Community Censorship Plagues the House of Islam

[vincent_vega_lives]

"Even worse than the official censorship is censorship imposed by the community, which then becomes self-censorship. Friends, colleagues and even ordinary acquaintances all impose strict censorship rules on me under the guise of being concerned about my personal safety or honor. They demand that I tone down my strong views about sensitive issues.

Freedom of the press in the Muslim world cannot be separated from freedom of expression in general. Journalists, due to their conspicuous public role, risk their lives everyday. They have been targeted and killed in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan and other countries. The Muslim world is not a friendly place for freedom of speech at all.

Journalists, creative writers and artists all share the same fate. The writer in a Muslim society is in shackles. Every time I put pen to paper it is a struggle against the tyranny of community-imposed self-censorship. Nowhere is Rousseau's statement that "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains," truer than in the House of Islam.

Everything is a taboo. Whenever a Muslim writer takes up a pen he starts tiptoeing in a minefield. You have to follow the flag signs of religious, cultural and social taboos. You should tread carefully avoid shame, social estrangement or even death.

The beheading of the Sudanese journalist Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed in early September was the latest example of community punishment of a journalist/writer."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/bashir_goth/2006/09/working_under_the_tyranny_of_s.html

[ComerPerro]

1. its typical of religion to frown on free expression

[bryant69]

2. I don't think there's equivalence though

I mean Conservative Christians might like to execut reporters who say mean things about them, but they haven't historically actually done it.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[ComerPerro]

4. only cause they can't get away with it

They sure as shit don't mind killing doctors

[bryant69]

6. I guess I will stop here - no way continuing this discussion goes well.

Bryant

[The Stranger]

5. You're history is either flawed or horribly abbreviated.

Christians have been murdering scientists, academics, thinkers (and probably reporters) for centuries.

[bryant69]

7. Yes they have

I apologize.

[The Stranger]

8. Gosh, no need to apologize.

I guess the recent rise of religious extremism all over the world is frightening some of us.

[vincent_vega_lives]

9. examples please? (n/t)

[The Stranger]

11. European pogroms, Salem Witch trials, the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition.

Copernicus, Galileo and nearly every scientist in the early Enlightenment.

You go start with those "examples," which are actually whole epochs of history.

[Kagemusha]

3. Um... "under the guise"? What, these people don't face real threats?

It's not ALL in their heads here.

[sweetheart]

10. people are brainwashed all over the planet

All the things this article points to, are just as true in western countries, just
the "religious, cultural and social taboos" are just different, but equally, when you
express a taboo in online writing, when you violate the consensus of the thought police,
they come down on you like a tonne of bricks. Creative writers and artists in all
cultures very existance serves to keep the totalitarians from coming down on everybody,
they're so busy complaining about the art.