Defending the Right to Offend
Defending the Right to Offend Posted: 04/20/2015 10:21 pm EDT Updated: 42 minutes ago This article is based on Ayaan Hirsi Ali's speech in Berlin on April 19. It is nearly 10 years since a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, unleashing a storm of protest by Muslims around the world, and exposing a rift in Europe between true believers in free expression and those prepared to appease religious zealots. At around that time, I came to Berlin to defend the right to offend. Sadly, that right is less secure today than it was in 2005. Think only of the massacre of the Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris on January 7, and the gruesome shootings of the people in the Jewish deli that same day. And then consider the bewildering comments by the American cartoonist Garry Trudeau in a speech he gave ten days ago , in which he condemned "free speech absolutists" for not using "judgment and common sense." By publishing "crude, vulgar drawings closer...