Freedom of expression and PK - Page 8

Originally posted by: Star_girl

Hey BI, I wanted to specifically reply to you since I have been doing a project for an entire night and was online anyway. Also you seem like a relatively sane member to me, so I felt like I should clarify my stance. Like you said, you may feel offended against something that hurts your sensibility, but the Radicals do not stop at that. The radicals invading and attacking Hussain's home did not stop at that. Us Hindus as a community need to speak out against them before India turns into another Pakistan and trust me nobody wants that.

The fact is the idea of Blasphemy and retaliation does not even exist in Hinduism. Radicals tend to use their power hungry, attention seeking attitude through Hinduism especially when the ideas of non-believers or the concept of punishing them or even Hinduism being the singular faith are virtually non existent. Hinduism has survived and co-existed so well because of its tolerance and quest of truth, not MY-faith-is-better-than-yours game.

Same yardstick for all the religions is all i desire. Nothing more nothing less. And right to live is above anything else.

Originally posted by: KatrinaAC

Same yardstick for all the religions is all i desire. Nothing more nothing less. And right to live is above anything else.

Originally posted by: AllBlacks1

Khans have been rulling BW for so long. Islamophobia any1?

Star Girl:

I'll have to disagree on this a bit. The retards who attacked Hussain's exhibitions and home were deranged fanatics, but I wouldn't put them on the same level as cold-blooded psychopathic murderers. Agree with the rest of what you said.

Btw attention folks, here comes this appalling piece of apologism for the Charlie Hebdo murderers. A Facebook friend of mine who's a Trotskyst professor of Comparative Lit. at my university, posted this on this Facebook:



" First there is a need to understand that the so-
called freedom of speech involved attacks on a
religion. It was not an attack on the Al Qaeda, the
ISIS or any such thing. cartoons of Muhammed
were in open contradiction of even the most
ordinary, non militant, non terrorist Muslim
thinking. Imperialism finds in it freedom of
speech. Modi does, as well. Yet when M. F.
Hussain painted Saraswati that was found
offensive. Is this not double standards? More,
because Hussain was an individual painting a
picture, using traditions found from the Indian
past. this was a journal trying to send a message.
A magazine increasing sales through its
Islamophobia.
Having said this, it is however also necessary to
make it clear that the people who carried out the
act are not misguided progressives, misguided
anti-imperialists, etc. they are also reactionaries.
at one stage such forces had been trained by
imperialism against leftism and progressive
nationalism. Now two reactionaries are fighting
each other. These people undertake actions that
will intensify sectarian divisions, rather than bring
about any anti-imperialist unity. Condemn them,
oppose their actions. But always, remember the
first paragraph. Imperialists and other
reactionaries have no right to shed crocodile
tears."

Islamophobia?

As far as my limited knowledge tells me, in the good old days the word 'phobia' stood for persistent IRRATIONAL fear of an entity or a thing. The key word is IRRATIONAL. Is it irrational to be scared of an ideology and its most ardent followers that unapologetically puts to death every detractor and critic? Is it irrational to be scared of an ideology when a large chunk of its followers are serious about their commitment to dark age laws that are an anti-thesis of everything that our 21st century civilizations stands for? Is it irrational to be scared when such an ideology is growing increasingly influential in political and social spheres and has managed to build a flock of lobbyists comprising the useful idiots who put up the facade of multiculturalism?

Yes, I am scared of Islam and its followers who take it very seriously. Lets have no more pretense about this. I believe its most natural and rational to be scared of such a fanatical ideology and its ideologues. Any sane and morally conscious person should be scared of it. Just as one would be scared of a growing Nazi or Fascist or any other Orwellian cult. This has nothing to do with anyone's skin colour or race or ethnicity. So stop deliberately conflating this with racism or homophobia or other kinds of bigotry based on accident of birth. I am not scared of their skin colour or eye colour or accent or place of origin. I am scared of their pernicious beliefs and their willingness to act upon those beliefs. And think my fears are perfectly legitimate. And more than Islamists I am scared of those self styled liberals and braindead multiculturalists who have taken upon themselves to shield Islam from all forms of criticism, however legitimate, by labeling all the critics as Islamophobes and racists and xenophobes.


"We have to stop saying when something like this that happened in Paris today, we have to stop saying, well, we should not insult a great religion. First of all, there are no great religions. They're all stupid and dangerous. And we should insult them and we should be able to insult whatever we want. That is what free speech is like..

There are certain people in the world who want wafers on free speech. Kim Jong-un in North Korea says you cannot make jokes about our country, and there's a lot of Muslim people in the world. I know most Muslim people would not have carried out an attack like this. But here's the important point. Hundreds of millions of them support an attack like this. They applaud an attack like this. What they say is, we don't approve of violence, but you know what, when you make fun of the prophet, all bets are off.

That is main stream in the Muslim world that when you make fun of the prophet, all bets are off. You get what's coming to you. It's also main stream that if you leave the religion you get what's coming to you, which is death. Not in every Muslim country in majority numbers, but this is a problem in the world that we have to stand up to."

-- Bill Maher

Islam has 72 fractions and each & every fractions has different interpretation of what Islamic teachings are. The only common factor is that all believe that Mohammed (SAW) is the prophet.

Originally posted by: Rehanism

Islamophobia?

As far as my limited knowledge tells me, in the good old days the word 'phobia' stood for persistent IRRATIONAL fear of an entity or a thing. The key word is IRRATIONAL. Is it irrational to be scared of an ideology and its most ardent followers that unapologetically puts to death every detractor and critic? Is it irrational to be scared of an ideology when a large chunk of its followers are serious about their commitment to dark age laws that are an anti-thesis of everything that our 21st century civilizations stands for? Is it irrational to be scared when such an ideology is growing increasingly influential in political and social spheres and has managed to build a flock of lobbyists comprising the useful idiots who put up the facade of multiculturalism?

Yes, I am scared of Islam and its followers who take it very seriously. Lets have no more pretense about this. I believe its most natural and rational to be scared of such a fanatical ideology and its ideologues. Any sane and morally conscious person should be scared of it. Just as one would be scared of a growing Nazi or Fascist or any other Orwellian cult. This has nothing to do with anyone's skin colour or race or ethnicity. So stop deliberately conflating this with racism or homophobia or other kinds of bigotry based on accident of birth. I am not scared of their skin colour or eye colour or accent or place of origin. I am scared of their pernicious beliefs and their willingness to act upon those beliefs. And think my fears are perfectly legitimate. And more than Islamists I am scared of those self styled liberals and braindead multiculturalists who have taken upon themselves to shield Islam from all forms of criticism, however legitimate, by labeling all the critics as Islamophobes and racists and xenophobes.


"We have to stop saying when something like this that happened in Paris today, we have to stop saying, well, we should not insult a great religion. First of all, there are no great religions. They're all stupid and dangerous. And we should insult them and we should be able to insult whatever we want. That is what free speech is like..

There are certain people in the world who want wafers on free speech. Kim Jong-un in North Korea says you cannot make jokes about our country, and there's a lot of Muslim people in the world. I know most Muslim people would not have carried out an attack like this. But here's the important point. Hundreds of millions of them support an attack like this. They applaud an attack like this. What they say is, we don't approve of violence, but you know what, when you make fun of the prophet, all bets are off.

That is main stream in the Muslim world that when you make fun of the prophet, all bets are off. You get what's coming to you. It's also main stream that if you leave the religion you get what's coming to you, which is death. Not in every Muslim country in majority numbers, but this is a problem in the world that we have to stand up to."

-- Bill Maher

"Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms. This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today. I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity. Respect for religion' has become a code phrase meaning fear of religion.' Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect."

-- Salman Rushdie

Off Topic:
There are Islamophobes and then there are Islamowh**es..