Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.
To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser.
In "Science, Religion and Culture" 2.1 (January 2015): 29–32.
The violence perpetrated by some Islamic fundamentalist groups in recent years, particularly the murder of the French cartoonists who worked for Charlie Hebdo, in early 2015, bring up doubts in the Western societies regarding the nature of their economic system, their global interconnection, the democracy, and specifically the freedoms. This article analyzes some cartoons of Muhammad published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands‐ Posten, in 2005, and by the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in 2012, and it explores their humor, their violence, and the reactions raised by them. The brief reflections derived from the analysis of these cases lead us to a discussion about the 'Western' tradition of satire, addressing religious freedom and freedom of expression, in addition to the very idea of democracy. Theories proposed by classic authors, such as Montesquieu and Stuart Mill, as well as those by contemporary authors who thought of the democratic freedoms, such as John Rawls and Pierre Rosanvallon are addressed, situating this relevant debate of contemporaneity in the long‐term. This short essay promotes the debate about the limits of humor, especially in its relation to religions and politics nowadays.
Khan, A, 2018
This article uses the lens of the General Theory of Verbal Humour (Raskin, Hempelmann, & Taylor 2009) to examine the patterns of humour created in the selected sample of five E-media cartoons disseminated on the World Wide Web in the year 2017. Due to the hybrid nature of the sample, the critical terminology introduced by Kukkonen (2013) for studying comics and graphic novels has been employed to study the representation of a veiled Muslim woman in the cartoons. Owing to the increased importance of electronic media the (re)production of discursive image of Muslim woman and her veil as an icon of stereotypical representation needs to be critically examined for perpetuating stereotypes. This practice, which is a unique kind of oppression, deprives a Muslim woman from following the dress code of her choice and marginalises the women who consider veil a form of empowerment freeing them from the beauty game of capitalist society. This beauty game forces a woman to ensure gloss in her hair, the glow in her face and continues to force them to struggle to attain that (non-existent) perfect Barbie doll figure. This research establishes that the Muslim women are portrayed as a homogeneous group devoid of any individual characteristics. The flawed assumptions about Islam make her burqa appear like a stooge reflected in strikingly similar patterns in the cartoons.
Brooklyn Journal of International Law, 2017
Social justice does not exist in a vacuum. Social justice deters human rights policies from crossing the line. Thus, the principle of justice counterbalances the evils of the laissez-faire human rights philosophy when society lacks an appropriate form of legal or regulatory framework for legitimate restraints on human rights. Moreover, well-ordered just society does not allow human rights to be abused or curtailed beyond the level necessary to safeguard superior social norms or national interests. As such, human rights are subject to relative protection while they receive universal respect across the world. From a semantic standpoint, two ambivalent natures of human rights, universality and relativity, are neither mutually exclusive nor contradictory. They rather complement each other and serve to best characterize human rights in their entirety. The 2015 tragic terrorist attack against the satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, in France poses the crucial, but controversial question of whether, and to what extent, intolerance of disparate ideas, cultures, or religions of others should be tolerated in the name of freedom of expression in modern times resting on a firm basis of the spirit of tolerance. The Charlie Hebdo controversy provides an implication for creating a new paradigm to demarcate the legitimate purview of freedom of expression regarded as a touchstone of all human rights. This paradigm suggests a theoretical framework which highlights the functional significance of cultural relativism as the key threshold. Cultural relativism may circumscribe freedom of expression where the enjoyment and exercise of the freedom amount to prejudice to the cultural identity integral to society and give rise to the grave impairment of social integrity. An apparently elusive term of social integrity in part stands on the conceptual basis of so-called identity politics, which are defined as collective manifestations of political interests by the common identity group. Today, identity politics seem to be plausibly predicated upon the global climate to promote cultural pluralism. The scope of freedom of expression is scaled back under the cultural relativism approach to the level necessary to preserve internal cohesion and solidarity of society.
Twelve people who worked for Charlie Hebdo were killed by gunmen in its office in Paris on 7 January 2015 after the satirical newspaper published a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad. According to Islam, drawing Prophet Muhammad is forbidden, let alone make fun of him. Supporters of Charlie Hebdo, who after the attack identify themselves with a slogan of Je Suis Charlie (I am Charlie), believe the tragedy is a threat to freedom of expression. Some also comment that Charlie Hebdo is a French media, operates under French law and culture that respects freedom of expression. Despite that, there are also people who disagree with the comments and believe that free speech must have restrictions. They also think Charlie Hebdo spreads Islamophobia and endangers democracy in France. Charlie Hebdo proclaims themselves as satirists hence it creates a situation whether their message can be considered a mere comedy or provocation of racial and religious hatred. What happened to Charlie Hebdo renders a question to what extent satire is compatible with the spirit of freedom of expression and democracy so needs to be protected.
2006
It is bad enough that more than half of Australian schoolchildren in Victoria view Muslims as terrorists, and two out of five agree that Muslims 'are unclean'(Sydney Morning Herald, 5th February, 2006). The continual portrayal of 'the other'as barbaric, violent and strange in western media does nothing to reverse this prejudice. Rather, this orientalism (Edward Said) may directly contribute to both the growing Islamophobia in the west as well as to growing radicalisation of Islam elsewhere.
2016
In this article we argue that freedom of speech should be understood as a social freedom. In the public discussion after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, it has often been understood as an absolute right to say anything – to offend, to make a fool of others and of oneself, and to express any opinion regardless of the consequences. We challenge this view and propose that advocating freedom of speech without understanding its social foundations is misleading and counterproductive. Based on the critical social theories of Erich Fromm, Charles Taylor and Axel Honneth, we show that there is an alternative tradition in which freedom is fundamentally rooted in social relations and therefore requires respect for others. We argue that interpreting freedom of speech as a social freedom avoids some of the problems apparent in current discussions. In addition, our position has significant practical consequences on how humour and insults should be understood.
Jewish History, 2018
HUMOR
The United States and Europe are often contrasted with each other regarding their approach to freedom of expression. Yet, despite the differences between their respective judicial systems, courts from both regions inevitably face similar interpretive challenges when dealing with humor. Our paper conducts a comparative discussion of humor-related jurisprudence from the US and Europe, mostly (but not exclusively) focusing on two landmark cases – namely Hustler v. Falwell (US Supreme Court, 1988) and Vereinigung Bildender Künstler v. Austria (European Court of Human Rights, 2007). In particular, our analysis foregrounds two aspects: 1) How courts deal with the complex relations between humor, exaggeration and factual reality; 2) The role of objective harm (as opposed to subjective offence) in distinguishing between lawful and unlawful expression, and how the subjectivity of humor interpretation can undermine this criterion. On both levels, we argue that insights from literary and lingu...
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2022
Y. Minets, P. Nowakowski (eds.), Shaping Letters, Shaping Communities: Multilingualism and Linguistic Practice in the Late Antique Near East and Egypt (Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity, Volume: 33, Leiden: Brill, 2023), 2023
International Journal of Engineering Research and, 2017
"Archaeologia Historica Polona", T. 5, , 1997
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2015
Keeping Record: The Materiality of Rulership and Administration in Early China and Medieval Europe, 2024
Third International Conference: "The Rock Art of Northern Africa", Brussels, Belgium, 12–14 September 2023, Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences in collaboration with Royal Museums of Art and History, 2023
Sex Roles, 2012
Acervo: Revista do Arquivo Nacional, 2024
Geobiology, 2008
Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal , 2022
Cineclube como mobilização social e cultural: a representação da mulher na literatura e no cinema, 2024
Verhandlungen des Historischen Vereins Regensburg und Oberpfalz Nr. 164, 2024
Chemistry Letters, 2011