The Cartoons: Taking it a step further

I thought I was done with this topic until I came across the following article by Eric Margolis.

As I explained in my February 7, 2006 entry, freedom of speech is self-regulated by political correctness. Recently, New Brunswick's Moosehead Breweries was forced to pull out an ad which stated that "The average woman speaks 10,000 words in a day. Roughly 9,950 too many”. It is allowed to make fun of women; it’s just not socially accepted.

Margolis take a step further the idea that freedom of speech is moderated by political correctness. He writes: “This whole ugly cartoon business is really about anti-Islamism – the modern version of 1930’s anti-Semitism. Today, promoting hatred and scorn for Islam and Muslims has become one of the few socially and legally acceptable modern prejudice in western society.”

The mere fact that such cartoons were published is a testament that making fun of Islam and Muslims is socially accepted. Clearly, freedom of speech allows for the publication of the cartoons. What the real question should be is why public opinion allows for this type of publication.