“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.” – Voltaire
I appreciated the contrary view on censorship expressed by Desiree Chretien in last week’s Gazette. I happened to read it just after reading the horrible news from Paris about the Charlie Hebdo massacre, so the whole issue of censorship and publication of sensitive issues was etched in my mind.
While I generally agree with Ms Chretien that free criticism is a right and should in fact be encouraged, I do however, have some reservations. Firstly, I agree with free speech and will defend the right to express one’s opinion.
However, to threaten to murder someone is an indictable offence under our laws, murder itself is a capital offence in most countries, and is certainly one of the most important commandments of most religions. That is where I draw the line. I do not believe we should threaten a living person, especially a leader of a country whom we really don’t know any more about than what the American press likes to tell us. To mock politicians is fine but to threaten them with death is going one step too far. The west (or at least the USA) may be at odds with North Korea but we are not at war with them.
I happened to be in Copenhagen the week before the publication of the original Mohammed cartoons in 2005, and at that time and ever since I have thought that the position of the Muslim jihadists was and continues to be ridiculous. It is fine for a religious sect to impose restrictions on their followers but to expect the entire world to abide by their preaching is out of the question. When in their country, yes, you must respect their laws but also when they are in our country or any other country they must respect the laws of that country whether they agree with them or not.
As Voltaire also said – “What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly – that is the first law of nature.”
Certainly the jihadists must learn to pardon all of us, especially the cartoonist, for expressing our respective opinions. Personally, I am quite tolerant of others’ views, and in fact appreciate contrary opinions, as I am sure Ms Chretien is. If we all think the same we may all be wrong.
Ken Allred, St. Albert
