2005-06-26
Australian National Emergency
Open Letter to John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia
Dear Sir,
I would like to bring your attention to something horrifying and insidious that has happened in Australia. Some Australian citizens have been charged for exercising their freedom of speech. This is the sort of thing I expect from a tinpot dictatorship, not Australia. Even if what these citizens had said was completely untrue (which it isn't), they have an ABSOLUTE HUMAN RIGHT to say it, without being locked up by a cruel intolerant society. In fact, if you're going to lock them up, you can lock me up too. I'm happy to repeat whatever it is they said that was supposedly illegal, regardless of whether it is true or not. Our ancestors spilt a LOT of blood to ensure that Australia remained free. I'm not about to give up my freedom of speech and cower in silence. It would destroy my soul. Just as this law against freedom of speech is destroying Australia's soul. My philosophy is "live free or die". I thought this philosophy was held by all (or at least, most) Australians, but apparently not. This is why we need a bill of rights, the same as America and Iraq (the most free country in the world) have.
I am very sad that we actually need such a document. I previously thought that I could trust the Australian government. It never occurred to me that we might be living in an intolerant police state. I must admit that I was suspicious when David Irving was denied an entry visa, on the grounds that someone might take offence at his ideas. Well GUESS WHAT, Mr Howard? I'm ALSO happy to repeat EVERYTHING that David Irving has EVER said, regardless of whether it is true or not. You can't silence IDEAS. If you can go to jail in this horrible police state because of an IDEA, then you can start by locking me up. Why don't you make a list of everything that is illegal to say in this country? I'll say ALL of it, regardless of whether it is true or not. Although I was miffed about David Irving being kept out of Australia, he was after all a foreigner, and I do agree that we have a sovereign right to discriminate against which foreigners are allowed in. It never occurred to me that any government in Australia would DARE deny freedom of speech to its own citizens. Spitting in the face of all those who died valiantly for this country.
Not that I consider it at all relevant, but let's have a closer look at what these Australians are getting locked up for saying. "These suggested that the Koran promoted killing and looting, that Muslims wanted to take over Australia and terrorists were true Muslims". Hell, have you actually READ the Koran? It says a lot worse than that! Take a look at 33:50. It says that when you capture prisoners during war, they become slaves (that Allah provided), and that you can have sex with them. Basically it authorizes slavery and rape. You see, Mohammed didn't know that slavery was wrong (just like America's founding fathers didn't either, who are similarly aped by similarly backward people). Actually, I personally am a Muslim (but I belong to a little-known sect called Mu'tazilah - see www.moatazilla.org). And I believe Mohammed was a prophet. I believe he was deliberately sent by God so that we could find out what that natural state of humans was. Which isn't pretty! And that's what we need religion for - to overcome our natural state. This is an extremely important lesson. However, the Mu'tazilah believe that the Koran was written by Mohammed, not revealed from God. And the Mu'tazilah are right. God would NEVER EVER EVER have authorized slavery. The Mu'tazilah were an enlightened period of Islam history. In my opinion, all Muslims should convert to this sect, instead of the horrible Sunni sect that thinks that the Koran is the word of God and perfect in every way, beyond question, and that Mohammed also was a perfect example of a human being to be emulated for all times (despite the fact that Mohammed converted innocent people into slaves and raped them, and married a 9 year old girl and had sex with her when she was 12).
If you want to ban something, I'll tell you what to ban. You should ban the indoctrination of children. The Koran is a book of hate, similar to Mein Kampf. Putting "God said" in the front of Mein Kampf doesn't make Hitler's rantings some sort of religion that is beyond question. EVERYTHING needs to be open to question. E.g. where's the gynaecology report that says that Mary was a virgin? In the absence of such a report, Jesus was technically a bastard. But what is insidious, is indoctrinating children to think that a particular book, any book (or even the US constitution for that matter), written centuries ago, is the word of God, beyond question, so-called "these truths are self-evident". Did you know that the Christian bible tells people to stone their own children to death if they are disobedient? Deuteronomy 21:18-21. Not even SADDAM stoned his own children!!! I don't have a problem with people publishing these books of hate, so long as they don't ACT on them. The Australian government should guarantee that the laws of this country are rational, humanist and non-subjugating. Sick books of hate that promote slavery (or stoning), should remain legal. But indoctrinating children with these horrible books, in my opinion, should be illegal. Children have rights. They have the right to not be told that they will go to Hell if they don't believe that these sick books are true. They have a right to not be indoctrinated that non-Muslims will go to Hell and drink boiling water (see Koran 14:17). Teaching children about such cruel vindictive gods is unacceptable in my opinion. If adults wish to believe such fairy tales, that's their freedom of choice, but once again, so long as they don't ACT on it. Sunni Muslims should be free to peddle their doctrine of hate, so long as they don't indoctrinate their children with this hatred of non-Muslims.
And although I think that Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali who "praised suicide bombers and claimed the September 11 attacks were God's work against oppressors" is a horrible racist bigotted fascist, he's got an absolute right to say it, so long as he doesn't ACT on it (or indoctrinate children with this hatred). The Australian government has a responsibility to respond to this hatred by teaching people (via schools and via parliament) that all humans are equal, regardless of race, religion or sex. If the Australian government wishes, they could promote tolerant versions of Islam, such as Sufism or Mu'tazilah. And the Australian government should be condemning what this Sheikh says. Just as I have NO PROBLEM with the Australian government condemning David Irving for being a holocaust-denier. Hell, I have no problem with the Australian government condemning me if I repeat David Irving's words. I deserve condemnation if I do that! But this is a free market of ideas. My ideas will stand or fall on their own merits. The Australian government shouldn't be silencing me, they should be debating me.
Anyway, I think that these men would be turning in their grave if they knew that the current Australians had given up their freedom of speech in order to appease some Sheikh who has no concept of what being an Australian actually means. What a disgusting perverted country I live in. Such a proud history of fighting for freedom and now surrendering to 400,000 Sunni Muslims armed with sharp tongues. Mr Howard, I don't know what sick religion you follow, but can I suggest you convert to Mu'tazilah? The Mu'tazilah value freedom of speech and human rights. The Mu'tazilah captures the ideology of the Australians who died valiantly in many wars to keep our country free of subjugation. What does your sick religion preach instead, that made you stand by and watch Australians go to jail for exercising those cherished freedoms? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should resign before you embarass this country any further. Oh, and don't forget to come and arrest me, you sick Nazi.
Oh, and one more thing. Don't try to say "that's the Victorian government, nothing to do with me". The fact is that you can hold a referendum enshrining freedom of speech in this country, just like in Iraq and USA. We are clearly in desperate need of such a bill of rights, before we totally sell our souls to the Devil. The next time there's a referendum for a republic, I'm going to vote "no", until we get a bill of rights to go alongside it. I'm kicking myself for being so naive as to think that you pricks could be trusted.
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Dear Sir,
I would like to bring your attention to something horrifying and insidious that has happened in Australia. Some Australian citizens have been charged for exercising their freedom of speech. This is the sort of thing I expect from a tinpot dictatorship, not Australia. Even if what these citizens had said was completely untrue (which it isn't), they have an ABSOLUTE HUMAN RIGHT to say it, without being locked up by a cruel intolerant society. In fact, if you're going to lock them up, you can lock me up too. I'm happy to repeat whatever it is they said that was supposedly illegal, regardless of whether it is true or not. Our ancestors spilt a LOT of blood to ensure that Australia remained free. I'm not about to give up my freedom of speech and cower in silence. It would destroy my soul. Just as this law against freedom of speech is destroying Australia's soul. My philosophy is "live free or die". I thought this philosophy was held by all (or at least, most) Australians, but apparently not. This is why we need a bill of rights, the same as America and Iraq (the most free country in the world) have.
I am very sad that we actually need such a document. I previously thought that I could trust the Australian government. It never occurred to me that we might be living in an intolerant police state. I must admit that I was suspicious when David Irving was denied an entry visa, on the grounds that someone might take offence at his ideas. Well GUESS WHAT, Mr Howard? I'm ALSO happy to repeat EVERYTHING that David Irving has EVER said, regardless of whether it is true or not. You can't silence IDEAS. If you can go to jail in this horrible police state because of an IDEA, then you can start by locking me up. Why don't you make a list of everything that is illegal to say in this country? I'll say ALL of it, regardless of whether it is true or not. Although I was miffed about David Irving being kept out of Australia, he was after all a foreigner, and I do agree that we have a sovereign right to discriminate against which foreigners are allowed in. It never occurred to me that any government in Australia would DARE deny freedom of speech to its own citizens. Spitting in the face of all those who died valiantly for this country.
Not that I consider it at all relevant, but let's have a closer look at what these Australians are getting locked up for saying. "These suggested that the Koran promoted killing and looting, that Muslims wanted to take over Australia and terrorists were true Muslims". Hell, have you actually READ the Koran? It says a lot worse than that! Take a look at 33:50. It says that when you capture prisoners during war, they become slaves (that Allah provided), and that you can have sex with them. Basically it authorizes slavery and rape. You see, Mohammed didn't know that slavery was wrong (just like America's founding fathers didn't either, who are similarly aped by similarly backward people). Actually, I personally am a Muslim (but I belong to a little-known sect called Mu'tazilah - see www.moatazilla.org). And I believe Mohammed was a prophet. I believe he was deliberately sent by God so that we could find out what that natural state of humans was. Which isn't pretty! And that's what we need religion for - to overcome our natural state. This is an extremely important lesson. However, the Mu'tazilah believe that the Koran was written by Mohammed, not revealed from God. And the Mu'tazilah are right. God would NEVER EVER EVER have authorized slavery. The Mu'tazilah were an enlightened period of Islam history. In my opinion, all Muslims should convert to this sect, instead of the horrible Sunni sect that thinks that the Koran is the word of God and perfect in every way, beyond question, and that Mohammed also was a perfect example of a human being to be emulated for all times (despite the fact that Mohammed converted innocent people into slaves and raped them, and married a 9 year old girl and had sex with her when she was 12).
If you want to ban something, I'll tell you what to ban. You should ban the indoctrination of children. The Koran is a book of hate, similar to Mein Kampf. Putting "God said" in the front of Mein Kampf doesn't make Hitler's rantings some sort of religion that is beyond question. EVERYTHING needs to be open to question. E.g. where's the gynaecology report that says that Mary was a virgin? In the absence of such a report, Jesus was technically a bastard. But what is insidious, is indoctrinating children to think that a particular book, any book (or even the US constitution for that matter), written centuries ago, is the word of God, beyond question, so-called "these truths are self-evident". Did you know that the Christian bible tells people to stone their own children to death if they are disobedient? Deuteronomy 21:18-21. Not even SADDAM stoned his own children!!! I don't have a problem with people publishing these books of hate, so long as they don't ACT on them. The Australian government should guarantee that the laws of this country are rational, humanist and non-subjugating. Sick books of hate that promote slavery (or stoning), should remain legal. But indoctrinating children with these horrible books, in my opinion, should be illegal. Children have rights. They have the right to not be told that they will go to Hell if they don't believe that these sick books are true. They have a right to not be indoctrinated that non-Muslims will go to Hell and drink boiling water (see Koran 14:17). Teaching children about such cruel vindictive gods is unacceptable in my opinion. If adults wish to believe such fairy tales, that's their freedom of choice, but once again, so long as they don't ACT on it. Sunni Muslims should be free to peddle their doctrine of hate, so long as they don't indoctrinate their children with this hatred of non-Muslims.
And although I think that Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali who "praised suicide bombers and claimed the September 11 attacks were God's work against oppressors" is a horrible racist bigotted fascist, he's got an absolute right to say it, so long as he doesn't ACT on it (or indoctrinate children with this hatred). The Australian government has a responsibility to respond to this hatred by teaching people (via schools and via parliament) that all humans are equal, regardless of race, religion or sex. If the Australian government wishes, they could promote tolerant versions of Islam, such as Sufism or Mu'tazilah. And the Australian government should be condemning what this Sheikh says. Just as I have NO PROBLEM with the Australian government condemning David Irving for being a holocaust-denier. Hell, I have no problem with the Australian government condemning me if I repeat David Irving's words. I deserve condemnation if I do that! But this is a free market of ideas. My ideas will stand or fall on their own merits. The Australian government shouldn't be silencing me, they should be debating me.
Anyway, I think that these men would be turning in their grave if they knew that the current Australians had given up their freedom of speech in order to appease some Sheikh who has no concept of what being an Australian actually means. What a disgusting perverted country I live in. Such a proud history of fighting for freedom and now surrendering to 400,000 Sunni Muslims armed with sharp tongues. Mr Howard, I don't know what sick religion you follow, but can I suggest you convert to Mu'tazilah? The Mu'tazilah value freedom of speech and human rights. The Mu'tazilah captures the ideology of the Australians who died valiantly in many wars to keep our country free of subjugation. What does your sick religion preach instead, that made you stand by and watch Australians go to jail for exercising those cherished freedoms? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should resign before you embarass this country any further. Oh, and don't forget to come and arrest me, you sick Nazi.
Oh, and one more thing. Don't try to say "that's the Victorian government, nothing to do with me". The fact is that you can hold a referendum enshrining freedom of speech in this country, just like in Iraq and USA. We are clearly in desperate need of such a bill of rights, before we totally sell our souls to the Devil. The next time there's a referendum for a republic, I'm going to vote "no", until we get a bill of rights to go alongside it. I'm kicking myself for being so naive as to think that you pricks could be trusted.
# posted by Paul Edwards @ 16:16 
