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Man Arrested In Greece For "Blasphemous" Facebook Page
An anonymous reader writes "A 27-year old man was arrested yesterday in Greece (Greek-language original) by the electronic crime police, for creating a Facebook page "Geron Pastitsios" which made fun of an extremely respected Orthodox Christian monk who lived in Mount Athos, as well as the Greek Church. The arrest came promptly after the Greek far-right party — which holds 7% of the parliament seats — submitted an official petition asking the government to take down the page. The charges that the young man faces are 'blasphemy' and 'disrespect to the religious beliefs of others.'" What would the UN say?
Well, perhaps this kind of controversy is exactly what the Greek government needs to turn attention away from the economy.
'blasphemy' is anachronism from middle ages. 'disrespect to the religious beliefs of others.' is exactly what he have done.
So tired of religion. When will it end?!
So when someone makes a video attacking Islam, he's called "far right" and it is the moderates who make his film illegal and ban him from their country (as the UK did to Geert Wilders). But when someone makes a facebook page attacking Orthodox Christians, he's a moderate and the people who want the facebook banned are called "far right".
Just trying to make sure I understand the definition of "far right".
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
Crappy right-wing deregulation & economic policymaking is allowed. Fighting illegal wars against far weaker enemies is allowed, with massive civilian casualties. Being an anti-immigration racist is allowed. ---- But show an exposed female nipple on TV, or say something negative about the Church or Clergy, and they will hunt you down, brother! --------- These people need to get a life.. Whatever this man said online, its freedom of speech! Love it or hate it...
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
and this 'news for nerds'...
You realize the tagline/motto is gone, right?
I like how you conveniently omit the "Stuff that matters" part.
For this sort of behavior on the part of others claiming to be Christians. I don't want to be persecuted for speaking my mind and what I believe, and so I do not believe anyone should be arrested or harmed for speaking out or posting things online. There is a fine line to walk when things become violent (death threats) or obscene (pornographic), but in so far as possible we need to be open and free in dialog if we want to have civil and prosperous societies.
This is one of the few things that is still great about the US (where I live), though it is slipping day by day even here. But arresting someone for what they post? Or worse, in Islamic areas, killing people for what *others* post? I don't see how that sort of behavior can lead to anything good.
William George
The "Barbara Streisand" effect can actually be hazardous for the accused here. Supposing that the charge is actually valid enough to surpass a cursory ruling of the courts, his crime is essentially the equivilent of pointing something out that makes someone else look bad in public. If a lot more public are now aware of it, then potentially the harm or problems these actions caused are now compounded.
Blasphemy laws are not necessarily about hiding the certain speech. They are more to the point of stopping it altogether. The bigger the exposure the bigger the penalty might be in order to discourage the behavior in the future. Of course people outside of Greece's jurisdiction don't really need to worry about them.
"Your Rights Online". Sounds like a nerd issue to me.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
Doesn't blasphemy require attacking actual deities or assorted holy objects/texts/persons, rather than mere religious functionaries, however pious?
If anything, isn't it (in the context of an ostensible monotheism, like eastern orthodoxy) verging on blasphemy to assert that satire against a mere man is blasphemous?
Obviously, religious functionaries have the same interest in conflating their own status with the priviliged status accorded to dieties, just as politicians generally do their best to conflate their own persons and administrations with lofty things like 'Nation' and 'The Office of the President'; but, in both cases, it is actually a vital part of the protection of the genuinely venerated things to mock and dissuade the assorted grifters who attempt to parasitize them. Not doing that swiftly turns your religion into a cult or your government into an autocracy...
The extreme right-wing party in question - let's call it what it is, neofascist - has been a much mocked tiny minority for the last thirty years or so in Greece. They ran magazines praising the values of Hitler's Germany, the old dodecatheon (I kid you not) of Zeus and Hera and kept to their own niche of society talking about ancient aliens that gifted the race with superweapons waiting for the day to come to rise again. But no more. When the economy took a dramatic downturn they turned their preaching toward populism instead. Gone are the mentions of the Gods from any speeches or articles now that they figured they can catch a lot more followers (and votes) by supporting the most fanatical aspects of the Orthodox Church instead. So this is what it's all about. An opportunity to appeal to the masses as defending Christianity when several of their higher ups weren't even Christians up to a few years ago, and a party openly supporting racism making a bid for political power any way they can get it. They could care less about the venerable monk.
As per usual, it's sloppy shorthand for "do not like".
As per usual, it's just someone calling a political party what it calls itself. They are talking about Golden Dawn. If you'd like to go into Wikipedia and change the political position of Golden Dawn to "do not like" from "Far-right" I think you will find that both liberal and conservative editors will tell you to take a hike.
My work here is dung.
-- Roman law maxim
Non-Linux Penguins ?
Conservatives over here have done things like pass laws forbidding global warming
They've made being the Earth a crime
in America, there is a state now where, by law, every woman is pregnant
Seriously... wtf are you talking about? You either need to put down the crack pipe, or provide legitimate citations for these (and then pass the crack pipe over here)
We're harassing the hell out of some guy who made a 2nd-rate movie about Muhammad and making sure the world sees him being put into the back seat of a car.
First I've heard of it. Who's "we"? Last I heard the guy is still pretty anonymous.
Then our government buys airtime on Pakistani TV to apologize for his actions.
Er, no, that's to explain to the people of Pakistan that the US government does not have any control over what individuals say and that in America there is freedom of speech.
This freedom stuff is fragile so pay attention!
Yeah. Pay attention.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Maybe the Greek government should spend their time fixing the disastrous economy they created instead of wasting time with this nonsense.
This is certainly news for nerds. A man is being arrested for posting something on facebook.
It could be argued that Facebook is for the masses, not for nerds.
On the other hand, theists forcing others to not ridicule their absurd fairy tales is stuff that matters.
So why exactly do we need to buy airtime in Pakistan to let them know that the actions of some guy making a movie are not official US government policy?
Will explaining this to anyone who needs it explained to them change a mind? Just one mind. Not looking for miracles here.
It is my belief that it will not change one mind in Pakistan. Not one.
The fact that the government feels the need to do this is not as you rightly stated apologizing.
It is a bad attempt at pandering though. Pandering that has no hope of working and that can only make the US federal government look weak and ineffectual.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Believe it or not, free speech matters a great deal to computer nerds and geeks. Computers for us is all about expression not all about consumption and being free to express what ever we choose to express within reason is very import, up to and including expressing our dislike for all those who would suppress us. I believe you might have forgotten but the church has a terrible history of burning us intellectually driven types at the stake, so yeah those of us who know a little history will for ever be sticking it to religions to keep the buggers down and make sure they never get the opportunity to torture to death future generations of computer geeks and nerds. We know who our enemy is, history has taught us our enemy, it is ignorance and those who would exploit it for their own personal gain. The core of being able to perpetuate ignorance has always been religion and compulsory religion has been the worst offender.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Minor correction: the church rarely burned anyone at the stake. In fact, they rarely had the authority to do any such thing. Most actual religious executions were carried out by secular powers. This includes everything from Christ's crucifixion to the Spanish Inquisition. If you weren't unlucky enough to reside in Italy, the chances of the church directly burning you at the stake was quite minimal. In other words, the politicians of the day were the one's directly responsible.
Furthermore, if you looked for where the science stayed alive, and where mathematics was cherished during the Dark ages, you would find it in monasteries and whatnot. (And in other parts of the world naturally; the Dark ages were only dark for Europe after all.) At that point in European history, the Catholic church was the only one willing to commit the resources to support intellectuals. Sure, most of the intellectuals they supported were intellectuals working in theology. But not most by a long shot.
I'm no fan of the Catholic church, but your hatred wrongs them, and the rest of all religions along with them. Religion has been, historically, one of the most philosophic endeavors civilizations would support. Intellectually driven people have been, as often as not, employed by 'the church.'