A fault-line in the clash of cultures

A belief in free speech is a characteristic of modernity. With all its faults (environmental degradation, to name the worst), it trumps the pre-industrial world preferred by fundamentalist Islamic jihadists . This can be seen in the long-running saga of the fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie, a book published in 1988. Because we so prize free speech and free inquiry, Westerners, especially secular westerners, view such a anti-modern view with contempt. However, this fault line between two worlds is not so neat a cleavage. I was thinking about the free speech angle the other day, when it occurred to me that an avowed terrorist somehow managed to smuggle an incendiary device onto a flight to Detroit. Despite his father's warnings to the State Department, the son's name was never registered in the "no fly" data base. Contrast this with the treatment of the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, who was denied entry to the United States for his views on Salman Rushdie.

Consider the on-going tale of the Danish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet with a turban shaped like a bomb. It is depressing to realize that this probably will not be the last attempt on the artist's life. We applaud his courage, as we celebrate his right to free speech. But what of the rights of Yusuf Islam? In the clash of cultures, free speech for whom?