There is a move, generally, in the world to silence the intelligent lest the ignorant be offended. This isn't going to end well. I don't see the point of antagonizing people for no reason, so I can understand the Danes wanting to avoid civil strife. That said, the problem isn't with the people burning magic books, but with how religious zealots respond. Secular government is under attack by such people, and they must be resisted.
I like the take; giving a book a special status for protection even while in the book it gives blasphemers a special status, namely freely to be targeted for death is completely bonkers.
Defending free speech has to include defending speech you don’t like, or is unpopular. For the government to give into the violent retaliation of that free speech is to give a win to terrorists.
I don’t like book burnings but fighting them is best done by sucking the oxygen from them, by not getting upset, yes I’m talking about the muslims as much as media and government ignoring them. Laugh at their idiocy and ignorance, like we did when wassisname checked an LGBT book out from the library to burn a while back. Prosecute any crime, destruction of property in the case of the library book, but don’t give them the attention they’re looking for.
Isn't eating cows considered blasphemy or soemthing similar to Hindus? Would you get thrown in jail for cooking burgers at a public picnic? This is asinine BS that I thought most Euros had grown out of.
Oh cmon, Denmark, you're better than this. It's not going to help, the zealots will just move on to demanding more and nothing short of theocracy will sate them. Inches, miles, cmon folks, you know how this works. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you get to have the government force people to stop. Ugh, there are going to be all kinds of false equivalences and what-abouts comparing this to LGBTQ rights, aren't there?
And sliding down that slope... the Book of Mormon? The Rig Veda? Dianetics? The Satanic Bible? The Pali Canon? The Popol Vuh? Daodejing? The Wiccan Bible?
Frankly, the Danish government needs to grow a pair. Granted that they don't to my knowledge have anything like the Free Speech clause of our First Amendment, but they DO have some degree of common sense, or I would at least hope so. If they can defend their own cartoonists against Islamic extremists, they can understand that the quran and the bible and any other so-called "holy books" are, in the final analysis, JUST BOOKS. There is nothing sacred about them, nothing special, nothing that would give them the right to be elevated about human beings and THEIR rights.
The second anyone prioritizes a THING above people, problems follow, and that holds for holy books as surely as it holds for guns.
It may be an unpopular stance, but I take issue with the exception for only 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 threats. It is too narrow. I think there should be consequences for an authority figure to call for the government to line unpopular people up and put a bullet in their brain. That isn't, technically, a direct threat, but it is a dangerous threat to the unpopular population. And for spreading slander/libel about such populations.
I can get the logic, but I don't agree with it. I'm concerned that this law will be selectively applied. Popular and loud religions would be protected while smaller and less vocal faiths would not. Burn a holy book of an Abrahamic faith would result in jail. Smash a statue of the Buddha in a takeout restaurant and nothing will happen. And who decides what's a "holy object" anyway? Would Atheists have any? Would the Jedi religion be protected? Would Michael Bay be arrested for his blasphemy against Transformers? What about D&D and other TTRPGs that have their versions of real religions?
"But religious beliefs are meant to apply only to the believers"
Try convincing those believers of that.
Seriously, all too often the faithful have not respected that very boundary and have, in essence, insisted that their religious rules 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 apply to everyone. That is what's happening here, the Islamic community is protesting that their special book must be respected by everyone, and burning it must therefore be forbidden to all on the basis of that unearned respect. Okay, sure, the law as proposed would apply to all religious texts, but the reason for the proposal is Muslim outrage. The outrage is to be expected to some degree but that is no reason to give all religious texts a special privilege under the law, particularly one they haven't earned. To do so would be to encourage Muslims to think that their religious rules should apply to everyone rather than just the believers.
Take a pass on this one, Denmark. It's more trouble than it's worth.
"In theory, that means publicly burning a blank book with no writing inside, while merely saying it’s the Bible or Qur’an, could also land you in prison if you do it repeatedly."
This foolish and cowardly law will be tested and taunted again and again. Picture this:
Some Danish nationalist provocateur videos himself taking a single blank piece of paper, writing (in Danish) "This is a Qur'an" on it, and after carefully showing both sides of the otherwise blank piece of paper, sets fire to it, holding it up until he lets go of the last shred of burning ash. That will be a "fuck you" to both the law and to the Muslims. Will that provoke violent protests, and then violent counter protests? Will the law have to become broader and more vague?
Instead, how about addressing the root causes of the ignorance-driven discord that feeds the Danish nationalists' grievance ideology, and the reactionary distrust and anger by the Muslim citizens? Is the government of Denmark doing anything about educating their youth against these cancers? Are they doing anything to promote reconciliation between these two factions? Are they doing anything to promote better assimilation of the Muslim immigrants into the general society?
There is a move, generally, in the world to silence the intelligent lest the ignorant be offended. This isn't going to end well. I don't see the point of antagonizing people for no reason, so I can understand the Danes wanting to avoid civil strife. That said, the problem isn't with the people burning magic books, but with how religious zealots respond. Secular government is under attack by such people, and they must be resisted.
I like the take; giving a book a special status for protection even while in the book it gives blasphemers a special status, namely freely to be targeted for death is completely bonkers.
Ban holy books. Problem solved./s
Defending free speech has to include defending speech you don’t like, or is unpopular. For the government to give into the violent retaliation of that free speech is to give a win to terrorists.
I don’t like book burnings but fighting them is best done by sucking the oxygen from them, by not getting upset, yes I’m talking about the muslims as much as media and government ignoring them. Laugh at their idiocy and ignorance, like we did when wassisname checked an LGBT book out from the library to burn a while back. Prosecute any crime, destruction of property in the case of the library book, but don’t give them the attention they’re looking for.
Isn't eating cows considered blasphemy or soemthing similar to Hindus? Would you get thrown in jail for cooking burgers at a public picnic? This is asinine BS that I thought most Euros had grown out of.
Oh cmon, Denmark, you're better than this. It's not going to help, the zealots will just move on to demanding more and nothing short of theocracy will sate them. Inches, miles, cmon folks, you know how this works. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean you get to have the government force people to stop. Ugh, there are going to be all kinds of false equivalences and what-abouts comparing this to LGBTQ rights, aren't there?
And sliding down that slope... the Book of Mormon? The Rig Veda? Dianetics? The Satanic Bible? The Pali Canon? The Popol Vuh? Daodejing? The Wiccan Bible?
Way to give in to the snowflakes, Denmark.
Frankly, the Danish government needs to grow a pair. Granted that they don't to my knowledge have anything like the Free Speech clause of our First Amendment, but they DO have some degree of common sense, or I would at least hope so. If they can defend their own cartoonists against Islamic extremists, they can understand that the quran and the bible and any other so-called "holy books" are, in the final analysis, JUST BOOKS. There is nothing sacred about them, nothing special, nothing that would give them the right to be elevated about human beings and THEIR rights.
The second anyone prioritizes a THING above people, problems follow, and that holds for holy books as surely as it holds for guns.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9189a16b90975a160a480e8c504912e95d9dce617faf69cfa24d0eea4aa41f1.jpg
It may be an unpopular stance, but I take issue with the exception for only 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 threats. It is too narrow. I think there should be consequences for an authority figure to call for the government to line unpopular people up and put a bullet in their brain. That isn't, technically, a direct threat, but it is a dangerous threat to the unpopular population. And for spreading slander/libel about such populations.
I can get the logic, but I don't agree with it. I'm concerned that this law will be selectively applied. Popular and loud religions would be protected while smaller and less vocal faiths would not. Burn a holy book of an Abrahamic faith would result in jail. Smash a statue of the Buddha in a takeout restaurant and nothing will happen. And who decides what's a "holy object" anyway? Would Atheists have any? Would the Jedi religion be protected? Would Michael Bay be arrested for his blasphemy against Transformers? What about D&D and other TTRPGs that have their versions of real religions?
"But religious beliefs are meant to apply only to the believers"
Try convincing those believers of that.
Seriously, all too often the faithful have not respected that very boundary and have, in essence, insisted that their religious rules 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 apply to everyone. That is what's happening here, the Islamic community is protesting that their special book must be respected by everyone, and burning it must therefore be forbidden to all on the basis of that unearned respect. Okay, sure, the law as proposed would apply to all religious texts, but the reason for the proposal is Muslim outrage. The outrage is to be expected to some degree but that is no reason to give all religious texts a special privilege under the law, particularly one they haven't earned. To do so would be to encourage Muslims to think that their religious rules should apply to everyone rather than just the believers.
Take a pass on this one, Denmark. It's more trouble than it's worth.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
"In theory, that means publicly burning a blank book with no writing inside, while merely saying it’s the Bible or Qur’an, could also land you in prison if you do it repeatedly."
This foolish and cowardly law will be tested and taunted again and again. Picture this:
Some Danish nationalist provocateur videos himself taking a single blank piece of paper, writing (in Danish) "This is a Qur'an" on it, and after carefully showing both sides of the otherwise blank piece of paper, sets fire to it, holding it up until he lets go of the last shred of burning ash. That will be a "fuck you" to both the law and to the Muslims. Will that provoke violent protests, and then violent counter protests? Will the law have to become broader and more vague?
Instead, how about addressing the root causes of the ignorance-driven discord that feeds the Danish nationalists' grievance ideology, and the reactionary distrust and anger by the Muslim citizens? Is the government of Denmark doing anything about educating their youth against these cancers? Are they doing anything to promote reconciliation between these two factions? Are they doing anything to promote better assimilation of the Muslim immigrants into the general society?
Howabout a law banning the burning of any books?
Too broad?
Well, a compromise - a law banning the burning of any book anyone finds important?
No again?
Well, heck, I guess we just all have to recognize that religion needs special treatment, right?
Define “holy book”.