Violence as proof of pain
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended free speech on Friday, but added that it was “not without limits” and should not “arbitrarily and needlessly hurt” certain communities.
“We will always defend freedom of expression,” Trudeau said in response to a question about the right to show a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed, as France’s Charlie Hebdo magazine did.
But. But but but but but.
“But freedom of expression is not without limits,” he added. “We owe it to ourselves to act with respect for others and to seek not to arbitrarily or unnecessarily injure those with whom we are sharing a society and a planet.”
And what does “respect for others” mean? Does it require respecting all their beliefs and taboos and dogmas and fantasies? I ask because if it does, we really don’t have free speech at all.
We do not have the right for example to shout fire in a movie theatre crowded with people, there are always limits,” he argued.
Gee, did he think of that all by himself? I’ve never heard it before.
Distancing himself from the position of French President Emmanuel Macron, Trudeau pleaded for a careful use of free speech. “In a pluralist, diverse and respectful society like ours, we owe it to ourselves to be aware of the impact of our words, of our actions on others, particularly these communities and populations who still experience a great deal of discrimination,” he said.
Like girls married off at 12? Like women murdered for talking to a man or not wearing hijab? Like people slaughtered for “apostasy” and “blasphemy”? Or like the people who murder them. You can’t do both, and I’d rather respect the victims.
Glosswitch had a shrewd observation on this.
I know. Would it be so hard to say that insults may indeed be deplorable but that they never, ever justify violence against insulting people?
This is a country in which insulting someone can carry with it criminal penalties if the person in question comes from the right group, so that’s a pretty consistent position (and a terrible one).
Blood Knight beat me to it —- we ARE talking about the boss gander of Tranada, the country that has allowed Wax-My-Balls and Rogaine Ogre to trample all over the rights of real women.
It is allowed to shout fire in a theatre if there really is a fire. To do otherwise would be negligent, irresponsible, and possibly deadly.
Right now there are a lot of fires, and we are being told to respect the rights of the arsonists, whether they be Muslim, trans, or Trump supporters. We are supposed to respect the pain and suffering of other groups, but none of them are told they should consider our pain and suffering.
This is the same government that has conflated conversion “therapy” for sexuality with actual therapy to help trans identifying youth. If their bill goes through, which it has halfway done, it will be illegal for parents and for docs like me to even ask kids why they think they might be trans and offer alternatives to affirmation.
I voted for Justin because he promised electoral reform and the missing and murdered Aboriginal women inquiry. Both of those fizzled.
Oh and also to get Harper out bc we don’t have term limits in Canada. So there’s that, at least we still have abortion (in name only in many parts of the country).
It is unfortunate what some people believe, but the ideas of organized religion deserve ridicule. Misogynistic and genocidal. Claims made against the cosmos without any evidence; that’s all religion has to offer.
The sooner our civilization rids itself of religion the better.
It can’t get rid of religion, it’s built into how our species thinks (in stories). Something new will always take its place.
Homo novus might overcome it, but not homo sapiens.