Free speech, the Pope and Charlie-Hebdo

Recently, Pope Francis made some compelling comments about the provocative risks linked to free-speech. Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me a PDF copy of the French satirical publication.

As I expected, I found it in very poor taste and wouldn't purchase it under any circumstances. This probably is a matter of personal taste.

While I still feel that free-speech is a unalienable right, it entails a share of risk and the delivery style of certain form of free-speech, like the one used by Charlie-Hebdo can be quite inflammatory and provoke unforeseen consequences, not unlike what happens in road rage incidents. In such cases, good common sense remains the best way to act.

Once more, it's not so much what we say, but rather how we say it.