Freedom of speech

I am against taking any attacks personally on anyone anywhere. To me, it smacks of lack of basic humantarian decency. Democracy and freedom of speech, in my opinion, have their limits. One can have his right to expression as long as it does not hurt the sentiments of the others.

Below is a news from today's Economic Times, which talks about influential groups in the US vehemently protessting a "racist cartoon". Fair enough. 

But when a similar controversy erupted in Europe ( Denmark, Norway and a couple of other countries) about 2 years ago, when their newspapers depicted cartoons about the holy person of a particular religion ( we all know this, dont we?), that particular community erupted in protest, virtually across the world. The response of these western guardians of freedom of speech?  - " we have every right to express ourselves"...  

The current case at hand certainly smacks of double standards of the West.

My take on all this? Parody is OK, pun is fine, poking mildly is OK, but dont hit below the belt... that is plain indecent

Read on......

Monkey cartoon sparks racial row in US 19 Feb 2009, 1426 hrs IST, AGENCIES

NEW YORK: A New York Post cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing US President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police  More Pictures drew outrage from civil rights leaders and elected officials who said it echoed racist stereotypes of African-Americans as monkeys.  The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. The caption reads: “They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”  The cartoon refers to a chimpanzee named Travis who was killed on Monday by police in Stamford, Connecticut, after it mauled a friend of its owner.  Some critics called the cartoon racist and said it trivialized a tragedy in which a woman was disfigured and a beloved chimpanzee killed. Others said the cartoon suggests that Obama should be assassinated. Many urged a boycott of the Post and the companies that advertise in it.  ``How could the Post let this cartoon pass as satire?'' said Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists. ``To compare the nation's first African-American commander in chief to a dead chimpanzee is nothing short of racist drivel.''  State Sen. Eric Adams called it a ``throwback to the days'' when black men were lynched.  The Rev. Al Sharpton, an influential civil rights leader, called the cartoon ``troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys.''  The cartoon set off a furious response against the Post. Its phones rang all day with angry callers. Protesters picketed the tabloid's Manhattan offices, demanding an apology and a boycott and chanting ``shut the Post down.''  Col Allan, editor-in-chief of the Post, defended the work. ``The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut,'' Allan said in a statement. ``It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist.''  The cartoon drew hundreds of comments on the Internet including at the liberal Huffington Post, where columnist Sam Stein wrote: ``At its most benign, the cartoon suggests that the stimulus bill was so bad, monkeys may as well have written it. Most provocatively, it compares the president to a rabid chimp.''  White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined comment. ``I have not seen the cartoon,'' he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama returned to Washington from Arizona, where he announced his plan to deal with the foreclosure crisis. ``But I don't think it's altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post.''  It is not the first time that Delonas, the longtime cartoonist for the Post's famed Page Six, has raised eyebrows with a heavy-handed caricature.  An earlier Delonas cartoon made fun of Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills for having only one leg, and another compared gay people seeking marriage licenses to sheep lovers. In a cartoon last month, an enormous Jessica Simpson dumps boyfriend Tony Romo for Ronald McDonald, the mascot of McDonald's.