First World Facism Watch
July 14th, 2009 by Nick SaintThe next time someone tells you that - obviously! - the people in [insert middle-eastern country here] yearn for a liberal democracy with all the freedoms that we cherish here at home, point them in the direction of this law just passed in Ireland:
(1) A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000. [Amended to €25,000]
(2) For the purposes of this section, a person publishes or utters blasphemous matter if (a) he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and (b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.
Free speech as we know it simply isn’t important even to most of our closest allies, as I’ve mentioned before. This might make me a little nervous about visiting Ireland again. Certainly, I think it is a way in which the U.S. is just better than Ireland - no moral relativism here (though no moral realism either). But I don’t think we need to impose sanctions on the EU, either, let alone prepare for an invasion. People are nasty and wrong about things. Let them be. We’ve got our own problems.
