We are in Wellfleet for the weekend, and earlier this evening I spent a delightful hour gathering a few dozen of our highly prized local oysters from the tidal flat at Indian Neck Beach.
Though most of the critters you’ll find there at low tide are molluscs and crustaceans — clams, oysters, crabs, and the like — there is still a lot more backbone in evidence than at the United Nations, where the laughably yclept Human Rights Council has now adopted, in a craven act of appeasement, a resolution declaring “defamation of religion” off limits. (You can guess the religion in question, I expect: the one that has become the world’s angry drunk in the subway car.)
Blogger Norman Geras weighs in here:
It is quite proper that governments should protect people from ‘acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion’, but that is because these are acts, and furthermore people should be protected from them whatever they result from, not only when this is ‘defamation of religions’…
Nobody can be obliged to respect a belief or set of beliefs, and once they are so obliged their freedom of thought has been severely compromised and thereby one of their fundamental human rights. We must be free to criticize and, yes, lampoon, mock, ridicule, defame, religion or any other type of belief. The fact, consequently, that the Human Rights Council of the UN – supposed to be an international guardian of human rights – should support a resolution like this does not strengthen the cause of human rights but merely serves further to discredit that Council itself.
Exactly right. Story here.
7 Comments
I agree with you and Norm on this. Islam should not be safeguarded from criticism, ridicule, or disdain. Nor should any other religion. Can’t take the heat? Get out of the kitchen.
Jeffery Hodges
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Sorry this is a bit off topic but it is a very different way to address our differences!
Dear Friends,
This arrived in my inbox today from a dear y friend of mine.
If you feel inspired, please go to the link and sign the petition.
If you’d like to pass it on to your contacts, just change the date and name at the top,
and change the signed name under the introduction and also at the very bottom – all 3
mentions of your name are in blue.
Thanks,
John
Urgent Request
March 29 2009
From Supporting the shift to an
inner knowing of Oneness so that the outer expression can be fully realised & shared by all
Hope…
The time to act is Now!
When this request came across my desk today, I felt to immediately respond both by signing the petition and by sharing this Urgent Request with you.
Please note that I have not and do not use this forum to promote personal political agendas and I look upon this request as being beyond left or right ideology. This is a chance for all of us who are clearly helping to facilitate peace and prosperity for all on this planet to further assit each other to make positive changes happen in our world and in our lifetime. This is a small thing that you can do to help us collectively move forward into the golden Age of Oneness.
If you feel motivated to do so, then kindly sign the petition and forward this message to those in your life who are also concerned with humanity’s future on this planet.
Love and blessings,
Hope…
The Obama Administration has asked some of the people known as the “Evolutionary Leaders” to communicate about what is transpiring on the planet, and how we can change the course of the unprecedented events that are challenging this planet. This is a window of opportunity that must be taken! A deadline was given for this information to be conveyed to the Obama Administration.
So these Evolutionary Leaders like Deepak Chopra, Gregg Braden, Michael Beckwith and many, many others, gathered together to write up the information to present to the Obama Administration. They are also asking us to sign a petition to show the Administration how many people are in favor for these changes to occur. They need 100,000 signatures. We need your help to reach that number and beyond! Below is the information presented to the New Administration.
The petition link can be found here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/248704259
Deepak Chopra? That mountebank now has our President’s ear? How depressing.
I’m not so sure Deepak Chopra can be dismissed so easily. I met him a few years ago and found him at least sincere and warm-hearted. That in itself would be a meaningful step forward in many folks’ attitudes.
Read this post and the comments. I especially liked this commenter’s reminiscence:
In my experience it is the lawyers who should not be trusted. I bet Mr. Chopra had just cause and I am glad to know that he defends himself when needed. Non-violence is a sham for cowards to hide behind, and has little to do with enlightenment.
Great case you’re making here, Pat. If people piss you off, the right move is to go after them waving a gun, and threaten to kill them. After all, this is America!
And of course we all know that all lawyers are evil, right? Especially compared to Mr. Chopra. So when we hear about behavior like this, we know automatically that it isn’t the deranged spiritualist fraud waving the gun around and frothing at the mouth who is at fault. It’s going to be the lawyers, every time.
I think, as a general rule, our best guide to proper conduct in situations like this is probably to ask ourselves: “What would O.J. do?”