Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Truth in Advertising

As reported in the live-blog earlier today, the high-court judge in Vienna actually allowed the quoting of an authoritative hadith in the courtroom: “Muhammad’s wife Aisha entered the marriage at age 6, which was consummated at the age of 9.” He then acknowledged that the passage was already public knowledge, and thus repeating it could not be punishable under the law.

He upheld Elisabeth’s conviction, however, based on a somewhat peculiar interpretation of Austrian law: to say “Mohammed had a thing for little girls” is an “excess of opinion” that cannot be tolerated. It constitutes ridicule, and is not justifiable.

An interesting and useful corollary can be derived from today’s ruling: it is now completely legal to quote in public the authoritative hadith about Mohammed’s sex acts with a nine-year-old girl. A precedent was established today — at least in Austria.

The judge’s decision gave one of our Austrian contacts a brilliant idea: rent space on a billboard and blazon that (legally acceptable) statement in four-foot-high letters where everyone in Vienna can read it!

With that notion in mind, I took the liberty of placing the relevant virtual text on an existing billboard in the city of Vienna:

Vienna billboard, English

“Muhammad’s wife Aisha entered the marriage at age 6, which was consummated at the age of 9.”— Higher Court of Vienna, decision Dec 20, 2011

An image with the same text in German is below the jump:

Vienna billboard, German

„Mohammeds Frau Aischa wurde mit 6 Jahren verheiratet. Die Ehe wurde vollzogen, als sie 9 Jahre alt war.“ — Laut OLG Wien, Urteil vom 20.12.2011

Once again, bear this fact in mind: displaying these words is now completely legal in Austria.

The high court has ruled. It’s on the record. An Austrian can publicly utter, write, chant, print, sing, or declaim those sentences without fear of legal retribution.

This means that Austrians who have enough money and initiative can recover at least a small measure of their freedom of speech, and at the same time educate their fellow citizens about the authoritative teachings of Islam.

It’s truth in advertising.

26 comments:

Brock Townsend said...

It’s truth in advertising.

Indeed.:)

Anonymous said...

"Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of such a society [...] it is applicable not only to "information" or "ideas" that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population." (Handyside v. The United Kingdom, 1976.)

Nick.

Anonymous said...

Pedophiles and pedophilia need to be ridiculed, denounced, and stigmatized.

EscapeVelocity

Anonymous said...

Good point Baron, Sir! Silver lining and all that. Perhaps they are on our side after all

A:S

Salome said...

Good idea. Where's the PayPal account?

Salome said...

Come to think of it, what about the t-shirts and tote bags. If people really MUST go to Austria, they should at least be kitted out appropriately.

Anonymous said...

Will critics of pedophile priests and the Catholic Church now be charged with speech violations?

Just wondering.

How can this judge turn his back on Western Civilization's cultural norms like this? Has he no decency, no shame? How does he sleep at night?

EV

Nick said...

There seems to be a distinction drawn between the truth value of an assertion, and making a value judgement about that assertion.

The former is acceptable, the latter is not.

That is to say, one can recite the religious beliefs of another person, but one cannot apply one's own religious beliefs (that is to say, one's sense of morality) in order to make sense of that other person's religious beliefs!

It's crazy. They want to protect religious beliefs - what good are religious beliefs if you're not allowed to use them to make some kind of sense of the world around you?

Sol Ta Triane said...

Nice billboard, Baron! If your humor gets any drier, I'm going to need to get me a bottle of Vaseline Intensive Care.

Anonymous said...

ChristianInfidel says:

I love the spirit of determination, the equanimity, the positive, can-do attitude, the civility, and the high-quality thought which this web site and its commmunity show.

Coming back to this web page less than a day after the jolt of the appeal verdict, I can feel the buoyancy of all of the above.

Yes!

Anonymous said...

What a very, very good idea.

Chervil

Cathryn Paradise said...

I like what Jesus said: If any one offend a child it is better that a millstone (a 200 lb rock) tied to his neck and cast into the sea. This is the best idea for punishing people who abuse children.

babs said...

I would be more than willing to put a few bucks into the banner you propose. I am serious.
Get a kitty together and I am there. Let's watch the Austrian elite squirm in their PC cages under law!
Get our intrepid translators ready. It's going to be a fire fight!

Anonymous said...

As an American who's used to saying pretty much what he wants when he wants, I find the court's logic very peculiar.

In essence it says that you can state any fact, you just can't have an opinion or editorialize on it.

From my point of view, that's scary.

perchancetodream said...

Get that Paypal account opened - I need to contribute - Soon!

Anonymous said...

It is SO important that this is done, unless the very words used by the court are seen as inviting ridicule the reiteration of their judgement has to be legal. I would suggest a post script to the banner stating that sex with a nine year old girl is illegal in Austria in 2011 followed by the statement that Muslims believe the Quran is the literal word of Allah - Then stand back and watch the exploding heads.

Anonymous said...

It seems that the "belief" which was "denigrated" was not that M married a child & the marriage was consummated when that child was 9.

Apparently the "belief" which was "denigrated" was the notion that M is "the ideal man".

That is to say, it's not that E said that M did something that's legally significant - it's that E said what she thought of M for doing it that matters (apparently).

Now that distinction is significant.

Anonymous said...

both pics are the same only signs are diferent, coincedence?

Green Infidel said...

Let's do this! Can we get a paypal fund going?

A few ads in a few places could have a very disproportionate effect:

1 ad near the Austrian high courts
1 ad near the offices of Austrian media
1 ad near the main high street
1 ad near the stadium of the biggest soccer team (soccer fans are usually not too enthralled with immigrants and Muslims - unless they're dominated by Antifa (ie St Pauli) )
1 ad near the heart of Vienna's Turkish community

Just ONE ad in all these places will ensure the message gets out to a VERY WIDE cross-section of Austrian society, and will be a big talking point for many months to come! And with the crisis in Europe, perhaps advertising costs are not as high as they would once have been?

As for the court judgment - beyond parody... I guess singing songs making fun of Hitler are now an "excess of opinion" that "constitute ridicule", and are therefore illegal in Austria?

Green Infidel said...

And on the day of interesting court judgments, this just in from London... Seems that an illegitimate baby in a Muslim family is especially at risk of an honour killing. So much so, that it has to be put up for adoption...

Perhaps another round of adverts in England would be due? Something along the lines of...

"Illegitimate children in Muslim families are especially at risk of honour killings... so much at risk, that they have to be adopted*

*Decision by the Court of Appeal..."

For added effect, the words "Muslim" and "especially" could be bold, and in a different colour.

What could be the effect on a country like England, so completely submitted to political correctness?

Even if a Gates of Vienna campaign in Vienna itself would stil be the jewel in the crown.

Englishman said...

lovely religion, that one started by "Mo".

The same one that is forcing a baby born after an affair between its parents to be put up for adoption to prevent it being "honour killed". This is not in the Middle East but in the United Kingdom

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8970859/Muslim-baby-adopted-because-of-fear-of-honour-killing.html

Anonymous said...

It seems that under Austrian law a person having sexual relations with a 9 year old is beyond criticism and reproach.
Or does the law only give free under-age sex passes for people that designate themselves prophets?

That should go on another billboard.

mapinguari said...

HOOOOOOOOOORAY!!! two thumbs up for Oesterreich!!!

Anonymous said...

«Muhammad's wife Aisha entered the marriage at age 6, which was consummated at the age of 9.»


the islamic calendar is a lunar calendar (the year is shorter than in a solar calendar). Aisha was 8 years old according to the solar calendar.

Ray Ban said...

enjoy something that should be obvious, and not adjudicated by a court .. the whole world today is..

well that such a decision was made and no other


Best Holidays to all of You :)

globetrotter said...

I would support at any moment the proposed billboard. Ridiculous judgements based on obviously ridiculous laws must be ridiculed. What I would like to add is that a community where it is possible that judges act ridiculous is not far away from the mentality from "das dritte Reich". Austria wake up.