Sometimes you actually have to stand up and be counted.

Evelyn Beatrice Hall (not Voltaire) once wrote “I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it”, which to me is the fundamental conviction which underpins a person’s rights and obligations in a free, open and democratic society.  Sadly all too many are prepared assert the right, but all too few have the backbone to meet their obligations.

Yes, what Pickering did may offended some but there is a higher purpose here.

Just as I have the right to say it, you have the right to be offended by it, and having been offended by it, you have a right to take peaceful steps to communicate that you have been offended  You do not however have a right to interfer with my right to say it or the right to kill me because I have said it.  Yet within one religious group there is a minority who believe otherwise, and it is this group that the offending cartoon was directed.  That is this is who I am, so come and get me.  And our right to call ourselves a free, open and democratic society will depend on how we respond.

For me it’s “I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it”.  Hopefully I not alone.