Slashdot Mirror
Singapore Blogger Spared Jail
afaik_ianal writes "A Singaporean blogger, who pled guilty to sedition charges last month for posting anti-Muslim remarks in his blog, has avoided a custodial sentence, and has been placed on 2 years probation instead. According to the article, the 17 year old student is the third person to be convicted under Singapore's sedition laws in October. Singapore, which is unconcerned by wide criticism of its record of press freedom, appears to have been stepping up efforts against bloggers in recent months."
So it is illegal for Christians to flame Muslims and it is illegal for Muslims to flame Christian or Jews.
The problem is that one group of religious nutjobs takes flaming the others quite literally.
Also, I don't see why any of them should be spared criticism. I'm an atheist, and I'm always on the receiving end of some well-meaning advices to get me into religion, but for some reason we religion-less folks aren't allowed to criticize those who believe in fairy tales that involve some god or another...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Large organized religions, especially Islam and Christianity, have been a curse to mankind, the cause of hundreds of millions of deaths and the worst cruelties, and continued poverty and ignorance. As an example of how brainwashed we are on the subject, point out how evil the nazis were and normal people agree; point out the Roman Catholic Church has murdered and persecuted more Jews than Hitler, and all of a sudden you get labelled as "intolerant". uh-huh....
you're right, and I only used RCC as example. Got modded "troll" in less than five minutes too, proving my point. Note that I don't treat any person badly or even differently because of their religion, and I myself come from a background of a religion that has done evil things too. Most all of my friends and relatives are of various organized religions that are doing and historically have done very bad things. But I'm saying its important to have the right to point out the bad things organized religions have done and are doing; while not harming any person or inciting hate for any person.
Athiests dont have religious beliefs. Thus people are able to critize our beliefs and we not theirs. i get this shit all the time, whenever some idiot says something ridiculous and then hides behind religion. Religion gets exempted all the time for their beliefis but athiests are never given the same benefit. Take for example Contenscious Objector status, you aren't allowed to object on a rational framework that killing is immoral, only a deeply held religious belief. Other great examples are bicycle helmet exemptions for sikhs. Or multiple wife exceptions for Muslim immigrants (in Canada). Religious exemptions just go to show how trivial and unimportant our laws are, basically saying if you believe in a fairy tale then you dont have to follow the law.
Where does one of these governments based on "freedom" exist?
The word Freedom implies total freedom. 100%. That's anarchy. A "government based on freedom" is a blatant contradiction in terms.
Governments can exist to promote some degree of some freedoms(s), and I assume that is what you meant. But stop with the trite soundbites of glorification, okay? The world is not black and white, and neither are governments. They're all just differing shades of grey.
Why do I get the feeling this is one of the countries that the United Nations will put in charge if ICANN is taken over by the UN.