Posted on 04/11/2009 10:11:19 PM PDT by Lorianne
For years, the Western world has listened aghast to stories out of Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations of citizens being imprisoned or executed for questioning or offending Islam. Even the most seemingly minor infractions elicit draconian punishments. Late last year, two Afghan journalists were sentenced to prison for blasphemy because they translated the Koran into a Farsi dialect that Afghans can read. In Jordan, a poet was arrested for incorporating Koranic verses into his work. And last week, an Egyptian court banned a magazine for running a similar poem.
But now an equally troubling trend is developing in the West. Ever since 2006, when Muslims worldwide rioted over newspaper cartoons picturing the prophet Muhammad, Western countries, too, have been prosecuting more individuals for criticizing religion. The "Free World," it appears, may be losing faith in free speech.
Among the new blasphemers is legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot, who was convicted last June of "inciting religious hatred" for a letter she wrote in 2006 to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that Muslims were ruining France. It was her fourth criminal citation for expressing intolerant views of Muslims and homosexuals. Other Western countries, including Canada and Britain, are also cracking down on religious critics.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
A Look at More Than Cartoons:
http://www.truthusa.com/MoreThanCartoons.html
...I need to figure out how to be on top.
Scr*w you candy-*ss do-nothing FReepers who can barely be motivated to vote, much less put your time and money into campaigns for freedom.
A Look at the OIC:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2215961/posts?page=2#2
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http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/oic
A look at fitna:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2198791/posts?page=2#2
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/fitna
This coming from the WaPo? It must really be pretty bad then.
A Look at the United Nations:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/un
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/unitednations
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“Welcome to the UN. It’s your world.”
www.un.org/
Bookmarking.
Not to worry. The libtard author defends the First Amendment. And that's good.
But then he nevertheless proves himself worthy of the label 'libtard':
Consider far-right Austrian legislator Susanne Winter. She recently denounced Mohammad as a pedophile for his marriage to 6-year-old Aisha, which was consummated when she was 9. Winter also suggested that Muslim men should commit bestiality rather than have sex with children. Under an Austrian law criminalizing "degradation of religious doctrines," the 51-year-old politician was sentenced in January to a fine of 24,000 euros ($31,000) and a three-month suspended prison term.So what's insulting and misinformed here? Either Mohammed did or did not do Aisha at nine. And which would he prefer be abused? Sheep or children? Moron!But it is the speech, not the speaker, that's at issue. As insulting and misinformed as views like Winter's may be, free speech is not limited to non-offensive subjects.
 Susanne Winter Not guilty! |
“While it hasn’t gone so far as to support the U.N. resolution, the West is prosecuting “religious hatred” cases under anti-discrimination and hate-crime laws”
The Washington Post is acting as if it has just discovered its navel. “Eureka! Hate crime laws are being used to stifle free speech!” As if nobody could have seen that coming.
Hate crime laws crimes that are committed against a person belonging to a “group” that the government that has designated as being “oppressed” (e.g., a racial minority, a homosexual, a woman). The punishment for specific crime is more severe if there is a determination that the motivation involved race or gender hatred.
In effect the government is punishing the perpetrator for his thoughts, words or opinions. That’s why “hate crime” prosecutions should be declared unconstitiutional in the US.
Hate crime prosecutions are inherently an infringement on freedoms of thought and speech. The mugging of a white guy at the hands of a black guy should have the same consequences as if it were the other way around. If a particular mugging is especially vicious compared to other muggings, that’s what the judge is for.
Note that the examples that the Post used have happened in Europe. Then he writer hints darkly that it could happen here. Not if we reject the concepts of muticulturalism and “Hate Crime Laws”. Hate crime legislation is natural to Europe. It’s part of multiculturalism. Forget Europe. They never had our individual freedoms and never will.
So now that you have had a revelation, Washington Post, stop pushing this European socialist crap on us.
On the other hand, having live sex acts on stage is legal in Oregon
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171902,00.html
This banning of intolerant speech is utter hypocrisy ... while it is intolerant to say anything even remotely offensive against Islam, Muslims can with impunity express antisemitism on par with that of the Nazis.
Hate crime laws are the camel's nose under the tent. Thought and speech are now crimes in the US.
Remember, the WaPo campaigned against George Allen's mother for having been Jewish during WWII.
One minute we're being bashed by fanatical, anti-religious homosexuals who want to outlaw religious beliefs. The next minute we're accused of "islamophobia" and criticism of a theocratic, anti-"gay" religion is being outlawed. Then the Scientists arise to condemn the obscurantist snake-handlers who must give up all their beliefs in the name of Scientific Truth. Then the "indigenous pipples" arise and attack us for trying to destroy their religious beliefs with our alien Western rationalism. Next the ACLU defends porn in the name of the First Amendment while we're told there is no right to "hate speech." And don't even get me started on the apparently perfect, flawless alliance between the Inner City Ghetto and the Virgin Wilderness!
I keep telling myself that eventually some cracks have simply got to develop in this bizarre alliance of people with apparently nothing in common except hatred of us and whatever we hold dear. But they never appear. Instead the atheist homos and the fundamentalist moslem theocrats seem to be synchronizing their attacks, as little sense as that makes.
I have read posts here on FR exhorting us to be ready to literally fight when the time comes. But it occurs to me that a little effort to sow discord amongst these discordant brethren might actually save us a lot of trouble.
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