Freedom of speech, ahahahaha, and the Alliance for White Liberty
Gosh, lawks, fancy that, cor stone the crows, etc:
It's a tribute, I suspect, to the impact of the antiwar movement that not one newspaper in the UK has dared reprint the cartoons. I've no idea if the bar will hold, but it's mildly reassuring that a basic decency has ruled thus far.
Only the political dregs have decided racist provocation has its merits: the BNP, reproducing the most offensive of the cartoons on its website - I won't link to the site, but they helpfully parallel Griffin's acquittal with the actions of European newspapers. The fascists' response is predictable; more disturbing, in its way, is that an organisation allegedly on the "anti-racist" left, the ill-titled "Alliance for Workers' Liberty" has seen fit to republish the pictures, with some ludicrous bleating about "not letting religious authorities" decide what's unpublishably offensive and what isn't - as if a genuine organisation of the left can't see racism for itself. (Clearly this shower can't.) The site seems to be down at the moment - perhaps a last flicker of principle has prevailed - but you can view the Google cache here, should you wish to.
Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused a storm of protest throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it has emerged today.
The Danish daily turned down the cartoons of Christ three years ago, on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.
It's a tribute, I suspect, to the impact of the antiwar movement that not one newspaper in the UK has dared reprint the cartoons. I've no idea if the bar will hold, but it's mildly reassuring that a basic decency has ruled thus far.
Only the political dregs have decided racist provocation has its merits: the BNP, reproducing the most offensive of the cartoons on its website - I won't link to the site, but they helpfully parallel Griffin's acquittal with the actions of European newspapers. The fascists' response is predictable; more disturbing, in its way, is that an organisation allegedly on the "anti-racist" left, the ill-titled "Alliance for Workers' Liberty" has seen fit to republish the pictures, with some ludicrous bleating about "not letting religious authorities" decide what's unpublishably offensive and what isn't - as if a genuine organisation of the left can't see racism for itself. (Clearly this shower can't.) The site seems to be down at the moment - perhaps a last flicker of principle has prevailed - but you can view the Google cache here, should you wish to.
posted by Meaders at
8:04 pm
