[Dialogue] Free Speech

[Wayne Nelson]

I agree with Ken. There is a legal question related to hate crime.  

This is my observation entirely.  Within the Coptic community, there is an anti-Islamic theme born out of real state supported repression that surfaces in the form of totally implausible and extremely derogatory statements about Islam as a religion and Muslims as people. It is ugly and the the statements/stories I have heard are downright foolish. Repressed feelings often emerge in the most grotesque forms. 

That does not justify any of that behaviour  - and it ranges from stupid jokes that misuse language at the expense of islam all the way to something like this film which apparently wraps all of this hate into a narrative. It illuminates the repression in a way that perpetuates and strengthens the narrative. 

Another thread I think is related to this is the strengthing of the drive to individualism. It seems to have totally run amok. Had he written today, Neibur might have written a couple more paragraphs and punched a bit harder.  Reaching to a sense of common good is pretty difficult. Social consensus - even informal consensus on norms of social behavoiur - is damn difficult to achieve, it seems to me. 

Every time we get people to work together, solve problems and resolve conflicts, we knock a brick out of that wall.

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- - - - - - - - - - Wayne Nelson
wnelson at ica-associates.ca
O - 416-691-2316
M - 647-229-6910