Thursday, September 23, 2010

The right to offend?

First, let me make this clear, I do not like burning books, any book be they the Necronomicon, Bible, Koran or even the Sunderland AFC yearbook (tempting as that is). But, I do believe that people have a right to do such things provided that it is their own property, nor do I believe they should be arrested for such either. However when it comes to the so called "Religion of Peace" it seems they have protected righteous status.

BBC.
Six Tyneside men have been arrested after filming themselves apparently burning copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Police said the men, all from the Gateshead area, were detained after a video appeared on the internet.
They were arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred and released on bail pending further inquiries.
Plans by a US preacher to burn copies of the Koran on 11 September resulted in widespread condemnation.
In a joint statement, Northumbria Police and Gateshead Council said: "The kind of behaviour displayed in this video is not representative of our community as a whole.
"Our community is one of mutual respect and we continue to work together with community leaders, residents and people of all faiths and beliefs to maintain good community relations."
Two men were arrested on 15 September and a further four on 22 September.
In the video a group of men wearing tea towels are seen pouring fuel over what appear to be copies of the Koran and setting light to them.
Plans by a US preacher Terry Jones to burn copies of the Koran, sparked worldwide protests and brought condemnation from American president Barack Obama.
 No doubt these guys will be charged under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, which was brought in by New Labour to protect their (mostly) Labour voting Islamic pets. To my eyes though, as others have said, you do not have any right not to be offended, this applies to any situation. If Islam is not mature enough to deal with those of us who deride its 7th century barbaric mores and cultures written by a mass murderer/sociopath pretending to be the word of (a) god, then the fault surely lies with Islam and its adherents.
No religion in our land should have protected status, no religion should have its followers riot because it can't handle abuse or criticism. If they can't abide by the law other than having to hide behind laws introduced to protect what seems like only them, then surely there is no place for them in our society?
The government really needs to remove this law and other like it, what I or others choose to do with our own property so long as it harms no-one else is none of the states business, the Koran is just words on paper, same as the bible, whilst I wouldn't burn either, I surely have the right too if I own them? This is something the righteous state have imposed on the majority to pamper a minority, give them special status.
It's a recipe for disaster, no doubt about it, something will crack and it wont be pretty when it does. You cannot legislate away peoples thoughts and feelings. The majority in this country are beginning to view Islam as more trouble than it's worth, sooner or later the political parties will have to deal with it, not bury their heads in the sand and pretend everything is nice in multiculty Britain because they have protected their pets by law.

6 annotations:

Anonymous said...

I never knew it was against the law to burn your own books!

JuliaM said...

Is this the moment the police overreach themselves? Mind you, I thought that when they went after Channel 4 and got hit with damages.

They don't learn, do they? It's almost as if they are deliberately trying to provoke disorder...

Quiet_Man said...

Tbh, I suspect a little of that comes into their thinking, a law abiding society wouldn't need so many cops now would it?

Anonymous said...

Why would the burning of a comic that has it's origins in the pagan worship of the moon be a problem ?

English Pensioner said...

Our friendly group which normally gathers in the local each week must be on the verge of arrest. If I remember rightly, we were all broadly agreed that US preacher Terry Jones should go ahead with his burning, and if people wanted to riot and smash up their own country in protest, that was up to them! As there were also comments about Obama, and he seems to also have protected status, I'm now feeling very concerned.

James Higham said...

No religion in our land should have protected status, no religion should have its followers riot because it can't handle abuse or criticism. If they can't abide by the law other than having to hide behind laws introduced to protect what seems like only them, then surely there is no place for them in our society?

That shall be the law, the whole law and nothing but the law.