The Right To Offend

The woman now living under police protection for standing up to Islamist bullies, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, spoke in Berlin yesterday. Her speech will one day be a critical historical document of our time. Her theme? The right to offend. Yes: offend. I'm tired of these excuses for self and actual censorship, saying free speech is only legit if it doesn't offend someone's religion. Free speech is at its most legitimate when it is offending people. That's how societies change. And the absence of it is one reason so much of the Arab-Muslim world is an economic, cultural and political basket-case. These cultures need confronting, not enabling.