The TT defended free speech in a confrontation with the OIC’s Secretary-General, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and does so on a daily basis on this blog, but those who put their lives on the line, stand head and shoulders above the rest, and deserves our utmost respect, no matter how some of their views may differ from your own.
FPM“Amusingly, Lars Vilks experiences the entire episode of this controversy as “process art.” To understand this vision, imagine a pebble being dropped into a still pool of water. The pebble drop is the instigating event, in this case, Vilk’s offending illustration; the concentric circles radiate outward in a ripple effect, representing all that we are experiencing throughout the world as a result. Vilks takes it all in, an actor in a morality play of his own design. His next project, he claims, is to make a Fred Astaire-style musical out of it all.
Art is a subversive endeavor, he says, meant to push the boundaries, make us think. Maybe one day we can all sing and laugh about it all. Until then, I will be shaking the trees and rattling the cages of all those around me who take for granted the relative tranquility of our quiet neighborhoods and insulated lives.”
Mr. Vilks is more proof that freedom and free speech are not free in the sense that some tyrannical government or group of religious zealots are always attempting to take it away from us. Freedom and free speech must be used and exercised regularly or they will be lost to the narrow minded dictators and psychotic religious zealots. We as a nation must not be intimidated or silenced by the cowards in the MSM and the political class.
Thanks Frank,
I know that Lars would agree with your sentiment, these people must be stopped. As I told OIC sec-gen Ihsanoglu face to face, there is no such thing as a right “not to be offended”, we must shout it from the rooftops. Keep at it brother.