I think a lot of free speech absolutists supporting the Danish in this whole cartoon brouhaha are missing the point. Of course this type of speech ought to be protected, and acting violently is totally out of line. But it's pretty obvious that this stuff was designed to be intentionally offensive and provocative. It's some sort of statement against self-censorship, saying that if we don't exercise freedom of the press, it's useless and we will be suffocated by societal political correctness.
However, the fact that the author chose to rail on Muslims says something. I mean, would it be OK to publish cartoons about the Holocaust in the mainstream press? That seems like it would really make a statement. I don't buy the idea that we need really offensive speech to make sure we aren't suffocated by political correctness. Furthermore, the broad support of the cartoonist under the guise of "free speech" indicates to me a pretty strong anti-Muslim undercurrent.
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