Topic: Freedom of speech

[zero zero]

Well, it has been made clear to me on occasions of brazen hate crime such as walking to the bus stop that I am in fact a "white prostitute", so you're probably right.

Wow. Sorry for that. One day you'll understand that "Global Civility" as the Muslim Action Forum see it, is that everybody has to behave like a good muslim.

[Magix]

A lot of hyperbole from the Muslim Action Forum. They don't realise that by making such unreasonable demands they're conversely adding to the Islamophobia facing peaceful Muslims.

[macca888]

Well, it has been made clear to me on occasions of brazen hate crime such as walking to the bus stop that I am in fact a "white prostitute", so you're probably right.

It's your own fault for your western infidel decadent clothing. You should have bloody well covered up. Might I suggest this in future to avoid offending people?

[tubby]

That outfit will backfire horribly when you end up with Danger Mouse driving up your leg, trying to get home.

[GreatEx]

Well, it has been made clear to me on occasions of brazen hate crime such as walking to the bus stop that I am in fact a "white prostitute", so you're probably right.

They're just doing their globally civic duty, stop being such an ingrate.

[jooneyisdagod]

It's your own fault for your western infidel decadent clothing. You should have bloody well covered up. Might I suggest this in future to avoid offending people?

Rubbish Macca, what is that wholly inappropriate garment that you are suggesting for a woman ?

You would be able to see her face, her arms and even half her legs. Utterly unacceptable.

[Kenny's Jacket]

There's no word to describe it in English - it's a "should" and is stated clearly in the Qur'an, is certainly not a cultural thing; they only look the same because it is modeled to the ones used in the homeland of Islam.

I am surrounded by Muslim women everywhere I live - throughout my life not a single one of them have felt pressured to don the headscarf or the burqa, many don't even use it. When they do put it on, it is done so willingly in the name of religion and do not suffer when doing so, none of their civil rights affected. The religious teachers do advise who don't but never compelled them to do so because - in the words of a friend who is a religious teacher - this is a petty issue of personal choice in comparison to greater social justice e.g lifting those who needs help escaping the cycle of poverty.

It is mentioned in the Qu'ran yes.  However the only dress code command in the Qu'ran that cannot be interpreted widely is for women to cover their chests and lengthen their garments. Many scholars do not see a need for a Face Veil. 

I live in an Islamic country and can give examples of women being told what to wear as much as I can give examples of personal choice. This can come from Husbands. boyfriends Fathers Mothers and Brothers.

[The Gulleysucker]

....They don't realise that by making such unreasonable demands they're conversely adding to the Islamophobia facing peaceful Muslims.

Unfortunately, they probably do understand all too clearly.

Some of them undoubtedly seek such a reaction, if only to ensure that all Muslims here, including the vast majority who are moderates, will feel threatened by any hoped for backlash against this proposed madness and thus unite behind these rabblerousers, who are but one of no doubt many of these sort of self appointed Guardians, loosely affiliated through a common basic strand of their religious faith.

This so called Civic Society that they are alluding to as alleged 'reasonableness' of what is actually unreasonableness in its demands on a democratic and secular society, is not dissimilar to the sometimes deliberately almost lunatic and unachievable yet also allegedly 'reasonable' though totally impractical demands from assorted loosely Trotskyite type anarchic organisations. They all hope that by doing so, that they may spread their brand of revolutionary anarchy by creating arguments often when non existed before, sowing false discord, and trying to to stoke the fires of discontent and make people tilt at what are often largely imaginary windmills.

It's probably a statement of the obvious to many, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to consider that this whole IS and Caliphate thing is primarily just another manifestation of an anti-democratic revolution, one that the religious debate is currently distracting from.

It's a revolution attempting to (re?)create a dictatorship through the lands affected, implemented and spread through terror, terror of both those currently subjugated and those it sees as its foreign enemies, and it's all willingly and possibly to a large extent probably unwittingly helped along by these sort of relentless and often hysterical statements and demands issued by these type of willing helpers and fellow travelers here within our own liberal and democratic and secular societies.

I sometimes consider the actions of some of these sort of pressure groups could rightly perhaps be viewed as entryism and attempts at colonialism, a dangerous and toxic mix.

[Corkboy]

[Yorkykopite]

Jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi wins Pen Pinter prize

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who is in jail for "insulting Islam", has won the Pen Pinter Prize for championing free speech.
Mr Badawi is serving a 10-year sentence in Saudi Arabia and is due to receive 1,000 lashes.
He shares the prize with British poet and journalist James Fenton.
Accepting the award for Mr Badawi, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said the British government should "show moral leadership" and seek his release.
"Raif should have been honoured for founding a website that allowed healthy public discourse in Saudi Arabia; he should not have been held behind bars, facing flogging," he added.
Saudi Arabia enforces a strict version of Islamic law and does not tolerate political dissent. It has some of the highest social media usage rates in the region, and has cracked down on domestic online criticism.

Mr Badawi was convicted of insulting Islam in 2012, and fined £175,000.
He received his first 50 lashes in January, but subsequent floggings have been postponed.
In June, Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upheld the verdict despite foreign outcry.
Mr Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar, who has campaigned for his release, said she was "honoured" to accept the award.
"Raif is just a peace-loving intellectual who was not content to be part of the flock or to follow men of religion who are out of touch with the real world and who rule through laws that are unjust and despotic," she said.

The award was established in 2009 in memory of playwright and Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter.
It is awarded annually to one British writer and one international writer, who show a "fierce intellectual determination ... to define the real truth of our lives and our societies".
Mr Fenton, who was awarded the UK element of the prize earlier this year, said: "What moved me was the contrast between the simplicity of Mr Badawi's liberal aims - their modesty, almost - and the ferocity of the punishments they have brought down on him.
"Imprisonment, astonishing fines, corporal punishment designed to break either the spirit or the body first and to act as a chill warning to others.
"It is a world of inconceivable cruelty, but intimately linked to ours by business, strategic interests, military and diplomatic ties. For our part, then, protest has a purpose and - who knows? - perhaps even a chance of some sort of success."
Previous winners of the Pinter Prize include Tom Stoppard, Carol Ann Duffy, Hanif Kureishi and last year's winner, Salman Rushdie.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34456820

[jooneyisdagod]

A debate on free speech or the lack thereof in modern feminism has ironically lost two of its speakers because the Student Union thinks it violates their safe space policy. Go figure!

https://reason.com/blog/2015/10/07/julie-bindel-banned-from-u-manchester?utm_campaign=naytev&utm_content=56159698e4b09752a4cbe7de

[Yorkykopite]

A debate on free speech or the lack thereof in modern feminism has ironically lost two of its speakers because the Student Union thinks it violates their safe space policy. Go figure!

https://reason.com/blog/2015/10/07/julie-bindel-banned-from-u-manchester?utm_campaign=naytev&utm_content=56159698e4b09752a4cbe7de

These people clrearly go to university believing it should be a "safe space". And it's not physical assault they fear, it's mental assault.

I mean, what's the bloody point? Why don't they just stay at home and live with mummy and daddy.

[jooneyisdagod]

These people clrearly go to university believing it should be a "safe space". And it's not physical assault they fear, it's mental assault.

I mean, what's the bloody point? Why don't they just stay at home and live with mummy and daddy.

Yorky, Massimo Pigliucci's writings on the subject of safe spaces and trigger warnings are a must read.

And you're absolutely right. What's the bloody point? Unfortunately, words like bigotry are used to shut down debate constantly and it creates a shield from ideas that might make these students think a bit harder.