Reflection #2

This week I want to discuss two provocative pieces of "art" if they can be called as such. The first is the cartoon in the French journal Charlie Hebdo depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a very derogatory light and the second is an ad by the American Freedom Defense Initiative implying that the arab nations are savages and Israel the only civilized force in the region.
While I stand entirely behind the First Amendment Right of Freedom of Speech, I believe that there should be a conscious effort to try to educate people because these 2 pieces have been put on display at the worst possible time. After the heavily anti-islam film "Innocence of Muslims" produced by a California-based Coptic Christian. These anti-islam productions are simply provoking more hatred and helping to continue a tense situation while we should all strive for an understanding of the situation on both sides and try to simply diffuse this situation.
It angers me that people such as the cartoonist from Charlie Hebdo would misuse his freedom of speech so badly that it caused the French government to up the security at embassies in over 20 countries. By publishing his cartoon the cartoonist endangered the security of the personnel of the embassies in all those 20 countries and therefore by putting the personnel in danger he could should be able to face restrictions or at least sanctions due to this.
This is all about Social Consciousness: do individuals in society have a duty to beware of what they say and do or are they allowed to say and do what they please?
In my view the individuals of society should consider freedom of speech as a privilege and not a birth given right and therefore should exercise caution when using that privilege. By doing what they have done Charlie Hebdo and the American Freedom Defense Initiative have tended the fires of an otherwise extremely tense situation and therefore are delaying the cool-down process which should have been well on its way at the moment.