More recently, many Europeans in the Western intellectual tradition have shown their respect for the man who inspired the world's fastest growing religion. Even at that time, his crude writings on Muhammad were countered by Napoleon Bonaparte, and some decades later, the French philosopher de Lamartine wrote a glowing tribute of Muhammad. Indeed, Voltaire himself once wrote a play insulting Prophet Muhammad, to symbolise his contempt for religions in general.īut Voltaire’s attitude to Islam and the Prophet is by no means typical of the Western intelligentsia, particularly the French.
#Your freedom to swing your fist full
More notably, the words of Voltaire, the French philosopher best known for his almost Abrahamic vow to give up his life in defence of freedom of expression, have been parroted with full fervour, ignoring the context of Voltaire’s statement in the late 1700s, an era marked by the tyranny of priests and religious clergy.
Here in Malaysia, the targeting of a small political comic has been greeted with suitably comical fervour, with French phrases tripping off numerous tongues. When simple principles of civility fail to prevent the deliberate targeting by one party of the deepest-held beliefs and taboos of another – particularly when the latter is already suffering economic marginalisation and social alienation – some reaction is bound to follow. It is this that must govern the conduct of people towards each other, however much they may differ in terms of beliefs and values.
This tragedy – or something like it – was made inevitable by an earlier failure, that of civility. But it cannot be understood only in terms of freedom of speech. The attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices was an appalling crime, of course, and the deaths of the 12 victims (and the suffering of all those wounded or traumatised) tragic for all involved. And when one’s nose is bruised by another’s insistence on freedom, how should we react? By an even stronger blow that gives a lot more than a bloody nose? This is where notions of civility come in. But until you can accept that - for many people - they are WORTHLESS, you simply come across as the nutcase you are.The Americans say, “Your freedom ends where my nose begins” or “Your liberty to swing your fist ends just where my nose begins”. The four freedoms may be a brilliant idea (I think they are). And it's that fanaticism that will *doom* linux, if the fanatics don't stop ruining things for everyone, themselves included. Your freedom does not extend to telling ME what to do with MY money. If they are denied the FREEDOM to pay for it, then it will never be written! What's that saying? "Your freedom to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose".
#Your freedom to swing your fist software
The reality the fanatics are incapable of accepting is that MUCH software is used by people who cannot write it for themselves. If the computer is not USEFUL, it is worthless.Īnd until the fanatics are prepared to PAY out of THEIR OWN pockets to give away all this *useful* software that people need/want, they need to accept that other people need the FREEDOM to CHOOSE TO PAY. > You are starting from the incorrect assumtion that our goal is simple popularity.
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