The Cartoon Saga Part II

Following on from my post yesterday, today brings news that the editor of France Soir, one of the newspapers that printed the Mohammed cartoons, has been sacked for offending muslims. Since when was that a sackable offence, I ask. What, by the way, is wrong with causing offence? There are a lot of things that a newspaper should worry about, for example, unwarranted breach of privacy, libel and slander. Causing offence is not one of them. If a newspaper cannot publish something like this, for fear of offending muslims, where does that leave the rest of us? I am surprised at France Soir, especially given that France is supposed to be a secular country. What are we all afraid of, I wonder. One question: was the editor sacked because the owner of the paper is a sensitive man, who wouldn't want to cause offence to anyone? Or was it because of fear of the possible repercussions to the newspaper from angry muslims? I have a fair idea which it is, and if that is the case, things have come to a sorry pass. We should all be afraid, not only of angry muslims, but also because of the damage this is doing to our society. One of the major differences between a democracy and a dictatorship is the existence of a free press. This insidious dictatorship is not that of one man, but rather that of an alien culture that we are all too frightened to confront.