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posted by martyb on Tuesday November 13 2018, @12:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the Room-101-dept dept.

As the days go by our hard won freedoms and liberty are slowly being eroded. In Europe a crushing blow has been made to freedom of speech with a European Court of Human Rights upholding a conviction for saying that the person known as Muhammad ten centuries ago was technically a paedophile based on information in historical texts. The statement was made in reference to Muhammad's marriage to a six year old child name called Aisha. The court found that “Presenting objects of religious worship in a provocative way capable of hurting the feelings of the followers of that religion could be conceived as a malicious violation of the spirit of tolerance, which was one of the bases of a democratic society.”. In giving its ruling that "Muhammad was not a worthy subject of worship" the court has additionally demonstrated a complete misunderstanding as to the religion involved which worships "Allah", a word meaning 'God', not 'Muhammad' who claimed to be a prophet of this god. Freedom of speech is dying.


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  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday November 15 2018, @08:47PM (14 children)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday November 15 2018, @08:47PM (#762335)

    I said it was authoritarian by nature.

    I am aware. You will need to explain why though, because I don't think it is.

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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 15 2018, @09:20PM (13 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday November 15 2018, @09:20PM (#762349) Homepage Journal

    Because of the definition of authoritarian. When you take authority over people's lives from them and place it with the government, that is authoritarianism. Full stop.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday November 15 2018, @09:49PM (12 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday November 15 2018, @09:49PM (#762362)

      Because of the definition of authoritarian

      I had a quick peruse of this: which seems pretty informative. [wikipedia.org]

      I can see how you might think your own political system fits the definitions, but it doesn't really work for the country I live in.

      Limited political pluralism, that is such regimes place constraints on political institutions and groups like legislatures, political parties and interest groups;

      The US has a total of two political parties, which seems remarkable for a country of 320 million. We currently have 5 parties in our Parliament, and will probably have 6 next time. So, yes this might apply to you, but not to where I live.

      A basis for legitimacy based on emotion, especially the identification of the regime as a necessary evil to combat "easily recognizable societal problems" such as underdevelopment or insurgency;

      From what I can see there is an awful lot of scare-mongering in US politics. (Have you guys fought off that invasion yet)? To be fair, various parties try it where I live sometimes, with varying levels of success.

      Minimal social mobilization most often caused by constraints on the public such as suppression of political opponents and anti-regime activity;

      Did I mention that you have two political parties? How does that happen? Not with violence, I assume. Still, we do this much better than you do.

      Informally defined executive power with often vague and shifting powers.

      You guys do this one pretty well, with your written constitution and all. Well done.

      From that brief bit of info I am going to say that when I vote for the local people to run my local Health Board, I am not really participating in an authoritarian regime.

      When you, however vote for one of the two parties that have any chance at all of representing you in anything at all, you might be.

      Don't confuse what goes on in the US for how we live in other places.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 15 2018, @10:37PM (11 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday November 15 2018, @10:37PM (#762379) Homepage Journal

        From that brief bit of info I am going to say that when I vote for the local people to run my local Health Board, I am not really participating in an authoritarian regime.

        Indeed you are. You're simply participating in a local one that you don't object to. Where you live is irrelevant. Whether you think the government has any business telling you how to live your life is what decides if you are an authoritarian or not. That's all.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:06PM (10 children)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:06PM (#762400)

          So what's the alternative?

          No hospitals?

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:14PM (9 children)

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:14PM (#762406) Homepage Journal

            Bit drastic, innit? There's a whole world of options between universal healthcare and getting rid of all healthcare.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:44PM (8 children)

              by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday November 15 2018, @11:44PM (#762418)

              Sure. still don't see how my local Health Board could possibly take authority over my life (your phrase).

              All they do is decide how to spend the budget they get from taxes. Thy don't decide anything to do with health care, doctors do that, so maybe the doctors are the authoritarians?

              • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 16 2018, @12:01AM (7 children)

                by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday November 16 2018, @12:01AM (#762426) Homepage Journal

                How the budget is spent makes a pretty damned big difference, no? And the taxes (money taken from you under threat of imprisonment or worse) are definitively authoritarian to begin with. Unless your healthcare funding all comes from voluntary taxation?

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday November 16 2018, @12:50AM (6 children)

                  by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Friday November 16 2018, @12:50AM (#762436)

                  Oh, "violently imposed monopoly" then.

                  LOL.

                  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 16 2018, @03:53AM (5 children)

                    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday November 16 2018, @03:53AM (#762516) Homepage Journal

                    You have some way to explain it where men do not come to your house with guns if you fail to pay them not to?

                    --
                    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday November 19 2018, @02:10AM (4 children)

                      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday November 19 2018, @02:10AM (#763728)

                      I'm not sure who those men would be, as the police don't carry guns where I live.

                      The army have guns, but I have never heard of the army trying to collect debts.

                      No, men with guns coming to people's houses is just not something that ever happens here, because why would it?

                      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 19 2018, @02:39AM (3 children)

                        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday November 19 2018, @02:39AM (#763745) Homepage Journal

                        Clubs to beat you with if you resist isn't exactly a whole lot better. Force being used against you is the key, not the type of force employed.

                        --
                        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday November 19 2018, @07:44PM (2 children)

                          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday November 19 2018, @07:44PM (#763986)

                          Force? That's not how we do things around here.

                          This is how we handle things. [nzherald.co.nz]

                          Bear in mind that has taken 11 years, and even though the woman involved is now dead, her house has still not been sold, and the taxes have not been collected.

                          "We would urge all property owners who are struggling to pay their rates to contact us so that we can talk through options that won't cause financial hardship."

                          Is the quote from the government mouthpiece.

                          Doesn't sound like violence to me.

                          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday November 21 2018, @11:17AM (1 child)

                            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday November 21 2018, @11:17AM (#764660) Homepage Journal

                            That is a surprisingly less than typical example. Regardless, the use of force is the only means any government has to enforce its laws should a person not feel morally bound to obey them.

                            --
                            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                            • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 21 2018, @08:31PM

                              by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday November 21 2018, @08:31PM (#764935)

                              That's a totally typical example for where I live.

                              Maybe it's not Government that you have a problem with, maybe it's your Government.