Give The Sensitivity Rap A Rest--Please

The Geek has always had a soft spot for the United Nations and occasionally hopes that it will become an organization useful for some employment other than serving as the periodic fig leaf covering the policy genitalia of the United States or magnifying local events into seeming global catastrophes.

But, that's not going to happen soon as shown by a small, recent event.

Comes now the UN special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related forms of intolerance, a lawyer from Senegal named Doudou Diene with a twenty-one page report on the alleged growth of "islamophobia" in Europe. (The Geek didn't make up Mr Diene's impressive job title. That's the way it was reported. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=bcd6c1c9-69ee-4da2-a9d4-e431b1e37ff7&k=493)

According to Reuters, Mr Diene is hyperventilating about what he sees as political exploitation by parties on the right of fears raised in the post-9/11 environment linking Islam with terrorist attacks. Diene is quoted as saying that more and more intellectuals, media personalities, and politicians are "equating Islam with terrorism and violence." He goes on to mention that some were attempting to "silence religious practices by banning the construction of mosques."

In his report and quoted remarks, Mr Diene echoed earlier statements by Masood Khan, Pakistan's representative at the recent conclave of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, an assembly of fifty-seven nations allegedly representing each and every one of the roughly 1.3 billion Muslims in the world today.

Masood Khan characterized the rise in "Islamophobia" as "alarming." He backed his assessment by mentioning, "Recent acts of defamation in the shape of blasphemous sketches in Sweden and posters in Switzerland..." He concluded, "Such blasphemy should not be encouraged in the name of freedom of expression."

Apparently, the special rapporteur for racism, etc. agrees. Sensitivity trumps freedom of expression. Swiss posters featuring a set of white sheep kicking a black sheep out of the pasture along with Swedish sketches and Danish cartoons must be prohibited lest some Muslim, somewhere be offended.

The Geek disagrees. Completely.

Freedom of expression is one of the highest, perhaps the single highest, Western post-Enlightenment value. Without freedom of expression, other values--political, social, cultural, economic--cannot exist.

Without freedom of expression, there can be no freedom of inquiry, no freedom to explore, take risks, change, develop.

Without freedom of expression, there can be only group think. There can be only group think within limits permitted by some absolute authority.

The God dodge won't work. An Islamist (or Masood Khan, for that matter) might argue that the deity alone sets the limits. Of course, it is humans who set themselves up to interpret in the manner of presidential spokespersons just what the deity really meant by one prohibition or another, one exhortation or another.

If history shows one bright and shining line separating free societies from those under the authoritarian boot of ideology or religion, it is that provided by freedom of expression. That line is bright with the blood of those who died to establish and preserve it. It shines due to the courage of those who push the envelope, dare the censors, outrage the mainstream.

The Geek does not expect either Mr Diene or Masood Khan to understand this aspect of Western history. After all, there are many Americans and many Europeans who are quite willing to censor in the name of sensitivity, under the banner of multi-culturalism.

The Geek accepts the notion of civility of discourse. History demonstrates convincingly that a modicum of civility in political, social, or cultural speech serves as a potent lubricant. Civility allows debate, disagreement, even argument without fists being clenched or throats staining for an additional decibel.

Civility in discourse is all that is necessary. The avoidance of the intentional, wounding insult is all that is required for the gears of interaction to operate with relative smoothness.

Perhaps one other factor is necessary as well. Get a grip on it.

Freedom of expression brings risks. Among these is the possibility of having one's sensitivities offended. Gosh! Can you believe it? Even the Geekmo has felt offended once or twice in his life.

This sort of inadvertent offense is like a sudden shower on a warm day. It comes. It goes. You dry off. Life goes on. That's all there is to it.

No one likes to get caught without an umbrella when the rain hits. But, we get over it. No one likes to be offended. But, we can get over it.

We can even benefit from the occasional sense of being offended. The sudden, sharp sense of outrage, of hurt sensitivities can, if we are smart enough, insightful enough, cause each of us to reflect on the basis for the outrage. How real is it? How important is it? Did it really hurt that much?

Mr Diene, Masood Khan, and the pathologically sensitive among us have to get over it. We are all best off when we remember the childhood, but certainly not childish saying: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Maybe we should add the words, "Unless I let them."

Finally, Mr Diene and others of your ilk, remember the harm words might do is far, far outweighed by the good freedom of expression has yielded. Can you say the same about the roadside bomb or the person in our midst with an explosive packed vest?