Canada's Trudeau distances himself from Macron:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended free speech on Friday, but added that it was "not without limits" and should not "arbitrarily and needlessly hurt" certain communities.
"We will always defend freedom of expression," Trudeau said in response to a question about the right to show a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed, as France's Charlie Hebdo magazine did.
"But freedom of expression is not without limits," he added. "We owe it to ourselves to act with respect for others and to seek not to arbitrarily or unnecessarily injure those with whom we are sharing a society and a planet."…
"In a pluralist, diverse and respectful society like ours, we owe it to ourselves to be aware of the impact of our words, of our actions on others, particularly these communities and populations who still experience a great deal of discrimination," he said.
It's clear enough what he means. He doesn't believe in free speech at all – not if it might cause offence. The requirement to not cause offence – and particularly not cause offence to Muslims – is more important than free speech. We should be respectful, or they might get so offended that they're forced to resort to violence and threats to show us how offended they are.
It's notable that this kind of deference is based on the belief that the greater the violence, the more that those committing the violence must have been hurt. To go and cut someone's head off, or to rant and rave against France and Macron, like Erdogan or Imran Khan have done, shows how very deeply these people must have been offended. Which is just the response of the domestic abuser: look what you made me do by your behaviour…talking to that other man, not having my dinner ready, behaving like a slut…it's your fault I have to keep hitting you.
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