Danish cartoons inspire debate

American media outlets did not utilize their freedom of speech rights after they chose not to reprint the Danish cartoons that negatively depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, panelists said last night at a discussion held at the Kimmel Center.

The event, titled "Free Speech and the Danish Cartoons," displayed easels with blank panels instead of the cartoons after NYU demanded that the cartoons be removed from display if the public was admitted. Panelists for the event, sponsored by the Objectivist Club, were Peter Schwartz of the Ayn Rand Institute; Andrew Bostom, who edited "The Legacy of Jihad"; Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education; and Jonathan Leaf, the resigned editor of the New York Press.

"Realistically, one can have a discussion on smallpox without actually handing out the the live virus to the audience," university spokesman John Beckman said. "Any institution has a responsibility that events on its grounds go smoothly and without disruption."

The panelists expressed concern that all American publications, with the exception of three, were unwilling to reprint the Danish cartoons. Free speech allows people to exercise their own individual thoughts, and violence directed towards the cartoons threatened people's reason, which should be able to challenge religion and ideology, they said.

Bostom said it is healthy to question a religion, and Islam should be able to handle the publication of cartoons that parody aspects of it.

"The cartoons were a healthy dose of direct criticism [toward Islam]," Bostom said.

Schwartz said fear was behind the media's motivation not to reprint the images.

"The New York Times claims not to run the pictures because of the matter of taste," Schwartz said. "But, in fact, everyone knows they're perfectly willing to offend people who they don't fear from being beheaded."

NYU's decision to bar the public from seeing the cartoons illustrated an apprehension towards free speech, and its actions were chilling and absurd, Lukianoff said.

"If you want to talk about an image, you might want to show them," said Lukianoff, who later pointed behind him at the blank easels and yelled, "This is censorship!"

Lukianoff said people easily feel harassed by ideas contrary to their own.

"Nobody has a right not to be offended," Lukianoff said.

Midway through the discussion, Muslim students who had gathered outside to protest, unfurled a white banner with red letters that said, "Freedom of Speech Does Not Equal Freedom to Hate."

Leaf said it is unhealthy for the academic community to avoid discussing sensitive issues.

"Part of being in a modern world and part of being in a university means being able to talk about these subjects seriously," Leaf said.

People are afraid to talk and publish the cartoons, and we shouldn't have to worry about dancing around sensitive issues, Leaf said.

During the discussion, Schwartz criticized the Islamic religion, saying that it forces its followers to imprison themselves in dogmatic traditions.

"The philosophy I subscribe to is objectivism, which believes reason is man's only knowledge," he said.

Schwartz said that the violent uprisings were motivated by faith and not reason.

"Faith is blind obedience in rejection of reason," Schwartz said. "If you base your arguments on faith, then it leaves no room for your argument. It leaves you with no other option but force."

Schwartz said the attacks were not just in defense of the Islamic religion.

"This is an attack on the free, rational mind," he said.

CAS junior James Ferguson said it was unfair that so much time was spent on attacking Islam.

"To demonize a religion is not going to help anything," Ferguson said. "When did free speech turn into a hateful generalization of Islam?"

CAS junior Muniba Hassan said the panel will provoke hatred of Islam, which has caused many of her Muslim friends to be afraid to walk home at night.

"They used free speech as a way to hide their xenophobic agenda," Hassan said.

GSP sophomore Rizvan Moosvi said the panel didn't fully understand Islam.

"Schwartz said that an Orthodox in any religion immediately denounces thought," Moosvi said. "Islam is a religion of thought. They want you to ask questions."