This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, January 9, 2015.

I'm Caleb Brown.

The massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in France is forcing a discussion about the press,

religious taboos, and threats of violence in the face of those

who value unfettered speech.

At a Cato event in November, Fleming Rose discussed the struggle he faced when his Danish

newspaper published depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and the

firestorm that decision sparked.

He spoke with Jonathan Rausch about the events that inspired his new Cato book, The

Tyranny of Silence.

It is indeed a privilege to sit on the same dais

with Fleming Rose, who is, although he would deny it,

I think you'll know in an hour why I regard him as a genuine hero, a remarkable man who has

written a remarkable book.

It's really an extraordinary read.

I can't recommend this book strongly enough because it's not only

it's got very good theory on the importance of free speech and on what's going on in

Europe but it's also a person's journey of discovery finding out in a very immediate way why these things matter,

going to the core of some very dark truths in Europe and also in America.

Most of you probably know something about what happened in 2005, but I thought we just

begin there with at least a brief recap. As Fleming's book does, this begins with self-censorship that predates the Mohammed cartoons,

right?

...