Quote:
|
Originally Posted by sacX
well the first example is of a law that hasn't passed yet.. and the second story the guy was found not guilty (although there are still some outstanding charges)..
So I don't see how this shows there's never been freedom of speech?
|
My point is that the Arabs do have a point about the Holocaust denial for example. Whilst there is a case for havign some law in place in Germany (although I don't support the law at all), why in other European countries for example should it be illegal to question the Holocaust and offend Jewish people but fine to offend Islam? I am not advocating that we should now make it illegal to offend Islam also (like is already the case in some European countries despite what you may be lead to believe after this cartoon stuff), what I am arguing is for an American style of free speech (and this isn't a compliment to GWB, but rather to the founding fathers of America).
The second article there, although you are correct he was found not guilty and is under retrial, shows the huge double standard on this issue of free speech in Britian, in that they will dedicate an entire unit of police to tracking down one man for saying something about Islam being a vicious faith, which if it were said by someone else (i.e. someone in a newspaper) it would not even get notice.
I know Europeans have a tendacy to take offence when compared to America in a poor way, but think openly about the issue. Free speech in Europe is certainly not clearly defined, and there is a number of topics, whilst offensive yes, that are made illegal which under the American Constitutional model would be allowed. What I believe is that the American model is one that we should all support and demand, not some model that condemns certain forms of expression because they may be offensive.
I think this article is an excellent summary and I'd suggest you read it
http://www.sundayherald.com/53960 It ends with this:
Quote:
|
I?m not sure where this goes now. But one thing is certain, it won?t be resolved in the courts. I don?t know what is worse, the historian David Irving being charged in Austria with Holocaust denial for a speech he made 17 years ago; the Muslim cleric Abu Hamza on trial in London for inciting racial hatred; or the Crown Prosecution Service?s decision to retry the BNP leader, Nick Griffin. This way madness lies.
|
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." George Orwell