Charlie Hebdo - How Did We End Up Here?

philip2009 · 4 Apr 2016 at 21:05

For a week now, experts of all kinds have been trying to understand the reasons for the attacks in Brussels. An incompetent police force? Unbridled multiculturalism? Youth unemployment? Uninhibited Islamism? The causes are numerous beyond counting and everyone will naturally choose the one that suits best their own convictions. Law and Order fans will denounce the haplessness of the police. Xenophobes will blame immigration. Sociologists will rehash the evils of colonialism. Urban-planners will point to the evils of ghettoisation. Take your pick. ...

https://charliehebdo.fr/en/edito/how-did-we-end-up-here/

Too long to fully quote, but short enough for a quick read. Hebdo's response to Brussels.

philip2009 · 4 Apr 2016 at 21:23

Caged said:
What do you think about it?

Talking broadly ... stifling debate is intellectual cancer and leads to many problems with discontent and bad governance

University and college campuses in the UK/US should be close to heaven on earth, after all often speech is highly policed and no offence is given. The reality is though that where free debate is not allowed, and people are not properly challenged, bad ideas flourish.

philip2009 · 4 Apr 2016 at 21:24

Caged said:
It's kind of a tabloid column but with better vocabulary, isn't it? An opinion piece dressed up as something different.

What is your opinion(not on the writing style)?

philip2009 · 4 Apr 2016 at 21:51

Mynight said:
Nothing is above intelligent criticism.

One of the brakes on free debate is not really whether a criticism is intelligent or not(and I don't actually think intelligence has to be a key feature), but whether it is considered offensive or socially unacceptable - who has the right to decide how offensive something is and whether it should be allowed to be voiced? Who polices the political police?