The case for responsible speech

Presented in a poem no less, by a Danish muslim.

Starts out rather bombastically:

We still remember only too well
When that Danish newspaper decided to sell
Its principles like some prostitute
And drove like a tank down the route.

But ends on an a more rational note (except for the exclamation marks, they seem over the top):

To recap once more for those who need to know
Before decent behaviour suffers another blow:
No right to offend my sensibility!
No freedom without responsibility!
No culture without civility!
No humanity without humility!

Sure yeah, why not. Problem is, though: Who’s going to decide what is sensible and responsible? Didn’t the publishers of the cartoons feel that they were performing some kind of vital, civic duty? That is certainly their argument. How are we to judge what is sensible and what isn’t?

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