Who’s Offended?

Last night we discussed the case of an EDL member who was convicted and fined for saying things about Allah that might have offended a Muslim, if any had heard him. Earlier today we referred to the Australian government’s provisions for fighting “cyber racism”, in which anyone who feels offended by a “racist” website is encouraged to file an official complaint so that action can be taken against the offensive site.

As regular readers know, these laws against “hate speech” and “incitement to religious hatred” are almost universally used against people like us, who are labeled “racists”, “xenophobes”, and “Islamophobes” because we hold certain political opinions.

The recent EDL case is simply the most blatant example of what is happening to us. It’s becoming more and more apparent that causing a Muslim to feel offended — or even making a police officer think that a Muslim might possibly be offended — is enough to get a person arrested, convicted, fined, and possibly jailed.

But why do Muslims have a monopoly on being offended? Why don’t any other groups of people invoke their right never to feel offended, and file the appropriate complaints?

Part of the answer lies in the fact that Islam is considered a religion, and religions enjoy special privileges under most constitutions. Offending a Muslim means violating his right to free religious expression, and that is the basis for a lot of these pernicious laws. They work to the advantage of Muslims, because most Europeans (and many Americans and Australians as well) have fallen away from Christianity, and would be unable to file a credible religiously based counter-claim when Muslims chant “Death to infidels!”

Or they haven’t been able to make such claims up until now. But why shouldn’t they at least give it a try?

Atheism is, after all, a religion, despite what many of its adherents maintain. It has a creed and an orthodoxy. Its followers recite litanies and revere certain saints. They tend to impose severe punishments on those who deviate from atheist dogma. And, like devout Catholics or Salafist Muslims, they are absolutely certain about who made the world (no one) and what guides it now (nothing except the laws of physics).

So atheists, too, should have the right not to have their religious feelings offended. Their sensibilities should enjoy the same protections as those of any other believer.

Now consider what an atheist, especially a feminist atheist, would think of this:

Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to their husbands), and guard in the husband’s absence what Allah orders them to guard (e.g. their chastity, their husband’s property, etc.). As to those women on whose part you see ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful), but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance). Surely, Allah is Ever Most High, Most Great.

— Koran 4:34

Heck, I’m neither an atheist or a feminist, and I’m offended by that. Aren’t died-in-the wool feminists really, really offended?

The point is that someone’s religion — the Atheist-Feminist Creed — is surely offended by the above passage, which means it’s in violation of British law.

It’s easily available on websites in the UK, some of them hosted on British ISPs. Identical or similar wording is included in every English-language copy of the Koran sold in Britain. It undoubtedly can be found in numerous other printed materials that cite the scriptural basis for Islamic law.

My advice to our British readers is: Be officially offended!

Go down to the police station nearest you and confront Plod where he sits behind his desk eating a jam butty and reading the Mirror. Bring a copy of the Koran with you so that you can show him what offends you. Tell him that this book is hate speech! It discriminates against women! And offends your religious sentiments!

Make him earn his salary — demand the proper form, fill it out completely, and insist that the evidence (Koran 4:34) be included in his report. Return every day to determine the progress of your case. Be a nuisance!

Yes, you don’t have to tell me — I know it won’t do any good. You don’t count, because you’re white, and speak English as your native language, and are descended from racist imperialist colonial exploiters. No one will pay you any mind.

But what if hundreds of people did the same thing? What if thousands of them filed the same sort of complaint?

The oppressive system can’t hold up under a such a strain. If the native people of Britain were to stress it in this fashion, it would break down.

It’s not ever likely to happen, but one can dream…

Call it the Reverse Cloward-Piven Strategy.