CMV:Muhammad Cartoon Contests are Terrible Exercises of Freedom of Speech

There is no more reason for someone to be offended by a generic drawing of Muhammad than to be offended by two people of the same sex kissing

Not to you or me, but for muslims this really isn't the case. If their faith and all tenets of their holy book point towards an image of their prophet not ever being shown it is perfectly reasonable for them to be offended by a generic drawing of Muhammad, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to us looking in from the outside.

It is unreasonable to demand, with threats of violence, that no one in the world draws some guy

YES, but for the sake of those who aren't inciting violence and are simply offended by it, where is the benefit or victory...? It's like calling everyone a cunt; just because some people will get aggressive over it, it doesn't mean it is something you should do to everyone just to make a point to the few who are aggressive that you won't be intimidated. What about all the people you are calling a cunt who aren't aggressive, and are simply upset that you'd say something like that to them?

Exercising a right only because it is being threatened is a perfectly fine reason to do it

Don't try and pretend that the right to draw images of Muhammad is threatened, because we both know that it isn't; in the Western world there is no threat of this. Therefore, the purpose of drawing Muhammad is done simply to show extremists that we aren't going to be intimidated out of drawing Muhammad... Even though we won't ever lose our right to do so, and in the process will probably insult a lot of people.

NOTE: I don't believe that anyone should have to not draw Muhammad because of violence. I am pretty against organised religion of any form. But equally in the broader sense I am against offending a large number of people just to send a message to a few who in reality won't listen to the message anyway.

Just my two cents. Wrote this in a hurry so probably filled with holes but either way I think I get the message across.

/r/changemyview Thread Parent