January 9, 2015 7:06pm by David Farrar

Awful views from Derek Fox

The Herald reported:

Fox said on Facebook said the editor of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo had “paid the price” for his “bigotry” and “arrogance”.

The price he should have paid is people not buying his magazine, not execution. Is Fox saying that the victims deserved to be killed because of what they wrote?

Fox wrote that Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier was a “bully” who had abused free speech and was now responsible for the deaths of his colleagues.

Yes he is. So if a white supremacist killed all the staff of Mana magazine, would Derek have been responsible for that?

“The editor of the French magazine has paid the price for his assumption of cultural superiority and arrogance, he was the bully believing he could insult other peoples culture and with impunity and he believed he would be protected in his racism and bigotry by the French state.

Yeah the satirical magazine editor is the bully, not the murdering terrorists.

Fox also misses the point that this magazine insults all cultures and religions. It is a satirical magazine. Does Fox want satire banned at risk of death, or does he think certain religions should be immune from satire?

He continued: “Power cultures all like to use the old chestnut of freedom of speech when they choose to ridicule people who aren’t exactly like them, and mostly they get away with it.”

Yeah that freedom of speech thing is so over-rated. Who needs it eh Derek.

Fox said in this Facebook post that the privilege of free speech brought with it responsibility and ramifications. “These guys liked the privilege but didn’t think they’d be caught up in the ramifications – they were wrong.

“This should serve as a lesson to other people who believe they can use the power they wield by way of dominating the media to abuse and ridicule others they believe to inferior to them – just like [in] this country.”

Fox’s post is vile. He blames the victims and thinks that killing people for satirical cartoons is a food way to teach people a lesson. I’ve had a fair amount of time for Fox in the past, but on this issue I find his writings repugnant.

However unlike Derek, I don’t think people should be killed for writing vile and repugnant things. I think he has a right to do express his views, without being killed for it.

National Party list MP Chris Bishop said it was a “horrific, ridiculous, shameful comment”, adding that supporting freedom of speech was a human right, not “cultural supremacy”.

Free speech is a human right. Not being offended by someone’s speech is not a right.