Bloody Cartoons: Film Analysis

This paper seeks to answer questions about democracy by internalizing the materials reviewed during week one of this course, as well as applying this this writer’s perspective. To be sure, it discusses the thought-provoking film, Bloody Cartoons, which emphasizes the antithetical struggles between western beliefs of democracy, which are in conflict with the moral beliefs of Islam. As such, this exploration is organized by answering the following three questions within.
Is freedom of speech and expression a necessary right in democracy? In response to this first question, the answer is yes. Indeed, freedom of expression and speech manifests itself in several displays, including (but not limited to) the right to assemble, as well as the right …show more content…
That is to say, if a democracy is succeeding in its evaluative standard of sovereignty and separation of powers, where the public is participating in the voting process, the citizens may vote on the laws which govern the rights of the people and therefore establish the consequences for abusing those rights. To clarify, using gun control as an example, the right to bear arms has Second Amendment protection, yet if a citizen is legally carrying a gun and chooses to shoot a bystander without provocation, this may constitute as a violation of the law, the law voted into enactment through representation of the people. Hence, the perpetrator may be subject to arrest and put through a trial. Subsequently, the justice system is the prudent institution to evaluate the innocence or guilt of any citizen. In this scenario, it’s this writer’s opinion that if a democracy is meeting or exceeding its evaluative standards as explained by Schmitter and Karl (1991), it successfully accommodates the values of individuals, yet imposes responsibilities on all as long as the public is participating in the process which establishes the laws to protect all people, including those who do not share the same values (i.e. gun owner vs. non-gun