[Dialogue] Free Speech

[Cynthia Vance]

Sent from my Kindle Fire



_____________________________________________
From: Wayne Nelson <wnelson at ica-associates.ca>
Sent: Tue Sep 18 11:59:33 EDT 2012
To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Subject: Re: [Dialogue] Free Speech



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.

\\/


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






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