Nationalism, immigration and racism in the EU

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
You are so dedicated to arguing with tea you even do it all over Facebook. Multi-platform tea baiting

If you'd looked over the last few days you'd have seen me and droid agreeing more than disagreeing, believe it or not. It would probably have given you some kind of fit.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Droid agreeing with me hasn't helped.

I can imagine this causing you a fit too, or at least an existential crisis. Are you feeling alright? Good to have you back, anyway. You big old apocalyptic neocon psychopath.
 
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luka

Well-known member
Not only that craners in the corner sobbing wondering what happened to the beautiful relationship he had with vimothy. World's gone mad
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
All the old certainties lie shattered on the floor, like a wine glass at a dinner party where everyone's had a bit too much to drink.
 

vimothy

yurp
Ed West put an amusing piece up recently that highlights the hypocrisy and spinelessness of our glorious leaders, vis-a-vis, those who "insult Islam", "The literal Islamophobia of the British media".

His brief anecdote about the Republic of Ireland's response functions as a sort of multi-levelled ironic farce:

Following the ["Danish Cartoons"] affair Ireland introduced blasphemy laws for the first time [!], with the Defamation Act making the publication or utterance of blasphemous matter a crime punishable by a €25,000 (£22,500) fine. In response secularist campaigners set up an Exhibition of Blasphemous Art at the Irish Museum of Contemporary Art (Imoca) in Dublin on Good Friday, 2010, against a law that they said ‘prevents intellectual debate’. The artists tested this theory with works such as ‘F— Christmas’, ‘Bible Gun’ and ‘Resur-erection’, which all satirised religious figures such as Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, although one particular 7th century figure was strangely absent. Not a single one mocked Islam, for the simple reason that long before the artists would be spending their lives under armed guard, the entire state machinery would have been forcing them to back down to spare Ireland a repeat of Denmark’s ordeal.
 

luka

Well-known member
Given that the perpetrators are dead I do wonder what the clash of civilisations mob consider to be the appropriate response.
 

vimothy

yurp
Who knows? None of those things seem very likely, though. I imagine that European authorities will want to make it harder for people to publish the sort of provocative, Muslim-baiting material found in Charlie Hebdo (and the media for the most part will be happy to oblige, since they don't want to be shot to pieces), and harder for Muslim extremists to publish the provocative, pro-jihadi type material that might result in more massacres of journalists, all the while ramping up the freedom and democracy rhetoric.
 

luka

Well-known member
You have no view? No opinion on what the appropriate response might be? How disappointing
 
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Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Given that the perpetrators are dead I do wonder what the clash of civilisations mob consider to be the appropriate response.

Well D-Cam apparently thinks the thing to do is to is to give police/security agencies unlimited surveillance powers with regard to social media, email, SMS and Let's Discover Electronics! home-made Morse code sets.

Which I thought they already pretty much had anyway, but I guess not.
 

droid

Well-known member
His brief anecdote about the Republic of Ireland's response functions as a sort of multi-levelled ironic farce:

Whilst Im not for a moment questioning the privileged status attacks on Islam have in liberal media in Europe, nor defending the atrocious blasphemy law, this is all a bit wonky.

I don't think its fair to say the legislation was brought in as a result of Danish cartoons - the argument at the time was that there was a legislative hole after the previous law was deemed impractical by the supreme court, and some legislation is demanded by the constitution. Id also say there is a bit of internal politics here - the church being the subject of attacks on gay marriage, abortion, school patronage, historical institutional abuse - all under a conservative govt with a considerable right wing catholic rump - so this could have been seen to be 'giving something back' to the RCC.

Regarding the blasphemy exhibition - Atheist Ireland aren't the most imaginative bunch. and I would say its most likely simply an attempt to (rightly) target offence at the dominant religion rather than fear of Muslim reaction.

But yes, an indefensible farce, though not for the reasons West outlines.
 

vimothy

yurp
I'll defer to you on that. What I know of the internal politics of the Republic of Ireland could fit on a postage stamp -- a small postage stamp. But I don't see that wanting to offend Christian sensibilities and not wanting to offend Muslim sensibilities are mutually exclusive. The two normally work at lock step. That's why Charlie Hebdo is so problematic.
 

droid

Well-known member
But I don't see that wanting to offend Christian sensibilities and not wanting to offend Muslim sensibilities are mutually exclusive..

And vice versa, in fact the right to offend Muslims is pretty much the only right being discussed here, a strange formalisation of propaganda really.

A string of at least 69 arrests in France this week on the vague charge of “defending terrorism” (“l’apologie du terrorisme”) risks violating freedom of expression, Amnesty International said...

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/fran...ssion-dozens-arrested-wake-attacks-2015-01-16
 
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