed as offensive to a religion. This includes a report compiled by the NYPD on Islamic terrorism, which some Muslim organizations apparently want taken down from the police department's website and pretty much shredded.

While the Muslim community may be justified in criticizing the NYPD for religious profiling, that is not the same as the compiling of data on the very real trend of radicalization in America. That is information that every American has a right to have and the NYPD should not allow themselves to be bullied into pulling the report.

Here's why.

While the cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo lampooning the Islamic faith were, in my opinion, tasteless and sensationalist, nobody deserved to get killed over them. It's fine to question the judgment and even personal biases of the editors, but not to suppress their right to express their opinion. Muslims in Paris always had the right to picket Charlie Hebdo's offices, write their own scathing editorials and point out that the cartoons weren't really thought-provoking but merely insulting. Where was there a need or justification for violence?

more at link

[Basic LA]

1. Religious taunts or racist taunts?

Though religion is not a race, the cartoons in question, relentless & endless as they were, could be seen as racist in their intent. They have the same effect. Religion might be the wrong lens for viewing this.

[cbayer]

2. I think that these cartoons were rather clearly pointed at religion, not race.

Though I am not sure it's a distinction that is that important.