Friday 9 April 2010

Philip Pullman on Freedom of Speech

Apropos of my post, "Freedom of Speech and Responsibility for Speech", I recently came across this video clip of Philip Pullman speaking about his new novel The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ:



Pullman's approach echoes my own thoughts in that he takes responsibility for his "utterance". While he knows that it can be considered offensive to call Jesus Christ a scoundrel (most things can be considered offensive if read from just the right angle, really), he places this unorthodox title within a context – the context of the published book – and welcomes a critical debate on the subject. All of which, to me, signals a healthy attitude towards the freedom of speech and the responsibility for it.


For a transcript of Pullman's speech, visit boingboing.

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