Thoughts on Freedom

“Liberty, if it means anything at all, is the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear.”

There is one ideal that unites all those who love liberty, a concept that also unites the free world - the right to speak freely.

Freedom of speech is not the right to say anything to anyone. There are caveats. These include inciting violence (Sir Iqbal Sacranie, head of the Muslim Council of Britain is perfectly entitled to his opinion that homosexuality is ‘not acceptable’ but he would not be entitled to incite physical attacks on gays - not that he does, of course). Defamation, slander and libel are illiberal (i cannot accuse someone of being a drug dealer without firm evidence) and inciting a riot (i cannot shout fire in a crowded theatre) is also a no-no. Free speech is also subordinate to private property rights. For instance, commenters here who shout ‘you’re a f***ing idiot’ will see their comments deleted.

That said, the act of ‘causing offence’ is most definitely not an exception. As Orwell wrote over 60 years ago, it is the essence of free speech.

Every so often, our belief in free speech is tested. Geert Wilder’s latest movie, Fitna, is such a test. Let’s see how the world fared;

Fail

i) Australia - ‘In Australia, we believe in the right to freedom of expression, but we don’t believe in that right to incite racial hatred.’

Stephen Smith, Australia’s Foreign Minister

ii) The EU - ‘The European Union and its member states apply the principle of the freedom of speech which is part of our values and traditions. However, it should be exercised in a spirit of respect for religious and other beliefs and convictions.’

Slovenia, rotating head of the EU

Read more »

Well, Fitna is out. You can watch it here.

Some thoughts on the movie -

It’s a much more professional production than i had been expecting.

Geert Wilders is either a very brave or a very suicidal man.

It is quite likely to provoke a wider and more violent reaction than the cartoons.

It doesn’t pull any punches and is very graphic.

Further comment from Andrew Bolt.

Update I - Wilders may be in hot water from places he didn’t expect.

1. Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist of one of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of Muhammed is upset because his cartoon is used in the film without his permission. He believes this is a copyright infringement, and has asked the newspaper Jyllands-Posten to take legal steps.

2.Wilders mistakenly used a photo of Dutch-Moroccan rapper Salah Edin instead of Mohammed Bouyeri, Theo van Gogh’s murderer. He is also suing.

The video has now been uploaded 2.2 million times.

Update II - Liveleak have now pulled the movie from their website citing “threats of a serious nature made to staff”. Wilders appears to have made his point loud and clear. However, it is still available here. (thanks Skeptic)

The EU and the UN have both somewhat predictably called it a ‘hate film’ and are trying to get it banned (hell, who cares about free speech anymore). Despite this, Dutch legal authorities have claimed the film breaks no Dutch laws.

Update III - Australia’s Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, shows his total lack of understanding of the concept of free speech. “In Australia, we believe in the right to freedom of expression, but we don’t believe in abusing that right to incite racial hatred.”

Translation - we don’t believe in free speech.

A very happy Easter holidays to all of our Christian and non-Christian readers!

Contrary to the predictions of a demographic Islamic boom by the likes of Mark Steyn, it would appear that, somewhat surprisingly, Christianity is the world’s fastest growing religion. This claim is made in ‘The Next Christendom’ by Philip Jenkins and is reviewed in Quadrant and the NY Times.

But it is not the Western-centric Christianity that is providing the growth. The self-loathing and guilt-ridden calls by the head of the Anglican Church, Dr. Williams, to accommodate Sharia Law, or by our very own Reverend John Evans to dump Good Friday as a national holiday and replace it with a National Reconciliation Day recognising Aborigines, or by the Vatican to desist from buying plastic bags are not exactly putting bums on pews.

No - the growth is coming from ‘the poorest of the poor’ in Africa and Asia and the brand is Pentecostalism. It is spreading so fast because of the instruction to its members to go forth and proselytise. Pentecostals (or ‘Charismatics’) are even growing fast here in Australia, thanks to the Hillsong Church (as made famous by Australian Idol).

Authoritarian, patriarchal and deeply conservative, the Pentecostals are now a force to be reckoned with.

Dutch authorities are in full scale panic mode after Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, pleaded that “there is no reason for panic”. Controversial politician, Geert Wilders, has made an anti-Islamic film called ‘Fitna’ (the Arab word for ‘discord’) and according to the Washington Post is threatening to show it on a special website, www.fitnathemovie.com, after all of Holland’s national broadcasters have refused to air the 15 minute film. The socialist Interior Minister, Guste Terhoorst, has even accused Wilders of ‘destabilising the entire country’.

Said Wilders, “The film will show that the Koran isn’t a dead work, but the face of Islam - a tremendous hazard”. He calls the Koran “the latest test to Western democracies since Nazism and communism”. The Iranian justice minister has requested his Dutch counterpart to ban the film, calling it “satanical and undermining”.

The Dutch government has thus far refused to act, citing the principle of free speech. The film is rumoured to be shown on Easter Sunday - the most important day of the year for Christians. Read more »

The Catholic Church has added to the list of the seven deadly sins.

Apparently polluting, genetic engineering, obscene riches, taking drugs, abortion, pedophilia and causing social injustice are to join pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath and sloth as originally defined by Pope Gregory the Sixth in the 6th Century.

Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, named the new mortal sins in an interview with the Vatican newspaper yesterday, saying,“New sins have appeared on the horizon of humanity as a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalisation. God was offended not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbour’s wife but by ruining the environment, conducting immoral scientific experiments and genetic manipulation.”

I confess i’m not a Bible expert but i can’t find the one about ruining the environment anywhere.

Via Andrew Bolt.

Update; Catholics in full damage limitation mode! Some commenters have referred us to this article suggesting that it’s all a fuss about nothing. Yes - of course The London Times was not suggesting that the Vatican intended to officially update the Seven Deadly Sins. They were merely doing what we and many others are doing - poking fun at a ridiculous statement from the Vatican’s Chief ‘Penances and Sins’ guy. Talk utter nonsense and expect to be ridiculed.