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The furour brought about by threatening to burn the koran has made it all the way to youtube as Thunderf00t has recently had to deal with assertions he is ‘bigot’ and endorses genocide for the nations of Islam. Of course, he was misconstrued and most likely misunderstood by the people in question. The key part of Thunderf00t’s message is simply this: We cannot take a step back from our rights to free speech (a cornerstone of civilized society)when they cause a violent reaction in the Islamic world. It is they who have the erroneous expectation that they have the right to apply their religious laws to the rest of the world. Once the centre of learning and advanced civilization the nations of Islam allowed the radical fundamentalists to plunge their world into a backward state of being resembling the Dark Ages (thank you christianity) of old.
When I rail against religion is precisely because of its threat to modernity and civilization. Religious thought is antithetical to most human rights, free speech and progress.
Thunderf00t comes to similar conclusions in his video, but of course multi modally thanks to the wonder known as youtube.
This article from Al Jazeera is yet another exemplar of how societies, if they wish to have freedom and human rights as key features, must steer away from theocracy and toward rational, secular rule.
Religion: Persecuting and possibly executing human rights activists.
Shiva Nazar-Ahari charged with “warring against God” and having links to opposition groups as trial opens in Tehran.
A court in Tehran, the Iranian capital, has tried a female human rights activist and journalist on charges including “warring against God,” which has the potential punishment of death.
Shiva Nazar-Ahari, 26, went on trial on Saturday “on charges of Moharebeh [warring against God], conspiring and gathering to commit a crime, propaganda against the regime and harming public order,” Mohammad Sharif, her lawyer, said.
How lovely; and sadly, unsurprising as the corrosive effects of religion are clearly on display for the world to see. Where religion is a dominant force we can simply toss away rational thought and belief in reality. You can be put to death for creating war on fictive characters that most likely do not exist.
Consider, if god is omnipotent, does he really need to be defended by mere mortals? I would think that if he existed he could deal quite succinctly with anyone that brought war to his house. However, in context of a human based and perpetuated theocracy that will actually kill people who dare to question its bullshite beliefs the reasons are evident. Persecuting people for calling the deluded on their fatuous nonsense becomes a useful method for dealing with dissent and rational objections to state endorsed mythology.
“But the story here is not about a trial or seeking to get to the bottom of a crime. It is about trying to created a narrative that the authorities would like to portrary about justifying the continued clampdown that we are seeing in this country.
A sham trial that is propping up a vapid theocracy, nothing new here. Expect more to come soon as Tehran roots out more people who dare to make war on imaginary beings.
*Update: The situation is not improving.
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephan Harper went to China. Fascinatingly enough it was to encourage economic relations between Canada and China. Previous relations have been described as cool as Canada has been pushing the issue of China’s human rights record, dampening Chinese enthusiasm toward our diplomatic and economic overtures.
I’d like to do a little comparison of similar dealings with China and our plucky PM. 2006 and 2009.
In 2006 our benevolent leader said:
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government will not abandon “important Canadian values” by toning down criticisms of China’s human rights record to improve trade relations with Beijing.”
In 2009 Harper said:
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday his government would not let the pursuit of expanded economic ties with China lead to silence on human rights issues.”
Okay well, I’ve seen our PM say less auspicious things, so really we are still in ‘win territory’ here.
“Canada-China relations have been frosty since Harper became prime minister in 2006, particularly because of his past comments on China’s human rights record and his public support of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who has been living in exile since China annexed the region in 1958.”
Showing ethical backbone is so unlike our PM. Time in power will often fix that:
“The Conservative government has backed off in the last year from publicly chiding China, opting instead for more quiet diplomacy, a recognition of China’s growing importance as an economic power.”
There we go, dilemma resolved! We simple will not discuss human rights anymore to any significant degree. Why? Because we can make some money! And as we all know, economics trumps morality.
“They [Harper on Canadian’s preferences] don’t want us to sell that out to the almighty dollar.”
Huh. It is almost like in 2006 when the stability of the minority government was in question it made political sense to at least make noise about caring for human rights. Now in 2009 we get the ‘realistic and pragmatic’ conservative version of enlightening Canadian foreign policy:
Thursday’s statement only briefly mentioned the issue of human rights, saying the two sides agreed they had “distinct points of view.”
Checkmate human-rights. Although our point of view is getting much closer to China’s every day.
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