If anyone's body of work can act as an exemplar to the importance of free speech, it is the comic genius that Rowan Atkinson has offered. Most people know him as Mr. Bean, the mute savant, who's skewed view of the world is most certainly his own. The viewer doesn't see things the same at first, but by the time Atkinson is finished with you, you understand why Bean does as he does. It may not include incense and hours of the lotus position, but Atkinson is most definitely leading the audience to enlightenment ... a greater perspective of how things work, or could work, and the cessation of worry and compulsive thought through laughter.

Mr. Bean is perhaps Rowan Atkinson's best known character, but to those of us who existed before streaming, it is Blackadder.

Blackadder finds himself reincarnated throughout history, with each incarnation being a little further down the elite totem pole, which is why it is no surprise to me that he has come out in defence of free speech for the average citizen.

My thoughts from Twitter ...

Rowan Atkinson so often plays the fool for effect that we could forget just how brilliant he is, and how with freedom of expression(speech), he has helped create a more accepting and joyful world.

Censorship does not promote tolerance. It is insistence and it creates tyranny. The remedy for intolerance is offering a better way, changing minds, not tyranny and censorship. Accept too ... sometimes the 'other side' may just be able to add some nuance to solutions that you have yet to think of.