My friend George Wallace at Fool in the Forest tries to keep
his “personal and cultural” weblog apolitical. However, he is
willing to head out on the choppy seas of political punditry in
pursuit of a bad pun. Thus, a few days ago he opined on the
Dubai Ports World controversy, in order to use the headline:
Scubai-Dubai To-do (Feb. 22, 2006). Having stuck his neck
out that far, George decided to rally on the side of freedom
of speech regarding publishing the Danish cartoons of the
Prophet. George says:
“I am inclined to be an absolutist when it
comes to matters of free speech and free expression,
let it gore whose ox it may. On that score, I quote
approvingly this weekend commentary from Colby Cosh:
“What I want to know is, how come our other
constitutional freedoms are never hogtied and
thrown onto the psychoanalyst’s couch like this?
. . .
“But let anyone exercise freedom of the press, or
freedom of speech, and suddenly his motives are i
nterrogated — suddenly the ‘right’ is only available
to the well-meaning, which is to be defined none
too broadly.”
I left a lengthy Comment disagreeing with George (and Colby),
George replied thoughtfully, and I responded (not persuaded
by George’s quoting from William Bennett and Alan Dershowitz
in the Washington Post).
Now that we’ve had a little more time for reflection and the
(totally unjustified) violent riots have died down, it would be
great if others joined the discussion. It seems to me that no rea-
sonable person in the Western World is questioning the right
of Flemming Rose, editor of the Danish Jyllands-Posten, to
publish those cartoons. We have been questioning the wisdom
or appropriateness of the decision to publish. As I noted at
Fool in the Forest, having the right is not the end of the decision-
process for responsible citizens, publishers, speakers:
When exercising the free speech right is likely to lead
to violence or great offense to others, I would hope that
there would at least be a balancing of interests — what
is the benefit from exercising the right, and what are the
probable ill effects? Saying the benefit is proving the ex-
istence of the right is not particularly useful.
Since the cartoons say nothing that could not have been
said (much better) with words, and they would predictably
offend even moderate Muslims (who would not dream of
reacting with violence), their original publication makes little
sense to me. Re-publishing makes even less sense. No
matter how shocking or tame, republishing in the USA adds
little to the discussion — Muslims will still be offended; all but
extremists will condemn the violent reactions; and, more people
are very likely to be victims of violence at the hands of extremists.
What do you think?
Although I think Colby Cash has greatly exaggerated the
threat to free speech (especially since that right exists vis-a-
vis the government, not as protection from the opinion of private
persons), I heartily agree with him that the United Church of
Canada was completely off-base concluding — with nothing
but speculation to support their claim — that the only reason
the cartoons were published is “simply racial hatred.”
to his Declarations and Exclusions, an insurance-oriented
legal weblog, where he has started a new feature called
Beyond the Bar — which will have George’s gleanings from
non-law-oriented weblogs that seem to be worth a look by
lawyers. The first selection for BtB is a post from 3quarksdaily
by Michael Blim, who teaches anthropology at the Graduate
Center of the City University of New York. Blim examines the
the U.S. Supreme Court.
update (Feb. 26, 2006): Speaking about free speech in a
“free country”, please check out this tale of police station
intimidation when an undercover reporter tries to get a
complaint form in Miami. cbs4.com, “Police State Intimidat-
ion,” Feb. 4, 2006 (via Mike Cernovich). I don’t think this
could have happened in Schenectady.
“rushdieNYT” salman rushdie
from nyt
cartoons, and wondering when it is wise to speak up against bullies
who are prone to react with violence, I naturally thought about author
Salman Rushdie, who was placed under a death fatwa, over the sup-
posed insults to the Prophet in his novel Satanic Verses. In so doing,
I remembered my own connection with Mr. Rushdie.
Two weekends ago, I finally got around to trying the Facial Recognition
software demonstration at MyHeritage (which I learned about through
Bob Ambrogi). You can upload a photo and the MyHeritage folks will
compare it with a data base of 2500 past and present “celebrities.”
You are then told which celebrity you most resemble.
Well, I submitted this 2005 photo, and was told that I most looked like Salman
Rushdie — based on a photo of Rushdie where he, unlike me, has a beard.
I then tried a 1980 photo of myself and was told I most resembled Harry
Houdini. A week later, my same 2005 photo was matched with Colin
Powell. Interesting. (Back around 1980, one of my best friends remarked
that I looked like whichever ethnic group you most disliked that week. In
1970, I was told I looked like “Omar Sharif on acid.” Omar and I were both
a lot younger then.)
I had a lot of fun with MyHeritage. Three female friends of mine were very
pleased to hear that they looked like Julia Roberts, Katherine Hepburn,
and Isabella Rossellini. I was a little surprised that a male friend, despite
his mustache, most resembled “The Little Flower of Jesus,” St. Therese
de Lisieux.
under the
blackest doodle
something unerasable
their laughter
is not about me
but would sound
just like that
if it was
“empty bottle”& “their laughter” – Quiet Enough (2004)
“empty bottle” – Upstate Dim Sum (2002/I)
Now, it’s time for something non-controversial.
The excellent haiku of Carolyn Hall:
sudden gust?
the book opens to a poem
I like even better
icicles drip on the sill
a pile of bills waiting
to be paid
winter sunset
in the shrimp boat’s wake
pink pelicans
over the top
of my sunglasses
blue sky
spilt milk
spreading along the grout lines
morning chill
“spilt milk” – Heron’s Nest (11:5, May 2000); A New Resonance 2
“icicles drip” – Acorn 3; A New Resonance 2:
“winter sunset” – The Heron’s Nest (II:5, May 2000)
“sudden gust” – The Heron’s Nest (II:10, Oct. 2000)
“over the top” – The Heron’s Nest (II:1, Jan. 2000)
February 25, 2006
wallace & rushdie, stevenson & hall
Comments Off on wallace & rushdie, stevenson & hall