A “right to offend”??
There is no more a “right to offend” than there is a “right to shoot people”.
If I must shoot someone in order to defend my life or someone else’s, or if we must shoot a convicted murderer in order to avenge the taking of life, such shooting is incidental to the defense of the inalienable, God-given right to life, not the exercise of a “right to shoot people”.
Similarly, if we offend our enemy in the course of defending ourselves from his assaults, such offense is incidental to the defense of ourselves, our nation, our heritage and way of life. THIS is our right, not some lily-livered “right to offend” manufactured by those whose careers consist of offending people!
We in the West have perverted liberty into license, and forgotten the entire purpose of freedom. Now the resulting societal rot has eaten so far that we’re reaping the consequences. And the best semblance of manliness we can muster is a whiny, schoolgirlish “right to offend”? From a debate starring “Mr. Bean”, no less?
If I were a muslim soldier, peering through the battle lines, watching British soldiers engage in slap-fights like this, I’d start cleaning up my uniform in preparation for the imminent victory parade.
Your pings are generally well worth reading and pondering, Tolik. But IMHO, this one belongs not under “Nailed It”, but under “Bungling It”. :-(
Hey, you are correct on so many points, BUT:
The editorial is from Germany. While, I am sure, the author is perfectly familiar with our definition of rights, they don’t have it in the same way. Which was our advantage for the 200+ years.
I read it as a rebellion of the best of them, Mr. Bean included, against fetishism of “not offending anybody”. Especially that it’s not really not offending ANYBODY (they are perfectly brave to offend everybody else), but a very specific group: those Muslim that violently riot against being called violent.
This editorial is more in defense of a traditional Western right (regardless of how it specifically put into the law in each country) of freedom of speech. So, if you are talking about the feckless parts of the West then yes, I agree with your definition of “Bungling It”, but the author himself nailed it right.