Athée Canadien
Atheist being a dick… wait what?
By Joe
Ok, so I’m going to say it, I think this guy was being a total dick… but that’s not against the law… right?
Well, apparently being a jerk justifies assault in some places…
I’m trying to wrap my mind around this one. I suppose if you replace the atheist in a Muhammad suit with a bigot in a Klan outfit, one could reasonably expect some sort of confrontation in public. And maybe the muslim guy thought it was hate-speechy… He’d be wrong.
But aren’t judges supposed to protect free speech and punish physical violence in the good ole USofA
Hard to tell exactly what happened in the video, but I’m not happy about the court outcome at all. This looks like the judge decided disrespecting religion was worse than violence. Not cool.
Edit: Sorry Scotland.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Joe on February 23, 2012 at 10:35 am, and is filed under Atheism, Islam. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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about 2 months ago
Yeah in Canada we just sue them for human rights violations (see Ezra Levant). Hard to say whether that’s better.
about 2 months ago
Yeah, I’m not a fan of Levant, and I do think HRCs have their place, but they also could use some serious oversight I think.
about 2 months ago
…a bigot in a clan outfit…
A Klan outfit, presumably, unless you think wearing a kilt and sporran is evidence of bigotry. :-)
I’ve seen more imaginative and trenchant protests than that “zombie Muhammed” act, but I wouldn’t describe it as dickish – just pointless and uninspired. It only becomes dickish if you believe either that Muhammed is deserving of special reverence, or that pretending to be a zombie version of any historical figure is dickish by definition. I wouldn’t grant either of those premises. Muhammed may have been an able and charismatic leader, but he was also a deluded twit, and zombies can be good fun.
Anyway, I don’t think that it’s reasonable to literally attack people just for wearing certain clothes or saying certain things, at least short of direct incitements to imminent violence. But I’m not going to get wound up about a decision by some American court.
about 2 months ago
Thanks, I’m sure if my ancestors could spin in their graves they would be… of course, they probably were bigots, just as well.
I tend to see it as dickish, mostly because we’re talking about something that is essentially a family event, and this guy is running around like a lunatic yelling about muhammad, trying to offend people.
As to the ‘attack’, from what I read there wasn’t much in the way of injury, seems more like a case of schoolyard shoving and grabbing, by two idiots who should really both be ashamed of themselves.
That said, I think the judge was very onesided. If they both had gotten a fine for disturbing the peace, I’d feel better about it.
And it’s not just some american court… it was on freakin youtube :)
about 2 months ago
They were in a Halloween parade and it is called Blasphemy. Ernest is the most outspoken atheist in America. Check out his Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/eperce
You should listen to the entire court recording and you will find the Judge’s decision and his scolding of Ernest completely wrong.
PS, see him at the American Atheist National Convention in Washington DC right after the Reason Rally. I’ll be there too.