# The Tyranny of Silence

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/the-tyranny-of-silence>

**By** Flemming Rose, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus

**Published:** January 8, 2016

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Flemming Rose talks about the decision to publish 12 cartoons featuring the prophet Mohammed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005.

This week we are joined by Flemming Rose, the editor who defended Danish newspaper _Jyllands-Posten's _printing of 12 cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in 2005. We talk about the tradition of religious satire in the Western world, the importance of free speech to pluralistic societies, and the dangers of censorship—even self-imposed censorship—on those societies.

**Show Notes and Further Reading**

Flemming Rose's book, [_The Tyranny of Silence_](https://store.cato.org/book/tyranny-silence) (2014), has a new paperback edition coming out this year. In the book he provides a personal account of an event that has shaped the debate about what it means to be a citizen in a democracy and how to coexist in a world that is increasingly multicultural, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic.