The Question of Reasonable Protestation: Discourse on the Freedom of Expression and the Right to one’s religion
I am writing to express my thoughts and views concerning the on-going massive tensions and large-scale violence at the whole Arab world.
What trigger the fiasco and violent protestations of the Muslims all over the world is a low-budgeted, flimsy, out-of-context, far-out, and distorted film entitled “Innocence of the Muslim” which they claimed lampooned, bastardized and disrespected the prophet Muhammad. Further, they are also attacking the said film, which they view as an attack to their religion.
The Muslim world, in the process of their condemnation and renunciation of the said rubbish film, also included the West in their vehement barrage and vicious attacks.
As a humanist and an independent observer, I extremely respect and always encourage the right of all people to air their grievance, whatever it is, whatever the issues are, to protest, as much as they like, to demonstrate collectively, even individually, to vent their anger and disgust, in short, to express their views and to dissent.
However, having said that, the demonstrators and protesters must be aware of the reasonableness of their means, conscious of the logic of their purpose and always govern by the justness of their cause.
If indeed the said rubbish film, which ironically is the root cause of all these anger, rages, rant and frustration of the Muslims --- is truly a misrepresentation of what Islam is, that it wrongly portrayed the prophet and that it shows an untrue version or picture of the faith; then, by all means criticize the film, condemn the film maker and question the veracity and purpose of the same; yet do not resort into violence, madness, paranoia, fanaticism, barbarity, savagery and hooliganism.
I have always been critical of the West, all my conscious life, specifically of America. The reason behind my hate, mistrust and disgust with them is by virtue of their world-wide arrogance, their imperialism (whether economic or military) and their unjust act of hegemonizing the entire globe to bow-down to their financial control, economic dictates and cultural brain-washing.
Yet, despite the seeming evilness and arrogance of the Pax Americana Empire, I also like some of their beliefs and values. There is no debate on this, yes, they are bad, but there are also some good beliefs and worthwhile values in them.
That is the other side of America.
The specific beliefs and values that I love and cherish about them despite my rant, contempt and hate against them are the following:
a. Their extreme respect for the right of the individual. This is their philosophy of Individuality;
b. The Freedom to Believe; and,
c. The Freedom of Expression.
These beliefs and values are all utterly related and intimately interconnected.
There is no iota of doubt that the utter respect for individuality is the hallmark of most Western society.
Corollary to this are the twin indispensable rights stated above guaranteeing the citizen’s right to think and to believe, whatever and everything they want; and to say, express and utter everything that they wishes to express and convey --- that is regardless and irrespective of whether it is in private, public and to the whole world, in whatever means, in whatever form.
Hence, in a case under consideration, the government cannot pass a law that will infringe and invade on the right of the people to practice and exercise these rights. Such law would definitely be unconstitutional, unjust and illegal!
1. The government does not have right to tell to the press what to write or to report;
2. The government does not have the right to tell to the artist what to write, what to paint, what to carve, what to perform, what to dramatize, in short, what to do in their respective crafts;
3. The government does not have the right to tell to the teachers and professors what to teach and what to discuss;
4. The government does not have the right to tell to people how would they going to live and lead their lives; and,
5. The government does not have right to tell to the people how would they going to practice these rights.
The citizens are all free to exercise and practice all of these rights, so long as their actions are confined within the parameters of the Constitution and the law.
The Question of the Controversial Film
As I already noted, if the Arab and Muslim world believe that said film is rubbish and indeed, a garbage product, then criticize it by all fury and by all might; yet to engage in violence, hate-mobs, mass anarchy and terrorism is equally wrong, undeniably stupid, palpably idiotic, unmistakably preposterous and can never ever be justified in whatever grounds!
Fighting fire with fire is not only unreasonable but definitely inhumane and unethical.
Instead of bringing the points and highlighting the issues to the fore, due to the violence and mayhem and pandemonium being committed by those who claimed were hurt by this stupid and rubbish film, it rather obscure and evade the truth. This is a shame! This is truly disgusting and undeniably deplorable!
I understand why they are angry with the said rubbish film and its maker, but what I cannot understand is: why attacked various foreign missions, embassies and consulates?
What did they have to do with the said rubbish film?
On this juncture, I would like to underscore and strongly emphasize the firm fact that I have never liked the so-called Secretary of the United States of America, Hilary Clinton, yet nonetheless, let me state for purposes of the records that I overwhelmingly concur with her in one particular speech. Said speech of her on religion is so powerful and I cannot help but agree substantially, to all of the points raise and theses that she advance.
Here’s what she said during the an Eid ul-Fitr reception:
“When Christians are subject to insults to their faith, and that certainly happens, we expect them not to resort to violence. When Hindus or Buddhists are subjected to insults to their faiths, and that also certainly happens, we expect them not to resort to violence. The same goes for all faiths, including Islam.”
She further added that:
“I so strongly believe that the great religions of the world are stronger than any insults. They have withstood offense for centuries. Refraining from violence, then, is not a sign of weakness in one’s faith; it is absolutely the opposite, a sign that one’s faith is unshakable.”
Lastly, I commend her when “she asked the crowd to work towards building a world where if one person commits a violent religious act, millions of people will stand up and condemn it.”
Finally, I love her moving pledge, especially when she said forcefully that:
“We can pledge that whenever one person speaks out in ignorance and bigotry, ten voices will answer. They will answer resoundingly against the offense and the insult; answering ignorance with enlightenment; answering hatred with understanding; answering darkness with light.
“In times like these, it can be easy to despair that some differences are irreconcilable, some mountains too steep to climb; we will therefore never reach the level of understanding and peacefulness that we seek, and which I believe the great religions of the world call us to pursue, but that’s not what I believe, and I don’t think it’s what you believe… Part of what makes our country so special is we keep trying. We keep working. We keep investing in our future.”
In my conclusion, I call upon all our Muslim brothers and sisters to refrain from violence, and for America to renounce their imperialism!
Jose Mario Dolor De Vega
Passport No.: XX4070556
Mobile No.: 0129368909
No. 19 USJ 11/3 A 47620
Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia
I am writing to express my thoughts and views concerning the on-going massive tensions and large-scale violence at the whole Arab world.
What trigger the fiasco and violent protestations of the Muslims all over the world is a low-budgeted, flimsy, out-of-context, far-out, and distorted film entitled “Innocence of the Muslim” which they claimed lampooned, bastardized and disrespected the prophet Muhammad. Further, they are also attacking the said film, which they view as an attack to their religion.
The Muslim world, in the process of their condemnation and renunciation of the said rubbish film, also included the West in their vehement barrage and vicious attacks.
As a humanist and an independent observer, I extremely respect and always encourage the right of all people to air their grievance, whatever it is, whatever the issues are, to protest, as much as they like, to demonstrate collectively, even individually, to vent their anger and disgust, in short, to express their views and to dissent.
However, having said that, the demonstrators and protesters must be aware of the reasonableness of their means, conscious of the logic of their purpose and always govern by the justness of their cause.
If indeed the said rubbish film, which ironically is the root cause of all these anger, rages, rant and frustration of the Muslims --- is truly a misrepresentation of what Islam is, that it wrongly portrayed the prophet and that it shows an untrue version or picture of the faith; then, by all means criticize the film, condemn the film maker and question the veracity and purpose of the same; yet do not resort into violence, madness, paranoia, fanaticism, barbarity, savagery and hooliganism.
I have always been critical of the West, all my conscious life, specifically of America. The reason behind my hate, mistrust and disgust with them is by virtue of their world-wide arrogance, their imperialism (whether economic or military) and their unjust act of hegemonizing the entire globe to bow-down to their financial control, economic dictates and cultural brain-washing.
Yet, despite the seeming evilness and arrogance of the Pax Americana Empire, I also like some of their beliefs and values. There is no debate on this, yes, they are bad, but there are also some good beliefs and worthwhile values in them.
That is the other side of America.
The specific beliefs and values that I love and cherish about them despite my rant, contempt and hate against them are the following:
a. Their extreme respect for the right of the individual. This is their philosophy of Individuality;
b. The Freedom to Believe; and,
c. The Freedom of Expression.
These beliefs and values are all utterly related and intimately interconnected.
There is no iota of doubt that the utter respect for individuality is the hallmark of most Western society.
Corollary to this are the twin indispensable rights stated above guaranteeing the citizen’s right to think and to believe, whatever and everything they want; and to say, express and utter everything that they wishes to express and convey --- that is regardless and irrespective of whether it is in private, public and to the whole world, in whatever means, in whatever form.
Hence, in a case under consideration, the government cannot pass a law that will infringe and invade on the right of the people to practice and exercise these rights. Such law would definitely be unconstitutional, unjust and illegal!
1. The government does not have right to tell to the press what to write or to report;
2. The government does not have the right to tell to the artist what to write, what to paint, what to carve, what to perform, what to dramatize, in short, what to do in their respective crafts;
3. The government does not have the right to tell to the teachers and professors what to teach and what to discuss;
4. The government does not have the right to tell to people how would they going to live and lead their lives; and,
5. The government does not have right to tell to the people how would they going to practice these rights.
The citizens are all free to exercise and practice all of these rights, so long as their actions are confined within the parameters of the Constitution and the law.
The Question of the Controversial Film
As I already noted, if the Arab and Muslim world believe that said film is rubbish and indeed, a garbage product, then criticize it by all fury and by all might; yet to engage in violence, hate-mobs, mass anarchy and terrorism is equally wrong, undeniably stupid, palpably idiotic, unmistakably preposterous and can never ever be justified in whatever grounds!
Fighting fire with fire is not only unreasonable but definitely inhumane and unethical.
Instead of bringing the points and highlighting the issues to the fore, due to the violence and mayhem and pandemonium being committed by those who claimed were hurt by this stupid and rubbish film, it rather obscure and evade the truth. This is a shame! This is truly disgusting and undeniably deplorable!
I understand why they are angry with the said rubbish film and its maker, but what I cannot understand is: why attacked various foreign missions, embassies and consulates?
What did they have to do with the said rubbish film?
On this juncture, I would like to underscore and strongly emphasize the firm fact that I have never liked the so-called Secretary of the United States of America, Hilary Clinton, yet nonetheless, let me state for purposes of the records that I overwhelmingly concur with her in one particular speech. Said speech of her on religion is so powerful and I cannot help but agree substantially, to all of the points raise and theses that she advance.
Here’s what she said during the an Eid ul-Fitr reception:
“When Christians are subject to insults to their faith, and that certainly happens, we expect them not to resort to violence. When Hindus or Buddhists are subjected to insults to their faiths, and that also certainly happens, we expect them not to resort to violence. The same goes for all faiths, including Islam.”
She further added that:
“I so strongly believe that the great religions of the world are stronger than any insults. They have withstood offense for centuries. Refraining from violence, then, is not a sign of weakness in one’s faith; it is absolutely the opposite, a sign that one’s faith is unshakable.”
Lastly, I commend her when “she asked the crowd to work towards building a world where if one person commits a violent religious act, millions of people will stand up and condemn it.”
Finally, I love her moving pledge, especially when she said forcefully that:
“We can pledge that whenever one person speaks out in ignorance and bigotry, ten voices will answer. They will answer resoundingly against the offense and the insult; answering ignorance with enlightenment; answering hatred with understanding; answering darkness with light.
“In times like these, it can be easy to despair that some differences are irreconcilable, some mountains too steep to climb; we will therefore never reach the level of understanding and peacefulness that we seek, and which I believe the great religions of the world call us to pursue, but that’s not what I believe, and I don’t think it’s what you believe… Part of what makes our country so special is we keep trying. We keep working. We keep investing in our future.”
In my conclusion, I call upon all our Muslim brothers and sisters to refrain from violence, and for America to renounce their imperialism!
Jose Mario Dolor De Vega
Passport No.: XX4070556
Mobile No.: 0129368909
No. 19 USJ 11/3 A 47620
Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia