I must admit that I haven't yet read VM's write-up. However, there's one example that Free Speech advocates taken into account. That is, one cannot "fire" in a theatre. In the modern sense, one cannot say "bomb" at the airport. I remember those days when hi-jacking was prevalent. Mario Miranda drew a cartoon where a man goes to the airport to receive his friend and for a distance shouts at his friend, "Hi, Jack." He was quickly arrested, and hauled. Free Speech has undergone lot of changes with the times. The Danish cartoons and now the French cartoons are part of the larger malaise. The religious intolerance has got to do with it. Remember what happened to MS Hussein, and even to our own Jose Pereira in Goa. There have been many movies depicting the live -- and even loves -- of Jesus. Give me one example of a movie on Guru Nanak. Only the Guru's words are spoken in the background but no person can depict him though we know who and how he looks through his postcard photos and images in Sikh homes and gurdwaras. Free Speech is a double-edged sword. Those who use it must be aware that it can cut both ways.
Eugene Correia
