The free speech debate as a freedom from consequence

We listen, be ready to hear

Attending a function yesterday that in a presentation relayed distribution and diversity, it was interesting to note how though there seemed to be a broad spectrum, the predominance of particular identity groups in the age and race category suggested there was still a lot of work to be done even if our cohort represented the most diverse in the sector.

At the end of the presentation, I seized on a passing point to ask questions and suggest an enhancement of service for the people we encounter to ensure they are catered for. There was a perspective that demand should drive production whereas I thought broad consideration should drive availability. A balance of sorts could be achieved.

Moving to lunch, this occasioned the opportunity to have a chat at our table of 4, two men, both retired and born within 20 miles of the venue, a lady and academic from the Far East, and I, straddling the Global South and where were we.

The freedom to be nasty?

One of the men intoned, “We do not have free speech as we used to the UK anymore?” To which the lady suggested, we have luxuries in terms of expression and effective action beyond protest, that they from her part of the world have not enjoyed for almost a decade.

The other man then said, “If I were to say something like…”, the like of which was suffused with stereotype, prejudice, or disparagement, he might be prosecuted. It left me wondering why free speech is usually defined in terms of needing to say something that does not engender neighbourliness, good relationships, and the better of people around you.

The point I made was that free speech does exist and the ones who make the most noise about the absence of free expression are those with the loudest voices and the largest platforms to project their views and suffer no consequences for whatever they say.

The fear of consequences

The issue is not so much the absence of free speech but one of people annoyed or frustrated that their nastiness will now not be ignored, and they might really be held responsible and accountable for whatever they have said.

It is unlikely that if anyone has given thought and expression to the good things of our humanity and fellow human beings to acknowledge and embrace the beauty in others, they would have incurred any opprobrium, I would think there would be much praise and support for their viewpoints from fair-minded people. Then again, all opinions can draw the support of the similar-minded.

The quest for a suitable soapbox

However, I can agree that the traditional Speakers’ Corner of which the one in Hyde Park is the most popular and probably the last surviving, has disappeared in many other marketplaces, street corners, and public squares around the country. [Wikipedia: Speakers’ Corner]

The open-air soapbox and public oratory open the speaker to a general agreement or heckling whilst allowing you to present your viewpoint without any fear of retribution. Yet, any freedom comes with responsibility and the opportunity for free expression should not become a licence of irresponsible public address towards anti-social behaviour or negative persuasion. Social media now offers a global platform for expression. The Speakers' Corner is now your social media status.

Then, the men felt comfortable expressing those views because they found some sort of safety borne of the conversations we were already having and they probably thought their opinions would hold sway without a counterpoint, I guess they did not expect us to be as articulate with ideas that would suggest they should have reflected a bit more on their audience before trying to give their myopia a broader range of view.

It might well be old dogs cannot be taught new tricks, their worldview is set in RAAC*, none of which will stand the test of time.

* Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), is in the news, it was a type of concrete used in many government buildings, especially schools from the 1950s to the 1990s, durable for about 30 years and presently presents the risk of failing and endangerment to life. [Local Government Association: Information on RAAC]

Thought Picnic: What am I supposed to do?

What for?

I woke up to an astonishingly atrociously unwarranted vicious message in my mailbox this morning. Much as I have received threats, abuse and worse before, I have usually consigned the message to the bin and marked it as spam.

Over time, I have learnt not to allow things like this is perturb or upset me, these are messages from generally inconsequential people with whom I have no contact or relationship, that it should never matter.

Fight this

However, on this occasion, I decided not to overlook the situation. Too many times, people have sat behind their keyboards with a deluded sense of anonymity to lay invective and vitriolic abuse on strangers without consequence.

For instance, if you were abused without cause on the street or a public space, you can either have other members of the public intervene or even have the police deal with the issue.

Consequences abound

The fundamental especially in the free world I have the privilege to live, is that we all have the freedom of expression but the licence to threaten and abuse crosses the line into menace, illegality and possible criminality. That licence, if anyone deigns to use it is not protected speech and should be sanctioned.

Whilst there might be many reasons why I was abused in the mind of the perpetrator and I cannot care to imagine what they might be. My acting now might well ensure no one else gets attacked like I was and also make clear that the full force of the law is just round the corner as a result of acting in a reprehensible manner.

I won’t hurt a fly

The person oblivious of what I can do, I traced the particulars and indicators of message and forwarded the information to the administrator of the hosting facility he used along with a complaint. I probably will not get more than an acknowledgement, but it was a necessary action.

It reminds of someone who in the process of trying to defraud me left me with a number of his bank account details, it was not long before I obtained his home address, birth certificate and a few other private pieces of data that I forwarded to the authorities. He, at the end of the day, was responsible for his misfortune.

I am as docile as a sleeping dog, kick me and you’ll wake a rabid dog with a vicious bite. But then, some people just have to scratch their itchy noses with the gaping fangs of a viper. What am I supposed to do?

Decade Blogs - Blossom Nnodim - The Guardians of the Future

Decade Blogs

Blossom Nnodim, many encounters online of engagement and disagreement come to mind between us, but we have from time to time agreed, or agreed to disagree whilst avoiding a degeneration to the disagreeable.

She is in her own right a Social Media entrepreneur, a compere and one of the conveners of the AdoptATweep brand.

When she offered to write for my #YourBlogOnMyBlog Series commemorating my Decade of Blogging, I was both surprised and elated, I could not refuse the offer and I am honoured to host her opinion on an element of social media expression.

Blog - To Celebrate My Decade of Blogging

In the piece below, Blossom opines about the responsibility that comes with the freedom of expression, when we have the opportunity to face the principals of our online ire. Since we do not have a First Amendment guaranteeing expression as the United States Constitution does, it can sometimes be difficult to appreciate especially in our culture, when valid ideas are conveyed badly. We must err on the side of reason and reasonableness.

As regards the event, she refers to in her write up, the saying goes; He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon. It just so happens that we mostly eat with our hands. The host however is not the devil.

Here goes -

My name is Blossom, and I recently started a project aimed at connecting Social Media and Social Good at www.blcompere.com and usually tweet via @blcompere.

Social Media, the Guardians and the future of Nigeria

It is not uncommon to see folks argue about the merits and demerits of Social Media, its assumed impact on young people and in the long run, its overrated impact on social change.

Recently, a group of young Nigerians who are mostly vocal about their dissatisfaction for the state of governance and lack of accountability by public officials in Nigeria were hosted to a dinner at Aso Rock. The simple minded will immediately posit that eating at the King’s table is a tacit endorsement of the king’s ways and as such, a true patriot should refuse such an entree. An open-minded individual will however posit that such an opportunity should be largely interactive. This will in return afford the young person an opportunity to voice out the seemingly glaring dissatisfaction while standing on existing protocols.

Alas, as is the case with most events like this, interaction and engagement are at most, non-existent. What we see is a linear process in which the speaker speaks and the listener listens.

The highpoint of the event was when the President who was represented by the Vice President of the Country took the podium to highlight some thoughts that are fundamentally correct and timely.

 “The limitless reach afforded by the internet environment requires discipline, circumspection, decorum and the judicious dispensation of time.” ~ Namadi Sambo (Vice President of Nigeria)

“That which is designed to enhance should not be permitted to impair; whether your preferred device is laptop, tablet or smartphone, let us all apply those keypads wisely and productively.” ~ Namadi Sambo (Vice President of Nigeria)

The above thoughts cannot be coincidental lines in the script. The audience at the event were young people who are hugely driven by technology. It will not be unusual to find that a reasonable bulk of these young ones may or may not easily define the thin line between “Freedom of expression” and “hate speech” when a random search is conducted on their Social Media Legacies.

The Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah who has been on the QWERTY lips of young Nigerians in the past month was present and actively participating at the same event. Would it be out of place for the major youth headliners of the event to have stood on existing protocols to subtly push the online messages home?

A moment came that ultimately displayed the attitude of most young persons in moment of offline engagement. Mr. Chude Jideonwo got an opportunity as a speaker to speak; apparently grateful for the magnanimous entrée offered by the Federal Government made a statement that was not in harmony with his usual online candour;

“Mr. President, you are perhaps the first President in my lifetime to take young people seriously.”~ Chude Jideonwo

[Text of the speech by Chude Jideonwo courtesy of YNaija.com]

The above statement is not unique to the speaker; it is the usual attitude of most young Nigerians, including Blossom. How can online utterances of frustration by young Nigerians, which are generally classified as rants, find an expression in such events? How can we claim as a demographic that we are the guardians and custodians of an uncertain future when we do not embrace opportunities that can shape that future?

It is not rocket science to point out that the societal insistence on acquiescence may have a role to play. I will however differ by stating the obvious. A large number of our young people do not follow the acquiescence rule online and as such should shed the assumed attitude offline.

In conclusion, I will recommend that even as we outwardly nod our heads to the earlier caution given by the Vice President, it is equally important that same discipline, circumspection, decorum and the judicious dispensation of time should be embraced to voice out our dissatisfaction, offline. What we really need is a future, not an entree about the future.

I conclude by congratulating every one of the 100 Guardians of the future who truly deserved the honour.

God bless Nigeria!

Opinion: The Salvation of Full Disclosure from Hypocrisy

And I did

I rarely leave comments on other blogs, not even under duress, but this once I did, because, there was a need to say some pertinent things.

The issue concerned people who I consider friends from Social Media, I love my friends, and I cannot bear to see them warring in public, at the same time, I am rarely sentimental about my desire to have people cut it out and return to a modicum of peace.

I hope that when I view matters brought to my attention, I am able to see things sometimes quite radically different from others, it is a matter of perspective and there are many narratives to any situation all depending on where we observe things.

The spirit of gratitude

Like a popular author once said, we should be careful of the single story, and I rarely reiterate the story told by others if there is another angle of approach.

Broadly, this issue concerned charity, opinion, confrontation, offence, recalcitrance and opportunity for vituperation in the aftermath.

My view of charity is simple; there is only one valid response, it is gratitude. For they who bring succour and respite are angels in disguise for that time of need.

That angels displaying human nature can later on turn out to be obnoxious does not obviate the good previously done, its value for that time, place and setting is immeasurable.

The conflicts of gratitude

Demands can be made by the generous to serve interests inimical to the views of the recipient, but it is for the latter to adapt with reserve, circumspection and wisdom, it tests the patience and resolve. It is not beyond the capacity of all to exercise such.

We all have opinions, but the better part of valour is knowing how to make forceful points without alienating a source of goodwill. Goodwill should not present a sense of enslavement, and it is reprehensible for those who have done a turn of good to make unreasonable demands of those they have helped.

The fundamental, much as it is difficult to understand is that the act of generosity is meant to attract commensurate gratitude. There is no time limit to the expression of gratitude whilst it can accommodate the expression of truth with moderation, consideration and circumspection, which should not contemn the deeds of those who have visited with an outstretched hand.

No hypocrites with full disclosure

That said; there is a wider and broader issue when it comes to having opinions and views you want to share. There is no restriction on the freedom of expression but it is hypocritical to posit forcefully on issues where you have once been a beneficiary of a related cause without declaring an interest.

It is called “Full Disclosure.” This allows people to understand that you have an interest as you have a strong viewpoint, and whilst people might question your objectivity, they cannot question your honesty.

There is a reason why honesty is the best policy, because with it comes transparency, clarity, openness, fairness and truth.

The hypocrite has no refuge

In my opinion, the best way to tackle a festering problem is to determine its root cause, and there is no doubt in my mind that the absence of full disclosure in an original opinion opens that person to the excoriating rebuke of hypocrisy. The form criticism for hypocrisy could take varies, but we would be naïve to think there are parameters of engagement when it comes to condemning hypocrisy – no, there are none.

When seen in that context, it is easy to apportion blame, but it is hoped that people would engage to ameliorate the situation, albeit in the public space.

In closing, I would say, never sequester your freedom of expression, but if you have an interest in the matter or have been a beneficiary of the system that you have a strong opinion about, err on the side of full disclosure and save yourself the ridicule of being called out as a hypocrite.

Nigeria: Social Media is a Symptom of our Government Practices

The dangers we face

In Nigeria, there is every hope that the government of the people is by the people and definitely for the people, that is the supposedly the age-old definition of democracy.

However, the model of democracy we run has serious problems with an executive that appears to be a law unto itself, a legislature that makes it exorbitantly unaffordable with the many conflicts of interest that hamper its oversight functions and a judiciary in crisis constantly being intimidated by powerful and rich defendants that troop senior lawyers to court by the truck load.

We live in times where bad history seems to be ready to repeat itself like in 1966 and 1983 when the barracks let loose political juntas whose altruistic aims of righting the wrongs with Nigeria just seemed to compound things the more.

Our hope and desire

In our heart of hearts, I believe it is the wish of every Nigerian that the government and that is any government in power even if it consists of reprehensible aliens, unsightly to the eyes but diligent, competent and visionary is making the country work for the benefit of all.

The realities we face are such that they cannot be ignored, we cannot continue to have people in leadership who seem to be in office but not in power, whose purpose appears ill-defined and who we deem to simply enjoy the trappings of office and power without consideration to the people, aggrandising with impunity and without consequence.

The responsibilities we all have

It has created a backlash, for the promises are yet unfulfilled and the lauded achievements are no more than ideas that have yet to be well thought through.

The government of Nigeria that consists of over 160 million people with serious infrastructure and reputational issues cannot be where people who rule fail to be leading by bringing effective and lasting change to the people not just through economic growth but in development that fosters equality of opportunity and creates good jobs for the largely restless youth.

This amazingly resourceful youth that makes up more than half the population of the country are in the main disappointed, disillusioned and no doubt angry without much within the structure of our democracy to voice their feelings when the ruling party could not even find any in its ranks to fill in the youth leader’s post that it unashamedly fell into the lap of a 60-year old man.

The youth voicing out

The youth have not been silent, they are active and galvanised, working with technology where the old fogeys have no control, they are the lifeblood of social media on blogs, on Facebook and on Twitter they are calling out the leaders, irreverently questioning them, mounting challenges on the gerontocracies and entrenched power structures that want to be oblivious of the real Nigerian problems.

Beyond that, their anger is also expressed in abuse, yes, abuse, excoriating abuse, sometimes vile to the extreme, none of which is without cause but the situation can only be remedied if the government comes out of its siege mentality and begins to respond, react, reform, readjust and realign itself to the core aspirations of Nigerians.

Protecting the freedom of expression

If anything, for all the weak institutions that give a lie to our democracy that looks more and more each day like a kakistocracy we have the freedom of expression and much of that expression with cause is not to the liking of many especially those in government where the President has said it is a pastime, the Senate President has questioned unfettered access to social media forums and an aide has recognised the torrent of abuse that has gone the President’s way.

Nigerians have always had these discussions in their homes, at bars, amongst friends and all sorts of places, we are by nature political animals, that the discussion is now on social media forums should not be a surprise to anyone.

A democracy thrives on the freedom of expression and views, where there are any who take offence, they have the courts to seek redress, what we do not want is to have legislation that criminalises expression and foists lèse majesté laws on the people such that they cannot fearlessly and vigorously hold their elected representatives accountable.

The constitutional laws that give the most senior members of our government immunity from prosecution during their tenures have been egregiously abused as governors mostly manifest as demigod potentates, untouchable and literally outside the ambit of the law until they leave office after they have caused untold damage.

The real image of Nigeria

Nigeria’s image abroad has not been fashioned by the happenings on social media, it would be naïve to suggest the CIA World Fact Book, the Failed States Index or the World Bank – Ease of Doing Business report mines Twitter, Facebook or blogs for their indices – these are sadly but the best objective data available that determines the risk profile of the country and the investment potential for prospectors along with the perception embassies will feed back to their home countries.

Social media obviously brings more voices into the debate and that is important, Nigeria is bustling with educated and vibrant talent that want to have a say in how they are governed and even have a louder say when they perceive the government is inimical to the aspirations of the citizenry.

The problem is in the government

The honest truth is the image of Nigeria will change when the government gives us new things to talk about by moderating their excesses and more importantly dealing with the bad and somewhat classless behaviour that has become action and manner of speech of those in power.

If they have forgotten that they are in power to serve rather than be served living large like they are in the courts of Caligula given to wanton debauchery and lasciviousness too vile for expression, no amount of abuse will be too great until they begin to mend their ways.

We must not forsake our liberties and freedoms for the temporary absolution of government from every kind of scrutiny, be it informed or ignorant, else we deserve none of the liberty nor the freedom we have and lastly, the learned should beware that they are not found to give succour to those whose aim is to curtail our freedom of expression in the misguided view that social media is the bane of the problems Nigeria has.

Social media is just the symptom of a problem defined by the way the government has chosen to work and govern.

Fitna - The irresponsible movie

Hyped beyond significance

Many would have read about some impending film to be released by some Dutch politician that has created more commentary than a serious blockbuster movie that addresses serious issues of the day.

Geert Wilders is by the standards of Dutch politicians a poorly educated rabble-rousing populist whose political ascendancy has served to stoke the embers of discord, reaching to out to remove the rivets of societal cohesion that binds our quality of life to the kinds of objective purpose that allows us to persuade different cultures of our way of life.

Fitna, the movie

I decided to watch Fitna, the “movie”, not so much out of curiosity but for the purposes of highlighting the flawed nature of trying to create a social debate by intemperate and provocative material.

The caricatures of Islam in the film are unnecessary and the montage of trying to push an agenda against Islam by the narrow but emotive pictures of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Madrid and London bombings just appeals to the baser instincts of a more civilised humanity.

Mr. Wilders lack of academic mien shows and it follows the common saying that implies copying from one source is plagiarism but that from many sources is research – this is a collage of tired images glued together without intelligent purpose. He is being sued for breach of copyright for the use of one of the Mohammedan cartoons.

Violence in both books

The Surahs that he selected from the Qu’ran for the film could with adequate theological study have similar verses produced from the Bible or some other religious book – all religions have a temperance element and a fundamental element. I cannot remember the number of Psalms that wanted to strike terror to the heart of my enemies. Fitna analysis.

Anyone who concentrates on just the Old Testament and the book of Revelation could come away thinking that the Bible was quite a bloody book, and that is just in the search for balance in any argument.

To suggest that the Qu’ran is very much like Hilter’s Mein Kampf is a bit rich considering Hitler was using the flawed Christian ideology of holding the Jews accountable for the death of Christ.

Both the Bible and the Qu'ran predate Hitler's tome by well over a millennium and it is unlikely that Hitler was reading the Qu'ran when he was narrating his struggle - legend has it that he thought he had the spear (Spear of Destiny) that pierced the side of Jesus on the cross and hence his obsession with world domination.

The abuse of expression

Beyond this, we have all this talk about the freedom of expression which is fine but no one seems to touch on the responsibility that evolves from being able to express yourself freely without causing offence.

For the kind of rhetoric Geert Wilders spews out, we the taxpayers of the Netherlands have to pay dearly for his security and that in my mind is just as bad as the uncontrolled welfare regime we dole out to the immigrants he is so much against.

If Mr. Wilders had to foot the cost of his irresponsible use of the freedom of expression just as the immigrants should be persuaded to take on a better work ethic, we probably would have a better place for vigorous debate.

Irresponsible to the extreme

This "seminal" work of Mr. Wilders unnecessarily endangers Dutch activities all around the world where people are a lot more emotive about their religious affiliations than the contemporary Dutch are.

This is not about having the balls to talk about issues others are afraid to talk about, it is simply reckless behaviour that takes no account of consequence – many audiences however have been brought low into this diatribe, excited by provocation as they find themselves running into the last refuge of the scoundrel – Patriotism.

We all need to talk

Do not get me wrong – there is a debate to be had, a serious rubbing of minds of intellectuals within our society to address the concerns about the growth of Islam and Islamic cultural views within Western societies that are fast losing their religious heritage for liberal agnostic secularism.

I do not think you can raise a standard of secularism against the force of the passion for religion – either Christianity or Islam – that is the battle that the West is appearing to lose because if there were a stronger religious adherence amongst us, it would be difficult to be labelled as outright infidels.

Muslims and conservative Christians have coalesced on “hot-button” social and religious issues in the United States, so, it is not a case of these people not being able to co-exist.

Bad news for all

The case of Fitna which Mr. Wilders wrote and co-directed with the Scarlett Pimpernell which I think is no doubt an attempt at humour, does not carry the debate forward – the best you can get out of this is a shouting match of extremists and riots in religious hotspots along with a boycott of Dutch products just because one Dutch member of parliament has a big mouth.

It is interesting that only those organisations that align with tugging at the base instincts of humanity have offered to air this tripe – we seek a better and more cohesive Dutch society, Mr. Wilders is definitely not the man to take us there – not by any stretch of the imagination – our leaders in the centre need to speak up for our values better and seize back the agenda and initiative from these trouble makers.

Frankly, I am not impressed, not one bit at all.

Related articles

• Danish cartoonist to sue Dutch MP over anti-Islamic film [via Zemanta]
• Dutch MP posts Islam film on web [via Zemanta]
• Dutch MP releases anti-Islam movie [via Zemanta]

The Freedom of Association vs the Abhorence of Pederasty

Tempering opinion with reflection

After much reflection, I think I have to revisit the views in my blog of yesterday. Now, this is not to trivialise in anyway the sufferings of people who have by occasion of encounters with pederasts had their lives turned upside-down, but to see what in the name of our civilised existence can be done.

I remember years ago, I met a right-wing skinhead who happened to be homosexual and aligned with some Nazi outfit.

The encounter was bruising, but not of the physical kind, thankfully. The conversation went along the lines of the lowness of life of the black race and every other rehashed racist stereotype that could be expressed.

I listened and then said, whilst, I do not agree with your opinions in anyway, I would still defend your right to have them and express them - in the end, if I take offence, I would seek redress in appropriate ways.

Tame as this response might seem, it appears it was disarmingly effective because I did not offer the expected reactions to racist abuse.

When he inferred I was a monkey, I retorted, he had either learnt to communicate with monkeys or monkeys have achieved a level of intellect rivalling the genius amongst men.

Flawed views of history

As he went on with his diatribe, I hinted to the fact that even though I would have been somewhere on Hitler's list of undesirables, he as a homosexual would have been in the concentration camps long before those of my kind were rounded up.

Hence, my confusion as to how he could really correlate his adherence to right-wing ideology with his as it was aberrant sexuality.

A couple of weeks later, I returned to the pub for a drink and heard that he had committed suicide and none of who knew him had anything nice to say about him. I found that I was left with the saying, what I once said to him - I did not agree with his views and opinions but he had the will and wherewithal to have those views and express them with conviction. I quietly prayed for his soul.

Anybody who holds a view about anything should be able to express them, though issues of responsibility and sensitivity can apply, it is really left to the individual.

Dutch pragmatism on humanity

So, back in the Netherlands where the world assumes drugs and prostitution are legal, we need to examine why this situation appears so.

The pragmatism of the Dutch understands that human beings would be human beings with their good habits and their vices. Rather than pretend everyone can be perfect, we have allowances for those vices within particular parameters.

So, prostitution is legal and available in certain neighbourhoods, with prostitutes registered, subject to health checks and gatteing necessary aid for their profession.

Certain kinds of soft drugs are available in what we call coffee shops; you can only be sold so much of the drug with a certain level of potency.

However, there might be instances where people go from shop to shop buying the maximum quantity allowed, till they have a large stash, but that is no more the responsibility of the shops and the person is now verging on the illegal in that activity.

Exposed to accountability

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion as we noticed in England where the British National Party which is a right-wing party exists and gets votes to sit on council seats, it offers a general idea of the kind of support those associations get and the greater public an decide how to react to such support.

The pederast party then, if disallowed the opportunity to congregate would deprive us of a necessary demographic that would reveal if there is growing support for lowering the Age of Consent and allow sexual liaisons between adults and children or it is a seriously unpopular notion that has no place in our society.

It would be wrong to allow this constituency to remain underground, unnoticed, un-policed and unaccountable when some have had the courage to put their heads above the parapet.

The lynch mob is not of civilisation

Civilised society would then be the judge of the validity of this association.

I know that this is a difficult stance to take, but our freedoms, liberties, tolerance and democracy is threatened if we allow our subjective assessment of albeit vile views to becloud the opportunity to recognise the fact that some people are so different, and we need to look out better for our children.

We cannot submit to mob rule because we cannot countenance the despicable, that is not what our freedom is about.

The people are high on opium - V

Still more cartoon deaths

Cut to Nigeria and the cartoon row has claimed quite a few more lives in the Muslim north and retributions in the Christian south.

We need to return to this free speech dialogue again and see what the exercise of rights entails without consideration of the possible consequences of that action and the ensuing responsibilities.

We, in the West do have democratic principles that enshrine and ensure a clutch of freedoms which includes expression, life and association amongst others.

Our secular society

Our constitutional, societal, legal and political heritage is Judeo-Christian in precept, example and context even though the separation of church and state presents Western societies as nominally secular.

The only part of contemporary Europe that has an inkling of any Islamic heritage is Spain through the Moorish occupation of Andalusia, whilst the architecture remains, Spain is still one of the most Christian-conservative countries on mainland Europe.

In general, all people of all races and religious persuasion have to subscribe to the basic secular law of the land; in Europe, neither Sharia nor Moses’ law holds any kind of precedent; no, not in European society.

It is therefore incumbent on citizens and residents to seek redress through the due process of law either criminal or civil if they are aggrieved; no matter the magnitude of hurt suffered.

Not so much an Arctic rag

However, we should look at the actions of the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten newspaper which was founded 1871 and is generally considered Liberal-Conservative with a contemporary penchant for right-wing immigration commentary and an early Twentieth Century history that has paid lip-service to fascism, Nazism and despotic governments.

However, it would be unfair to prejudge the newspaper on those views though its opinion is generally right-wing in perspective.

In arguing for why they published the cartoons, it is understandable that people have been afraid to publish Islamic material for the fear of exciting fundamentalist backlash.

It is also commendable that the newspaper decided to open up debate on these issues through commissioning copy that resulted in the cartoon depictions.

Serious food for thought

However, in the light of prevailing events we can assess the position the newspaper took and create the following food for thought

+        With a history as theirs, this project would have done well to incense, annoy and inflame those fundamentalists

+        They commissioned material for a subject that they have no particular experience of; Denmark is hardly Islamic – for instance, do they have a religious correspondent with an Islamic background?

+        The material could have had more credibility if the publication included intellectual input from Islamic scholars on the issues they wanted to address – indeed, there is a dearth of conventional Western teaching material for the Islamic tutelage of children.

+        They underestimated the impact their material would have on their potential audience – Danish imams probably never read the newspaper but they caught on this edition.

+        They lost control of the context they were trying to convey such that others were able to hijack their message and then manipulate it for more ulterior motives – A few more dastardly and despicable cartoon depictions were added to original set to incense the global campaign of outrage.

+        They ignored the fact that every freedom of expression includes an implicit responsibility for the consequences of free-agent actions especially in a global context – How would they account for the consequent loss of life and business stemming from this freedom of expression?

+        Adherents of Islam (1.2 billions) are not a race confined to some geographical location, they are everywhere, hence the global riots – Islam is not just about the Middle-East with only 18% of the global Muslim population, and there are at least 60 million Muslims in Nigeria – 10 times the population of Denmark. See Demographics of Islam.

Responsibilities underpin our freedoms

Technically, the Danish government has no need to apologise for the antics of the newspaper, but there is no doubt that that principled stand has had more far reaching consequences beyond that Arctic backwater.

For triviality sake, I might have the right to kick around a football in my back garden, however, if in the process of that kick-about the ball breaks a window-pane in the neighbouring house – do I expressly defend my rights or quickly take responsibility?

My view is that the right to the freedom of expression is sacrosanct and must be preserved, but in the context of understanding that rights entail consequences which could at times be immeasurable and unforeseen.

This is not a call for self-censorship but the need to engage all affected parties in order to create balanced copy that can diffuse tensions that might otherwise develop.

Where we have full knowledge of the facts we can express ourselves with authority, in the absence of that; opinion should have researched, balanced and considerate attention to maintaining civility; at the minimum.

Stepping up to full responsibility

Beyond the freedom of expression mantra, it is time for Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten to begin to think about the humanitarian respite they can bring to the suffering and damage the exercise of their rights has created.

+        Implore the Prime Minister to engage in their behalf the work of apologising for the consequences of their actions

+        Create a fund to help Western-Islamic discourse

+        Find out about every individual who has died as a result of the cartoon riot and seeking to alleviate the sufferings of their survivors

+        Devote resources to helping mend the fences that have lost Danish businesses years of painstaking global business goodwill

This is very much like mending the neighbour’s window-pane after that unfortunate kick-about.