Contextualising the sax appeal and the Danish cartoon furores for South Africa
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Date
2010
Authors
Jones, Nicola
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State
Abstract
This article discusses what a free and responsible press means in pluralistic
democracies, focussing specifically on whether that includes the freedom to offend. It
argues that there is a distinction between hate speech and offensive speech, as the latter
has no malicious intent, but rather occurs in interpretation. The article argues that
pluralistic societies such as South Africa need a relatively wide area reserved for
controversial speech, so long as it is not hate speech, as toleration of controversial or
offensive speech is a difficult but fundamental feature of an open society. This raises the
notion of the use of satire in a developing country; where the Sax Appeal cartoons are
concerned, the article discusses the wider ramifications of the University of Cape Town
pledging to “censor” future student publications, as well as considering the argument
put forward by David Benatar, who argues that to pander to “sensitivities” only
encourages more indignation and gradually shuts down the range of matters about
which we can joke. The article ultimately argues for the necessity of keeping channels
of uncomfortable communication open in order to build mutual understanding in a
divided society who are ignorant of others’ cultural norms.
Description
Keywords
Free press, Hate speech, Censorship, Communication
Citation
Jones,N. (2010). Contextualising the sax appeal and the Danish cartoon furores for South Africa. Communitas, 15, 151-165.