It can seem strange how entirely alien the whole idea of free discussion can seem to people who (I suppose) have never had any experience of it.
A Bangladesh court on Wednesday ordered authorities to shut down five Facebook pages and a website for blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed, the Koran and other religious subjects, a lawyer said.
Judges at the high court in Dhaka ordered the telecommunications regulator, home ministry officials and police to block the offending pages immediately.
“These pages contain disparaging remarks and cartoons about Prophet Mohammed, the Muslim holy book of Koran, Jesus, Lord Buddha and Hindu gods,” Nawshad Zamir, a lawyer of the petitioner who brought the case, told AFP.
“They mostly targeted the prophet and the Koran. These pages hurt the sentiments of the country’s majority Muslim population and the followers of other religions.”
One, no they don’t, not necessarily. It’s not as if “these pages” by existing force themselves on the notice of all people everywhere. Two…well it’s Minchin’s fucking obvious again, but ok: if that’s your standard then nobody can say anything about anything, including you. The prophet and the Koran “hurt” my “sentiments,” but I don’t get to block them. I get to make disparaging remarks about them, instead.
The gods must be awfully weak if they can’t take a little disparagement. If the gods were to unleash a lightning bolt or three, then those facebook pages would come down really quickly. Instead, self-appointed defenders of the gods have to get the civil authorities to protect the gods’ sensibilities.
My sentiments exactly. The gods must be impotent if they need mere mortals to defend them. The books they have written about them, alledgedly inspired by them, need scholorly men to decipher (apologize) their misogyny, genocidal and bigotted teachings. Some even say there is only one language that is acceptable to use. I really could care less what myth you want to follow, but when you want all of us to follow your creed, teach it in our schools etc. you better expect some push back.
But pointing out the logical conclusion of banning everything which hurts people’s sentiments itself hurt the sentiments of the people trying to do the banning, so you can’t say that!
Also: Ow, they got me right in the sentiments!
Well, it hurts my sentiments that these supernatural beings are able and allowed to spy on our terrestrial communications, so I submit their ISP ought to be outright suspended and fined and their feeds blocked immediately. Thank you for the attention, Dhaka.
Thank you for another magnificent post. Where else could anybody get that type of information in such an ideal way of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such info.