(01-16-2015, 05:53 PM)Blue Wrote: Let's see... I hate how hypocrite the politicians of my country (Italy) are being in relation to the terroristic attack in Paris. Everyone is Charlie Hebdo now, and apparently they forgot of all the satirical stand-up comedians, journalists and reporters they banned and fired from TV channels (all our main TV channels are owned by politicians, 3 to the Left and 3 to Silvio Berlusconi (who belongs to the Right) supposedly, but the co-director of the Left's TV channels is also a secretary to Berlusconi so you can guess who has the monopoly in the end), all because they dared talking of the church, of the politics, of how corrupted our government is, and most of all, of Berlusconi. You can read all of his crap on the wiki if you want, from his passion for minor prostitutes, how abuse of power for personal affairs, his fiscal evasion etc. He'll put any gangster you've had in the US to shame.
Thank goodness there's the Internet, or Italy would have no satire left to be seen.
And yet, today every one of our politicians shows off his Je Suis Charlie banner. It's fucking disgusting.
Not to randomly go back to Charlie Hebdo and take away from the Common Core complaints, but this post stuck out to me.
I hated how the Pope felt the need to weigh in and say that religion should be above politics. The editor of Charlie Hebdo made it clear that they satirize religion when it gets involved with politics - which is often. The Pope seems to want a "get out of jail free" card when it comes to being "above satire", yet the Pope wants to also weigh in on the morality of governments, democratic decisions, etc. While in general I feel the Pope is a good man and far better than the last one, all he did in stating that religion should be free from satire is arm the Islamist protestors.
People died in anti-Charlie protesting/rioting in northern Africa this past weekend, using the Pope's own words, because they feel any graphical depiction of the Prophet, especially in a satirical way, is blasphemous. As long as we continue to say that anything is above satire - and Charlie has lampooned/satirized things I value as well - then we're giving ammunition to those who wish to suppress and distort free speech. There should be no limits on freedom of expression, so long as the message isn't directly inciting violence.
We'll have to see if the media ends up continuing to self-censor in order to prevent being a target for terrorism. It's very worrisome to think that, in 5-10 years, events like Charlie Hebdo or The Interview might whitewash art and journalism.
People have forgotten this truth. But you mustn't forget it. You become responsible forever for what you have tamed.
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