QOTD

[geekchick]

"To criticise a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous but to criticise their religion - that is a right. That is a freedom [...]

"The freedom to criticise ideas - any ideas even if they are sincerely held beliefs - is one of the fundamental freedoms of society.

"And the law which attempts to say you can criticise or ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed.

"It all points to the promotion of the idea that there should be a right not to be offended. But in my view the right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended.

"The right to ridicule is far more important to society than any right not to be ridiculed because one in my view represents openness - and the other represents oppression."

      
Rowan Atkinson, on a proposed measure in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill

Comments

[zuggy9.livejournal.com]

That's a great quote... because, y'know some people have some purty weird religious beliefs.

*goes back to chanting praises to the kumquat gods, while wearing a rubber chicken choir robe*

[winterbadger]

It all points to the promotion of the idea that there should be a right not to be offended.

People seem to believe strongly in this right. I'm with Mr Atkinson (although not for his professional reasons :-) in thinking that this belief should be discouraged.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I'm glad SOMEONE is finally saying this! For some reason religious beliefs have become an "untouchable" subject for criticism, which really kills any useful examination or debate regarding the place of religion in public life, in politics, etc.

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to me that he thinks that similar laws about inciting racial hatred are just peachy keen. Once you've admitted that those laws are ok, it's hard to argue against extending them into other areas, although he does try to argue otherwise.

Yes, I think that people should have the freedom to make obnoxious racist statements and not be prosecuted by the police for it..which is not true in the UK nowadays, although enforcement has been rather selective: several extremist Muslim figures in the UK have called for the murder of all Jews (heck, they even did it (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1607920.stm) after 9/11 and the British police didn't prosecute) and didn't get touched by the cops (Abu Hamza (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3752517.stm) and Omar Bakri (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3475929.stm) come to mind, although both have fallen afoul of the law of late for other reasons), for example, even though the laws against inciting racial hatred would seem to have applied to what they were saying. Of course, that gets into the grounds of defining what, exactly "inciting racial hatred" or "inciting religious hatred" is, exactly. Freedom of speech, however, allows me to go out to the racist rally and taunt them, and I really don't think racists or bigots of any stripe can really get that far in the marketplace of ideas, which is why they almost always turn to violence..but that's a long argument.

But it's good to see someone standing up for free speech, however offensive it may be, even to the limited degree Rowan Atkinson is. In Big Blunkett (http://big-blunkett.blogspot.com/)'s UK, it's a breath of fresh air. (Blunkett makes John Ashcroft seem like an ACLU member: here's hoping Rowan Atkinson doesn't get slung into jail under some of the provisions (http://ex-parrot.com/~chris/wwwitter/20041205-someone_had_blundered.html) of the proposed National ID card law or get rounded up under a future use of the Civil Contingencies Act (http://www.spy.org.uk/spyblog/archives/2004/11/civil_contingen_4.html).

And the Bill will probably be passed, no matter what. The precedent of invoking the Parliament Act under circumstances it was never envisioned for was set earlier this year with the hunt ban (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4020453.stm). (And no, that really didn't have much to do with animal rights, as at least one major campaigner for the Hunt Ban admitted (http://www.guardian.co.uk/hunt/Story/0,2763,1303818,00.html).)

So I'm guessing that showing at least one (http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/epguide/two_money.shtml) Black Adder episode will be a crime in the UK in the not too distant future. (This one (http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/epguide/one_archbishop.shtml) might be, too.)

[icaruslaughing.livejournal.com]

That would be so... weird... hearing it come from the mouth of "Mr. Bean."