Besides running a private practice of psychology here in Bermuda, I edit a journal, consult on another one, and I manage several discussion groups for therapists from around the world. I must deal with at least 500 to 1,000 messages each week. Sometimes it spikes higher.

Right now, it is spiking higher, because a newspaper in Denmark published cartoons offensive to the Muslim population, and some Islamic people have taken their outrage to the streets. My colleagues around the world are not dispassionately discussing this like people lost in a detached and irrelevant ivory tower. Oh no. We are carrying on with one another as if we were in the streets setting fires or trying to put them out.

A psychiatrist in Norway finds herself aghast at the insensitivity of what she regards to be a right wing, conservative editorial staff. A Circassian Jew originally from Israel, a Muslim woman working with the United States military, finds herself caught between cultures while trying to educate the very people who lump her in with the terrorists they are fighting ? because of her name, which has an Arabic ring to it. She says people don't have a right to put one another down with their speech. A gay therapist in New York says that freedom of speech assures people the right to offend him, and hurt him with their anti-gay remarks, virtually every day. He stands up for the right of people to put one another down by what they say.

Some people point out that this issue has highlighted the duplicity of media outlets claiming to be courageous and virtuous journalists while actually drawing back from showing the cartoons in question and running the risk of drawing fire to themselves. They do this even while publishing art work offensive to another religious community, and they do that with hubris.

It is a difficult world. We must be able to handle its complexities, or we will settle for the simplistic rhetoric of people who would like to think for us and be heard instead of us. I used to see bumper stickers that read, "Challenge the dominant paradigm." I think that is good advice for everything one hears these days. Challenge the dominant medium. Challenge the political speech making. Challenge simplistic thinking that puts things in terms of split out polarities when we know life is just not like that. Don't let people think for you. Step back, take a look at the situation as you see it.

You see the situation from a unique vantage point. No one else can see it as you see it. You have something useful to contribute.

So, what situation is that exactly? Take your pick. Is it the family argument or the international dispute? Is it the issue of Independence here in Bermuda? What is the situation? What is your perspective on the situation?

Are you free to speak your mind, or does some kind of threat stifle the way you think and express yourself? You may offend someone. You may go misunderstood. You may not have thought through the issues and eventually have to retract something or apologise, but wouldn't that be okay? Sometimes the need to be perfect and "get it right", is what blocks a person's free speech. It does not have to be the tyranny of public opinion or political power; sometimes free speech costs too much to one's own self. Some people dare not think for themselves, because they are afraid of what they might find out.

The world is s complex place, filled with complex people. That is part of what makes my job so interesting ? and challenging.

Dr. Philip Brownell, M.Div., Psy.D., is a psychologist at Ashton Associates. Send e-mails to crossroadsg-gej.org