SV: reviews and comments (Freud, Vishnu, Kali, Indus Samskrut)

[rohan.oberoi at CORNELL.EDU]

I'm sure no one will seriously defend a right not to be offended.
Nevertheless, claiming that this is an issue of "free" Western
societies versus touchy Hindu/Muslim ones is overstating the case.
Many European countries have laws in force to the present day,
criminalising precisely the sort of "right not to be offended" on the
basis of which Dr. Fosse assigns the entire Muslim population of the
world (approximately 1.2 billion people) to "disrepute".

I could mention the following articles of the Norwegian Penal Code:
95, which punishes insulting the flag of a foreign state with one
year's imprisonment; 101, which punishes defaming the King or Regent
with five years; 130, which punishes defaming public authorities with
one year; 142, which prohibits blasphemy.  With special reference to
this question of blasphemy, since the West is claimed to be a society
"that values free speech higher than religion", the UK has
successfully prosecuted under the blasphemy laws as recently as 1979,
and European Court of Human Rights upheld their use by the British
Board of Film Classification as recently as 1996.  And that's without
even mentioning how Western societies punish free speech when it
conflicts with commercial interest (more of a "sacred cow" than
religion) as in the case of Jon Johansen.

Free speech is an issue that all societies deal with.  Caricatured
stereotypes about "the Western person's" approach contrasted with the
"disreputable" Muslim's serve only to distort the issue.

Regards,
Rohan.






>I would like to point out, that although the contents of the book may be
>offensive to many Hindus, it is only fair to say that critique of
>Christianity by many secularized people (agnostics/atheists) in the West is
>just as, or even more, offensive. Thus Hindus should not feel that they are
>being treated differently from others. They are just facing the brunt of
>free speech in a society that values free speech higher than religion (one
>of the reasons why the Rushdie affair had such devastating consequences in
>many places and brought Muslims into such disrepute. The fact that the book
>was insensitive to Muslim beliefs is of no consequence to the Western
>person, who simply believes that people shouldn't be too sensitive about
>their views and beliefs).
>
>Lars Martin Fosse
>
>
>
>Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
>Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,
>0674 Oslo
>Norway
>Phone: +47 22 32 12 19
>Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45
>Fax 1:  +47 22 32 12 19
>Fax 2:  +47 85 02 12 50 (InFax)
>Email: lmfosse at online.no