There is a world of difference between Race & Religion. 18c focuses on Race not Religion. The Holocaust was 70 years ago & I know we must never forget the 6 million Jews that were murdered. However no mention is ever made of the 13 million Christians that suffered the same fate at the same time nor of the millions Russians, mostly Christian, that also died. Why is that? Why do we only concentrate on the Jewry that died?

Judaism is a Religion, not a Race. Why is it always made out to be a Race issue?

I think that, in Australia, fun should be able to be poked at anyone regardless of Race or Religion, Political persuasion, Sex or anything else that can be thought of. Cartoons & Jokes make you think, good or bad, about the real situation. Not a politically Cleansed one. Politically Correctness makes you blind in one eye & not being able to see out of the other with a spray of sweet fragrance under the nose to hide the reality no one wants to mention. Poking "good natured" fun at one another has always been an Australian Tradition & sometimes a nice way of helping people who need a little push in the right direction or to look at things differently.

I hope this is taken an a positive light, not as an intentional nasty poke at the marginalized. Sometimes I'm not good at getting my intended message across.

Paul,

I'm getting some mixed messages from various commentators.

"The Liberal Parties extreme rights mouth peace Cory Bernardi has tried to politicise the attack in Paris by once more calling for an easing of Australia's race hate laws. This is exactly what the perpetrators and the supporters of these vile acts want...."

I was under the impression that the vile perpetrators wanted a tightening of such laws [in France, at least].

Sorry, I can't buy the proposition that we fall to our knees when some extremists decide to commit atrocities in the so-called "defence of their religion".

Satire, no matter how vicious, is part of the way humans deal with stuff.

For instance, in one episode of Father Ted, a Bishop ends up with Holy Stone of Clonrichert - (being upgraded to a "class two relic" by the Vatican) inserted in his nether regions...another Bishop is inadvertenly convinced by Dougal that Christianity is a load of tosh, and promptly heads off to India in a Kombi, puffing on a joint - and a third Bishop is killed by a heart attack when a drain spurts out water after someone flushes the loo....all is irreverence, produced in a country that takes its Catholism very seriously. Would we for a minute put a caveat on a massacre of the production team of Father Ted on the grounds that it insulted Catholism?

___________

SM,

"It's not just Cory Bernadi calling for a revision of the race hate laws, but pretty much everyone concerned about press freedom."

On that subject, is Cory also calling for a revision of Brandis's new security laws - that hold the threat of jailing journalists for ten years if they breach it?

o sung wu

I agree that provocation made the cartoonists a target. The same is true of everyone who exercises free speech in the face of violent opposition. It may be that a cartoon seems a rather trivial compared to a political analysis or, say, the Satanic Verses. But satire can be deadly serious.

This attack was unusual in that most of the victims – the cartoonists - had personally done something to provoke it. Most victims of terrorist attacks are random, or racial targets, like Jewish supermarket victims. Trying to avoid being a target doesn’t prevent you from being one.

Even if you don’t accept the argument that free speech is worth defending in in principle, I wonder how your pragmatic approach would play out in practice. If CH had not published their offensive cartoons, would the Kouachi brothers have stayed peacefully at home, or found some other "offenders" to target? We can never know, but I suspect the latter.

Dear Rhian,

The following link may be of interest to you and others
in this discussion. It's from the New York Post.

"French Prime Minister declares war on Islam..."

The French PM, Manuel Valls stated -

"We are at war - not a war against religion - not a war
against a civilization - but to defend our values,
which are universal."

"It is a war against terrorism, and radical Islamism -
against everything that would break our solidarity, our
liberty, our fraternity."

"The French people need to stand up for freedom of speech
and faith - which in France means keeping religion
separate from government."

"We need standards, values and authority. There must be
a firm message about the values of the Republic and
secularism."

And there's more at the following:

http://nypost.com/2015/01/10/french-prime-minister-declares-war-on-radical-islam/

G'day there RHIAN...

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm a great believer of defending our rights of 'Freedom of speech' that includes s.18c of that 'pointless' Statute !

It's just I believe when one is dealing with these halfwits you pick your fights, and when ready, demolish them completely ! It's like relentlessly prodding a venomous snake, do it long enough it'll bite. If you wish to destroy the snake, come upon it quickly, and kill it, 'before' it's ready to coil and strike ?

I'm sorry I can't seem to explain myself very effectively on this issue ? I suppose it's not unlike the situation that Salman RUSHDIE found himself in, with the publication of his book, 'Satanic Verses'? He could've continued writing in a similar vain, after all he had 'close protection', compliments of the British Government, but he chose to write other material until the threat assessment had diluted somewhat.

In other words he chose not to put his own life in any additional jeopardy, by publishing any other similar material that might provoke these murdering fools any further. As well as the lives of those, of his close protection squad. Unlike the editors of Charlie HEBDO, who apparently had received many such threats over time ? I call it irresponsible, not bravery.

I agree with Pickering on this issue.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25980837/pickering-wont-tone-down-cartoons/