"The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our times: freedom of expression. Are we in the west going to cave into pressure from societies with a medieval mindset, or are we going to defend our most precious freedom --freedom of expression, a freedom for which thousands of people sacrificed their lives?...
"On the world stage, should we really apologize for Dante, Shakespeare, and Goethe? Mozart, Beethoven and Bach? Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Breughel, Ter Borch? Galileo, Huygens, Copernicus, Newton and Darwin? Penicillin and computers? The Olympic Games and Football? Human rights and parliamentary democracy? The west is the source of the liberating ideas of individual liberty, political democracy, the rule of law, human rights and cultural freedom. It is the west that has raised the status of women, fought against slavery, defended freedom of enquiry, expression and conscience....
"Freedom of expression is our western heritage and we must defend it or it will die from totalitarian attacks. It is also much needed in the Islamic world. By defending our values, we are teaching the Islamic world a valuable lesson, we are helping them by submitting their cherished traditions to Enlightenment values."
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2 comments:
Excellent read. That should shame many people who've forgotten our greatness; and it should remind them of the values we have to fight to protect.
Of course, I had to put an excerpt on my blog ... Hey, if someone else says it better, let's use what they have and pass it on to others.
Dante does put Mohammed in the 8th circle of hell for being a "sower of discord."
It is as true today as it was true then.
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