Can I Offend Gay or Black people in Cartoon Drawings and get away with it ?

In the wake of the Horrible terrorists attacks in France.
And people blaming a whole religion, for not accepting freedom of speech. A thought came to my mind. Drawing and making fun of the muslim prophet is one of the worst nonphysical offenses you can do to muslims. What are the worst offenses you can do to, say, the homosexual community, or even the African-American community. I remembered a few headlines of recent events from the past year. Some are:
-An actor, Jonah hill called a paparazzi the word "fag" , and every media outlet started calling him a HOMOPHOBIC, (I've always thought that word meant the "FEAR" of homosexuals" ) . He had to apologize on a talk show ,and say he is not homophobic.
hollywoodlife.com...

-www.charlotteobserver.com...

-The previous Mozilla CEO (company who owns the internet browser Firefox) made a donation of $1,000 back in 2008 in support of the ballot measure to ban gay marriage. The whole internet and gay community went crazy once t hey found out and basically, he was forced to resign.
www.theverge.com...
gizmodo.com...

This is just a small example of these events. There are other similar incidents you might remember.

Please note NOTHING justifies what happened in France, I am here to discuss freedom of speech. And how much freedom of speech do we have when we are offending other people .

Here is my question. If I worked at a newspaper in the united states, what would the backlash be if tomorrow I were to publish a cartoon drawing making fun of gay people, and using a slur ? What would be the backlash if I were to make fun of Black people and use a Racial slur, or even a variation of it that is used by most of the black people community (nigga). Would I be fired from my job ? be forced to resign ? Would these communities and other supporters go crazy over this and start calling me a racist and a homophobic ? I know for a fact I would get beat up beyond recognition If I walked in a Black people community.
Where are your freedoms of speech now ?

So All of this in one sentence : Can I Offend Gay or Black people in Cartoon Drawings and get away with it ? why ?

originally posted by: 0SolidSnake0
In the wake of the Horrible terrorists attacks in France.
And people blaming a whole religion, for not accepting freedom of speech. A thought came to my mind. Drawing and making fun of the muslim prophet is one of the worse nonphysical offenses you can do to a muslims. What are the worst offenses you can do to, say, the homosexual community, or even the African-American community. I remembered a few headlines of recent events from the past year. Some are:
-An actor, Jonah hill called a paparazzi the word "fag" , and every media outlet started calling him a HOMOPHOBIC, (I've always thought that word meant the "FEAR" of homosexuals" ) . He had to apologize on a talk show ,and say he is not homophobic.
hollywoodlife.com...

-www.charlotteobserver.com...

-The previous Mozilla CEO (company who owns the internet browser Firefox) made a donation of $1,000 back in 2008 in support of the ballot measure to ban gay marriage. The whole internet and gay community went crazy once t hey found out and basically, he was forced to resign.
www.theverge.com...
gizmodo.com...

This is just a small example of these events. There are other similar incidents you might remember.

Please note NOTHING justifies what happened in France, I am here to discuss freedom of speech. And how much freedom of speech do we have when we are offending other people .

Here is my question. If I worked at a newspaper in the united states, what would the backlash be if tomorrow I were to publish a cartoon drawing making fun of gay people, and using a slur ? What would be the backlash if I were to make fun of Black people and using a Racial slur, or even a variation of it that is used by most of the black people community (nigga). Would I be fired from my job ? be forced to resign ? Would these communities and other supporters go crazy over this and start calling me a racist and a homophobic ? I know for a fact I would be beat up beyond recognition If I walked in a Black people community.
Where are your freedom of speech now ?

So All of this in one sentence : Can I Offend Gay or Black people in Cartoon Drawings and get away with it ?

No !
Gay and black people are real
its quite simple really

a reply to: 0SolidSnake0

You would live....

a reply to: 0SolidSnake0

You may suffer the cruel fate of being shamed by society.
You won't be executed.

originally posted by: MarioOnTheFly
a reply to: 0SolidSnake0

You would live....

Good point

No you can't.

I posed a similar type thread the other day.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: 0SolidSnake0

In the United States...as we all know...we have freedom of speech...I think that some people are going to be sarcastic and make fun of anything they so choose to . Some of the subject matter they choose is very controversial...so if they choose to satire or make fun of touchy subjects...they should expect to be retaliated against by certain groups...they should realize that one day their life may be at stake...and if they choose to proceed anyway...that is their choice .


Edit: As I wrote this...naturally I am thinking about what happened in France; I just think people need to be extra careful.

a reply to: 0SolidSnake0

Why a cartoon? You believe what you want, you say what you want....Who cares? It is your right as a human to have thoughts or opinions about anything...

People always worry what others will say....I see it on here all the time! Who cares what people on a forum say? Who cares what "society" thinks about you? If you believe something, go for it....If you want to talk about it, go for it! The beauty of being your own person is, you can do whatever you would like to be your own person!

In a sense, yes you can get away with it. Really it depends on HOW you want to get away with it and by WHOM.

Technically, no one can really do anything about it. Or stop you from doing it. But that's not to say you won't be shunned or threatened or attacked by people who disagree with you.

You can get away with the action of it but suffer the consequences of that action in some way.

originally posted by: 0SolidSnake0
I am here to discuss freedom of speech. And how much freedom of speech do we have when we are offending other people .

Here is my question. If I worked at a newspaper in the united states, what would the backlash be if tomorrow I were to publish a cartoon drawing making fun of gay people, and using a slur ? What would be the backlash if I were to make fun of Black people and use a Racial slur, or even a variation of it that is used by most of the black people community (nigga). Would I be fired from my job ? be forced to resign ? Would these communities and other supporters go crazy over this and start calling me a racist and a homophobic ? I know for a fact I would get beat up beyond recognition If I walked in a Black people community.
Where are your freedoms of speech now ?

Can I Offend Gay or Black people in Cartoon Drawings and get away with it ? why ?

You're confusing freedom of speech as guaranteed by the Constitution and freedom to say what you want without repercussion from anyone.

Freedom of speech means the GOVERNMENT cannot punish people for what they say. It has nothing to do with a boss forcing you to apologize, losing your job or people calling you a racist or bigot. There is no protection from that. You speak out, there may be unpleasant consequences, but you're still free to speak out.

Saying whatever you want about blacks and gays, for example, can and will get you fired, verbally attacked, called names, boycotted, etc.

a reply to: 0SolidSnake0

I don't think they would let you do what the French cartoonist did, here it would be considered hate speech.

Sexual orientation rights trump religious rights it seems.

Here in the U.K we had a case of an homosexual couple successfully sue the owners of a Guest House in Cornwall a few years back. The owners were practicing Christians and when they discovered the gentleman were a couple, refused to let them a room together for their vacation. They said they were happy to let them have separate rooms, but it went against their religious beliefs to allow them to share a bed as a homosexual couple. The Guest House owners were fined and made to pay compensation to the couple and were made aware that they could not discriminate because of sexual orientation. In future they would either have to accept same sex couples or close their business. They appealed recently, but the original decision was upheld, so I guess they had to sell up and find another vocation.

Religion is protected to a certain extent through the hate crime laws, but religious beliefs can't be used as a defence for discrimanatory behaviour.

If you were a black rapper you would make millions of dollars and be married to Kim Kardashian. Oh, and for added fun, you could talk about raping ho's too.

Louis C.K - Extreme T&C Violations This Way

Louis at his finest.

a reply to: thesmokingman

I missed your thread. You definitely have a point.

originally posted by: Jamie1


If you were a black rapper you would make millions of dollars and be married to Kim Kardashian. Oh, and for added fun, you could talk about raping ho's too.

At first I smiled than the sad reality settled in.

of course not and nor should you in my view, just like you should not be drawing pictures of the prophet Mohammed that are intended to be insulting.

Just think of the up-roar if that magazine were to be publishing homophobic, racist or sexist images.

Now yes if you draw a funny picture of Elton John doing things with a black man doing something "funny" with a homophobic message, yes there will be a big public up-roar, but Elton John is not going to turn up at your door with a AK and a RPG. So there is a difference.

People say its about defending free speech but with that freedom comes responsibility, the responsibility to respect that what you say may offend others and it seems to me that everyone is doing really well at respecting that responsibility when it comes to race, sexuality and gender however failing miserably when it comes to religion (all religion).

originally posted by: thesmokingman
I posed a similar type thread the other day.
www.abovetopsecret.com...[/quote

a reply to: thesmokingman This is where PC has got us as a species ! Your cartoon has upset me so much Im going to kill you Your words have made me feel so bad, that im going to take you to court, and get you locked up for a very long time. OMFG when did the world get so wet behind the ears. the only way words or a cartoon for that matter is going to actually hurt anyone, is if I roll up a newspaper and beat the $#it out of someone with it, get a grip people, please.

I just commented in your thread Smoking Man, not much more I have to say really, except its the level of reaction you recieve that defines the type of human being you have just insulted.

edit on 9-1-2015 by dam00 because: Quotes in this post didnt go as well as expected