Canceling Voltaire -- Le Fanatisme, Indeed
Trans-Atlantic blog friend Pursuit of Serenity emailed me this story about everyone's favorite hero of free speech, Voltaire.
In a striking twist of events, Voltaire himself has been under fire (*sigh*) by the usual suspects (*sigh*):
"Blame It on Voltaire: Muslims Ask French to Cancel 1741 Play"
SAINT-GENIS-POUILLY, France -- Late last year, as an international crisis was brewing over Danish cartoons of Muhammad, Muslims raised a furor in this little alpine town over a much older provocateur: Voltaire, the French champion of the 18th-century Enlightenment. A municipal cultural center here on France's border with Switzerland organized a reading of a 265-year-old play by Voltaire, whose writings helped lay the foundations of modern Europe's commitment to secularism. The play, "Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet," uses the founder of Islam to lampoon all forms of religious frenzy and intolerance. The production quickly stirred up passions that echoed the cartoon uproar. "This play...constitutes an insult to the entire Muslim community," said a letter to the mayor of Saint-Genis-Pouilly, signed by Said Akhrouf, a French-born café owner of Moroccan descent and three other Islamic activists representing Muslim associations. They demanded the performance be cancelled. Instead, Mayor Hubert Bertrand called in police reinforcements to protect the theater. On the night of the December reading, a small riot broke out involving several dozen people and youths who set fire to a car and garbage cans. |
Well, hooray for the mayor, who demonstrated some real courage and conviction. Anyway, I can see why some people might be upset or offended by Voltaire's provocative work. Peacefully protest and complain all you like, file grivances, write letters to newspapers, etc. That's all OK. But you'll notice that the good mayor felt the need to call out the police to protect the theater. You don't do that kind of thing unless you are -- alas -- afraid of some kind of violence.
And so it was, as the rest of the article points out: "On the night of the December reading, a small riot broke out involving several dozen people and youths who set fire to a car and garbage cans." What IS it with rioting and burning cars? Surely there are better ways of expressing yourself -- ways that don't involve the destruction of property and giving your religion a bad name among people who don't believe the same as you do. I'm sorry, but if you burn my car and tell me you did it because you were angry about some religious offense, I will not sympathize with your "offense." I'll just be angry that you burned my car. And I'll think that you need to get some emotional maturity, no matter what your religion is.
For gentle readers who are interested, here is the text of Voltaire's play, entitled "Mahomet, ou le Fanatisme." I don't need to tell you that in cases of controversy, it's usually best to see/read the controversial thing for yourself so you can make up your own mind.
So! Who's the next target after Voltaire for the easily offended? Another blog friend, Buzzurro, has suggested that Dante might be next, since that literary giant of the Italian Renaissance not only mentions Mohammed in unflattering terms, but assigns him a place in hell in the Inferno.
Oh, and Volokh has a short comment on this Voltaire incident as well.
It does seem that lately the topic of free speech, press, and expression is a very hot topic indeed.