Give Me More of These Examples

Abstract

As this post-fatwa challenge fractured, contagiously, into a myriad of incidents, governments still largely eschewed any firm and comprehensive defence of free expression but, in the name of multiculturalism or social cohesion, accepted that outraged feelings needed to be assuaged even at the cost of undercutting the right of free speech. However, the failure to defend free expression and the apparent empathetic sincerity of the authorities can be doubted as truly indicating understanding and sensitivity. There might have been a measure of real sympathy but there was little significant understanding evidenced in policy. The stance was more, as is to be expected, a matter of expediency — realpolitik — than of any deep feeling or commitment. It was certainly not the expression of any well-thought-out plan to meet the challenges of a diverse society.

Night 152, ‘The Story of the Falcon and the Birds of Prey’, The 1001 Nights