A terrific essay by Kenan Malik – je suis charlie? it’s a bit late.
The expressions of solidarity with those slain in the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices are impressive. They are also too late. Had journalists and artists and political activists taken a more robust view on free speech over the past 20 years then we may never have come to this.
Remember the fatwa on Rushdie? That’s when it started – people saying “wellllllllll maybe he really shouldn’t have…”
It’s partly fear, Kenan says, but not only that.
… Read the restThere has also developed over the past two decades a moral commitment to censorship, a belief that because we live in a plural society, so we must police
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)