Comments on: On Freedom of Speech

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 01:42:33 +0000

Examining anything without your own cultural bias is pretty difficult. When you throw religion into the mix its gets extremely difficult.

By: Mitzi

Mitzi — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 09:35:40 +0000

It’s hard for those of us in the US (even though we’ve had our censorship issues – Huckleberry Finn comes to mind), to understand what Sylvia so clearly stated.

Supposedly in our culture (there have been some changes since 9/11) words (and thoughts) do not equate with deeds. When we start changing that premise, then we may start throwing out out other rights. Oh, wait – that’s just what we’re doing now.

Off my politcal soapbox – sorry.

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:08:20 +0000

Hi, I got here via Metaxu. I read that letter to the NTY and unfortunately the author make one crucial mistake. In honour cultures, which is what we’re dealing with here, words are as important as actions, if not more so. If someone says “I saw your daughter holding hands with a man,” it doesn’t matter whether she did or not. If people belive it, the family’s “honour” is soiled, and the girl must be punished to clear the family’s name. When we hear that Muslims are “offended” by criticism of Islam, we should substitute the word “dishonoured” if we want to really understand the vehemence of the reaction among the more extreme elements. These people aren’t crazy, they are just following the rules of their culture (or subculture, since many Muslims don’t agree with this behaviour), and we misunderstand it at our peril.