(April 21, 2015 at 7:16 pm)Brian37 Wrote: "How dare you insult Islam"...............Lots of Muslims say that to Christians and atheists as well, should we not insult them?
I think there are multiple points getting crossed here. Deidre is right that there is nothing about not believing in gods which requires us to be rude or crass to people because they believe what we don't. Not all of us are on a mission to end religion.
But you are correct in saying that Muslims should not expect people in Western countries should change their customs to avoid violating their norms. Indeed, fuck them if they can't take joke. Don't like cartoons depicting Muhammed? Go home where you can hope to have it your way. We don't self censor to that degree and we place a greater value on freedom of expression -including humorous expression- than we do on avoiding hate speech.
So no, you don't have to accept a prohibition on speech which offends Muslims. Bill Maher lampoons pretty much everyone's faults. Muslims shouldn't get a free pass.
But, then again you don't have to let Muslims pull your chain either. You don't need to go out of your way to insult them if it isn't part of your craft as it is with Maher. I would no more intentionally offend a Muslim than I would a Jew. I don't down play down or make light of the holocaust so I also wouldn't draw doodles of Muhammed fucking children or animals just to be cruel. Why do that?
Being insulting for the sake of slandering a group of people isn't cool. Nor is it called for just because we think they're overly sensitive. It doesn't rob me of my freedom to avoid gratuitous insults, and I certainly won't let what they do or say dictate how I respond.
