Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
It’s a little confusing. The cover of the next Charlie Hebdo features a cartoon of Mohammed holding a “Je suis Charlie” sign under the headline “Tout est Pardonné” (“All Is Forgiven”), which is a little confusing. Who, exactly, is forgiving whom? According to Charlie Hebdo columnist Zineb El Rhazoui, the drawing is a call to forgive gunmen Chérif and Saïd…
Many of the arrests are believed to stem from comments made on Facebook, Twitter and social media as the world reacted to the atrocities. They are part of a broader French crackdown on perceived hate speech, extremism and anti-Semitism amid a government push for tougher anti-terrorism measures. Anti-semitic French comedian Dieudonné was among those detained…
Forty-eight hours after hosting a massive march under the banner of free expression, France opened a criminal investigation of a controversial French comedian for a Facebook post he wrote about the Charlie Hebdo attack, and then this morning, arrested him for that post on charges of “defending terrorism.” The comedian, Dieudonné (above), previously sought elective office in…
Entry Text Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) compared President Barack Obama to German dictator Adolf Hitler on Monday night.The ultra-conservative congressman from Texas criticized the president for not traveling to Paris on Sunday to attend a massive unity rally against terrorism, which was attended by dozens of world leaders.”Even Adolph Hitler thought it more important than…
One point that, I hope, runs through a lot of my work is the use and abuse of dead moral questions. In that, I mean the tendency for political types to bring a lot of rhetorical and mental weight to bear on questions that are not politically live, in any meaningful sense. This focus is…
‘Far from being ‘sacred’, as some have claimed, freedom of speech is always contingent.’ Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP In times of crisis, those who would like us to keep just one idea in our heads at any one time are quick to the megaphones. By framing events in Manichean terms – dark versus light; good versus…
Mark Zuckerberg in 2013. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is dealing with the contradictions of promoting free speech while running the world’s biggest social network, after being called out on the gap between his words and Facebook policy. Zuckerberg, who has been outspoken in his support of Charlie Hebdo and freedom of speech in…
Millions of people took to the streets of Paris and cities across France on Sunday to rally in defense of free speech and against terrorism in the wake of Wednesday’s deadly attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The French Interior Ministry told the Associated Press that 3.7 million marched throughout France, making the demonstrations the largest…
If you thought the Arab world celebrated the attack on Charlie Hebdo as a blow against blasphemers, some Arab-language newspapers tell a different story. Many newspapers across the Arab world have published cartoons expressing solidarity and support with the French satirical newspaper, much those published by Western cartoonists just hours after the attack. But cartoonists find…
(Hammerin Man) In recent years, we’ve written a number of stories about laws aimed at protecting active-duty servicemembers and their families from predatory loans and the businesses that try to take advantage of loopholes in these rules. Some readers have asked why members of our armed forces merit protections not available to civilians. But this…