I spoke with the Hustler publisher by phone today. You’ll recall that Flynt was the key figure in a good many free speech battles, including a defamation suit from the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
What do you think of the situation of the Danish cartoons?
It’s scary, to say the least. Freedom of speech is involved in this, and I’ve always been an absolutist when it comes to free speech, even in countries that don’t have it. I don’t think you’re really free unless you do have freedom of speech and freedom of religion and civil liberties. If you pull any one of those out, it’s like a domino effect. I can understand why a lot of people are afraid, but if they thought a little harder about the issues themselves and asked if they wanted to live in a country of tyranny I don’t think anyone would. I think Americans are just reacting without thinking.
Freedom of speech is only important if you’re gonna offend someone; if you’re not gonna offend someone, you don’t need free speech. As the Supreme Court found in my lawsuit of Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, just because the government finds speech offensive, it doesn’t mean people don’t have a right to say it.
I hate to see so many people waffle on this.
What do you think this controversy says about the world Muslim community?
Y’know, Steve, that all the wars were fought all for religion, it’s very easy to document this, and we talk about being a tolerant society.
Do you think Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell really like the jews and the muslims? No, they tolerate them because they have to because of freedom of religion, but other countries don’t have that.
When this intoleration is not contained, it erupts, into war. We live in an era of nuclear weapons; it’s just so frightening that a few people just wanna try to make it go away by just appeasing the Arabs who are protesting, but that’s not the way it works…you’re on a slippery slope with your freedom, and if you don’t protect it, you’ll lose it.
What do you think of America’s Evangelical community, and their response to offensive things, in light of the response to the Danish cartoons?
They’re just as bad as the Muslims in many respects; they are fundamentalists. They come from different denominations, but as I say, we’ve been able to keep the spirit of people’s right to choose a religion pretty much intact because of the way our constitution was devised.
What do you think of the media’s response to the situation?
They’re so wimp-kneed, you know, there’s no point in even discussing the media. They’re a bunch of suits in an ivory tower trying to decide what we should see, what we shouldn’t see, they’re never gonna choose anything that doesn’t improve the bottom line.
Do you plan on running the cartoons?
I haven’t seen any yet; if I had it I’d be happy to run it. I’d do something even more offensive.
How well have Americans been dealing with challenges to free speech now versus when you had most of your battles?
Absolutely, it’s oppression. If you went out into the street and took a poll: “How many believe in free speech?” 97% would say yes. But then if you say “what about hate speech, what about flag-burning, what about pornography,” that 97% falls down below 50 again. And we need Freedom of Speech to protect that.
How should Americans be responding to Europeans who might curtail this kind of speech in light of what’s going on?
I would say they’ve gotta make a decision, if their Muslims are gonna run their country, or if they’re gonna run it. Every country has to make that decision.
And what do you think America’s decision has been?
We’ve tried to have free speech, unadulterated.
Do you think that other countries’ lack of religious liberty makes their lack of free speech worse?
It doesn’t make a lack of free speech worse, but I’ll tell you what you do get in European countries: a much-more laid-back attitude towards religion and social issues like adultery; everyone in Europe has a mistress. They’re an older society and they’ve been through a lot and they don’t get so excited over things…over anything, like these cartoons, and other things that come up, like pornography.
What I’m trying to say is European people go with the flow, and Americans are always looking for a reason to protest things.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Christian, Muslim, Miscellany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.