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It's Still A Right
This complaint has been launched again and again, from many quarters and in many directions. And it still all comes down to the same thing: The right to express.
In Canada we have a law about promoting hate, so neo-nazi groups would find it difficult to find any such outlet as a University paper, or evne club funding. Yet this paper, even with some of the edgier examples that have been quoted, are doing nothing more than stimulating public conversation and initiating that through means available to them.
I can appreciate that people may fail to see the humour in the "jew in the oven" cartoon, and I can also understand the sense of female subjugation in some of the headlines, yet none of this promotes hate in any real way.
One thing that I always tend to throw in such debates is that I love that people like Larry Flynt (sp.) exist because with extreme thoughts floating around, people become aware of issues and public consciousness tends to find a middle ground. I think this is the case here, and if public consciousness is raised, even by extreme examples, and real dialogue takes place as a result, it becomes the opposite of harmful.
I am kind of going on here, but I think I have made my point. Don't forget, you have the same rights to communicate your ideas as they do, and it is your right, and perhaps even your civil responsibility, to excercise that right if you find something offensive.
Pierre
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