I went back to McMurdo's blog today and, to my shock and suprise, I found myself agreeing with him. Why the hell should any religion be condemned just because of the actions of a few? I can't stand the Orange Lodge but that doesn't mean that I condemn all Protestants. I don't agree with many aspects of Protestant doctrine but who am I to ridicule and belittle their beliefs? As long as they're not interfering with my right to believe what I want, then good luck to them. For all I know we might all end up at the Pearly Gates and find out that they were right all along!
Which leads me to the article today in the Daily Record by an ex trainee-priest, Alex Mooney. Of course, he's entitled to his opinion and if he believes that there's no such thing as God then, fine. What he doesn't seem to realise, however, is that his ridiculing of religion and contention that it has somehow been disproved and belongs in the Dark Ages, is just as overbearing and intolerant as the Jihadists he's attacking. Perhaps he wants us to live somewhere like Pol-Pot's Cambodia or North Korea, where people were, and are, killed for daring to believe in a religion? He mentions Saudi Arabia; maybe, instead of attacking religion, he should attack our Government, which supports a corrupt Saudi regime that finances Islamic fundamentalist terror groups.
And, speaking of Governments, we come to the biggest hypocrisy of the lot: David Cameron Tweeting, "I've accepted President Hollande's invitation to join the Unity Rally in Paris this Sunday - celebrating the values behind #CharlieHebdo". What 'values' would those be? Why, free speech, of course! This from the same man that, only a couple of months back, was condemning so-called 'cybernats' for posting abuse on Twitter. It seems that 'free speech' is only allowed in certain circumstances!
This is also part of the hypocrisy behind the whole 'Charlie Hebdo' freedom of speech business. The depictions of the prophet Mohammed in this magazine were no less abusive than anything the 'cybernats' posted on Twitter. They received complaints galore and even death threats but they carried on regardless. Strangely, though, in 2009, when Jewish societies complained that an article appeared anti-semitic the writer was sacked by the magazine! You can read the whole story here. It would appear that some religions are not to be attacked no matter what. Islam, however, is fair game.
That's the thing about free speech; it comes with responsibilities. Just think what would happen if a newspaper in Britain used phrases like nigger, kike, bog-wog etc. and refused point-blank to back down when it received complaints, threats and the like. And who would be to blame for the trouble? Or what about the Loyalists that are currently nearly at arms over their 'fleg'? What would happen if Belfast Council decided to fly the Tricolour 365 days a year in place of the 'fleg'? And, again, who would be to blame?
Still think untrammelled free speech is the be-all and end-all? Well, what about the 'Famine Song'? Or 'The Billy Boys' for that matter? If there is to be no limit to freedom of speech then you can't complain about these pages from the Ibrox choir book! Which brings me back to where I started. You will read constantly on blogs that The Peeppul are all for free speech when it comes to their songs of hate. They are not so quick to support others having the same right, though.
And this is the fundamental point about Charlie Hebdo. With free speech comes responsibility and part of that responsibility is to make sure that you are not causing offence just for the hell of it. The Charlie Hebdo magazine, unfortunately, did just that - going all-out to offend Muslims for no reason at all. Now, I'm in no way condoning what happened but the knee-jerk reaction from the press and public is actually quite frightening. Cameron is talking about giving the security services carte-blanche to do whatever they want, while there are calls for the insulting cartoons to be reprinted in our newspapers and to be shown on TV. It's as if folk are desperate to provoke a reaction from Muslims just in order to justify their own prejudices.
I find it difficult to condone violence of any sort and am as shocked as anyone at what has happened. Sometimes, though, you can push people too far, as we saw in Ulster in the 1960s and 1970s. Perhaps it's time the West caught up with the modern world and realised that the days of obsequious natives calling you 'Bwana' and accepting any abuse you care to throw at them are long gone. If you're going to keep poking a stick into a wasp's nest, you shouldn't be surprised if some of them come out and sting you!
I copied this cartoon from Twitter. It speaks volumes.
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