“Fritt Ords Honnør tildeles avisredaktørene Flemming Rose og Vebjørn Selbekk for deres prinsippfaste forsvar for ytringsfriheten gjennom ti år med karikaturstrid.
Flemming Rose og Vebjørn Selbekk er blitt selve symbolene på karikaturstriden. Gjennom kontinuerlig og modig deltakelse i offentligheten har de fremmet forståelsen av ytringsfriheten som den mest fundamentale menneskerettighet, og grunnlaget for andre friheter. De har begge betalt en meget høy personlig pris for sin innsats og har fått sitt liv forandret. Der mange andre har sviktet, har Rose og Selbekk utvist stort mot i kampen for liberale prinsipper...”
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Tags: Flemming Rose, Free speech, Freedom of expression, Tyranny of Silence, Cartoons, Fritt Ord, Jyllands-Posten

“...First of all, in a time when people seem increasingly comfortable with book banning, blasphemy laws, hate speech laws, and amending the Constitution to limit the First Amendment, it’s important to take every opportunity we can to correct common misconceptions and explain some of the basics of the deep and profound philosophy behind free speech and the wisdom inherent in First Amendment law. Second, it’s important to take on the growing tide of critics, including authors and even journalists, who rely on freedom of speech but want to dismiss it as something unsophisticated or even dangerous. Whether from Eric Posner, Gary Trudeau, or Noah Feldman, there is a push to dismiss freedom of speech that seems to lionize the fact that other countries limit it. Every single one of these critics should sit down and read Flemming Rose’s book on international censorship, The Tyranny of Silence, before assuming that “enlightened censorship” is either justified or working out well for anyone.”
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Tags: First Amendment , Flemming Rose, Free speech, censorship, self-censorship, Freedom of expression, Greg Lukianoff , The New Yorker, The Tyranny of Silence, Terror