speech and respect - College of Social Sciences and International ...

Taking Sides
children's television programmes, Ian Curteis said: "As a Christian, I find
the casual expletive 'Jesus' or 'Christ' momentarily sickening .... To
most ordinary people, sex remains a private, almost secret thing, verging
on the miraculous. A sudden crude blow to such feelings can produce
the same sort of shock as a religious based swear-word." Guardian 31
(October 28, 1991). A survey by the Broadcasting Standards Council
ranked swear words from the least objectionable (blast—49 per cent
objected) to the most (piss—72 per cent objected). Guardian 2 (October
25, 1991).
When George Bernard Shaw presented The Adventures of the Black
Girl in Her Search for God to Dame Laurentia McClachlan of Stanbrook
Abbey she was so upset that she broke off a long and valued friendship,
refusing to speak to him for a year, according to Hugh Whitemore's "The
Best of Friends" (an adaptation of their letters for theatre and television).
A.N. Wilson's Jesus (1992) seems to be provoking a similar storm more
than half a century later.
37
Los Angeles Times F1 (October 6, 1992). What about Francis Bacon's
portraits of Popes, some of them sitting on the toilet?
38
Matsuda (1989: 2357).
39
Hungary has declared its intent to compensate the victims of state
oppression, from the first law against Jews passed on March 11, 1939 to
the fall of communism on October 23, 1989. New York Times A4 (May
14, 1992). The Jewish Restitution Organization (uniting eight groups)
plans to claim payment for schools, hospitals, synagogues, art, and ritual
objects seized by Nazis and communists, worth an estimated $10
billion. Los Angeles Times A4 (August 4, 1992). Chief Moshood Kashimawo
Abiola, a major Nigerian capitalist and close friend of the president,
is seeking reparations to Africans from all the countries involved in
the slave trade. New York Times A2 (August 10, 1992).
40
Morrison's permanent secretary, quoted in Lester (1987: 21).
41
New Statesman & Society 20 (October 4, 1991).
42
Guardian 2 (November 22, 1991).
43
Guardian 7 (November 11, 1991). The Minnesota Supreme Court has
invalidated a criminal statute imposing heavier penalties for possession of
crack than powdered cocaine because almost all of those caught with
crack were black (96.6 percent), while most of those found with cocaine
were white (79.6 per cent). The state had not shown that crack was more
dangerous. New York Times 8 (December 14, 1991).
44
190 Searchlight! (April 1991); 187 Searchlights (January 1991) (sample
of 3000).
45
New York Times A4 (March 4, 1991).
46
Guardian 2 (October 14, 1991) (Bar Council), 6 (September 19, 1991)
(Lord Chancellor), 5 (October 12, 1991) (Master of the Rolls).
47
Los Angeles Times A29 (March 28, 1992).
48
New York Times s.4 p.16 (March 22, 1992). In South Africa, which
certainly has as much experience as any country with de facto inequality,
156