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.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 16 2018, @12:01AM (7 children)
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)
Oh, "violently imposed monopoly" then.
LOL.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 16 2018, @03:53AM (5 children)
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)
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)
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)
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.
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)
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
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.