Kit's Friday Thoughts: UK Election, Charlie Hebdo

By Kit Well, this week this has been an interesting week with a big election and some nut jobs attempting to stop somebody's freedom of expression (Unfortunately they tried this in Texas) and a couple of people accepted an award on behalf of their friends who actually were killed by nut jobs trying to squash their freedom of expression.

Let's look at both, shall we?




UK Holds General Election, Conservatives Remain in Power

Last night the British had an election.

—The Conservatives will go from minority coalition government with the Liberal Democrats to slim majority. It looks like they will have 324 seats, just enough to form a government (323 needed) and just one shy of an absolute majority. However, see DUP & UKIP below…

—The Liberal Democrats, who had formed a coalition with the Tories in 2010, could now be described as an endangered species, having been reduced from 57 seats to 12. Nick Clegg’s victory speech after keeping his constituency was probably the most depressing victory speech I have ever seen.

—The Scottish National Party obliterated Labour’s presence in Scotland. In fact, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party actually lost to a 20-year old college student. Now, what does this sweep mean? Well, former Scottish First Minister and former leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond said the SNP’s sweep “leaves David Cameron with no legitimacy in Scotland whatsoever.” (Despite being, you know, Prime Minister) I’m afraid we’ll have to wait and see what exactly the Scottish Hugo Chavez meant by that.

—The conservative-leaning Democratic Unionist Party picked up 8 seats in Northern Ireland. If you add 8 to the Tory’s 324 you get 332, which means you could see a Tory coalition.

—UKIP picked up 2 in England. Two things: First, this proves my theory that British and European conservatives love to send their fringe anti-EU parties, like UKIP in Britain and to Brussels to troll the European establishment but prefer more sober-minded and moderate leaders running their country. Second, while these results were disappointing for a party that hoped to replace the Lib-Dems as the major third party, especially considering neither of those seats was the one where Nigel Farage was running (he said a loss would be the end of his political career), they could provide a way for UKIP to have a voice in British politics, especially if the Tories did not grab a majority.

—Boris Johnson, Britain’s most entertaining politician, is now a Member of Parliament AND Mayor of London. Well, at least for one more year, then he will just be a Mayor of London.

—The British National Party (BNP), a neo-nazi, fascist, anti-EU, anti-NATO, anti-American, anti-immigrant, and anti-Monarchist political party based in the old coal-mining areas, which just a few years ago sent the British media into frightened fits over a FUTURE FASCIST TAKEOVER OF BRITAIN, was nowhere to be seen this election. The Monster Raving Looney Party got more votes (Yes, they are a thing).

Oh, and the Communist, Soviet-loving, terrorist-apologizing, anti-semitic, Oil-for-Food scam profiteer George Galloway lost his seat.

You can celebrate. :)
LINK

Note: Updates will be added if more results come in that change anything.

Update: Here are the final results and remember, a party needs 323 to govern and over 325 to have an absolute majority. In the parentheses are their numbers prior to the election.
—Conservatives: 331 (304)
—Labour: 232 (258)
—Liberal Democrats: 8 (57)
—SNP: 56 (6)
—UKIP: 1 (1)
—DUP: 8 (0)
—Other: 15

Now, as a segue into my next post, shortly before the election, Ed Miliband promised to ban “Islamophobia.” The fact that he never really went into detail about this was a bit disturbing. It probably played a role in Ayaan Hirsi Ali endorsing David Cameron.


PEN Gala Gives Award to Charlie Hebdo for Freedom of Speech

PEN, short for Poets, Essayists, and Novelists, held a gala this week where they gave an award for Freedom of Speech to Charlie Hebdo largely because a bunch of Islamist terrorists murdered 9 and injured 4 writers, cartoonists, and editors over their satirical attacks on Islam. As well as killing a building maintenance worker and two police officers assigned nearby.

Sounds reasonable, oui? And this attack did not come out of the blue but came well after Al-Qaeda issued a “hit-list” of writers who have defamed Islam and should be killed. Not to mention the affair involving Salman Rushdie and the murder of Theo Van Gogh. They took a stand for free expression in the face of death threats and paid for that right with their lives. So, we all agree that it was reasonable to give them an award. Writers from Neil Gaiman to Salman Rushdie agree.

About 200 writers, echoing the arguments made by Gary Trudeau, wrote a letter protesting the decision. You can read it here: LINK.

The arguments, again, are the same as Trudeau’s but nowhere near as well written as Trudeau’s. Yes, you read that right, the letter is a chore to get through. It consists of Trudeau’s basic ideas but in much more constipated language; they were attacking an underprivileged group from a position of privilege. They were “punching down” instead of “punching up.” You know them.

In a recent post for National Review Jonah Goldberg quoted New York Times columnist Ross Douthat: “power flows from pre-existing privilege, it also grows from the barrel of a gun, and the willingness to deal out violence changes power dynamics.” LINK

Now, like Jonah Goldberg, I am not someone who would normally be a huge fan of Charlie Hebdo. Their attitude towards religion seems to have been the same sneer you see in those anti-theists who think believing in God is the same as believing the Earth is flat and that religion as something practiced by morons. They mocked Mohammed, yes, but also Christ and the Virgin Mary in very disgusting ways.

But, so what? Someone putting a cross in a jar of piss as a piece of cut-rate shock art does not infringe upon my freedom of religion. And how does a scandalous depiction of Mohammed infringe upon a Muslim's freedom of religion. The best response is to roll your eyes and move on. Yes, I may not want my local town paying for it but, on the whole, I really don’t care.

Hell, since Andrew lets me write posts on this site every Friday, if some moron decided to write an article in the local college newspaper mocking Christianity I could write a post here pointing out what an idiot he is.

That is what I love about the First Amendment. You can call me a dumb poopy-head and I can hit back with, “I know you are but what am I?” Classic!

But, back to privilege, Ross Douthat's quote, and mocking Islam. Let’s, for a moment, concede to the critics their claim that Muslims are economically disenfranchised and underprivileged, as one Relevant magazine article criticizing #JeSuisCharlie declared, but as Douthat and Goldberg pointed out, you may come from the poorest, most underprivileged background in the world, but if you get a hold of a gun and are willing to use it, you ain’t powerless.

Actually, you are quite powerful. Especially if you can walk into the offices of those you declare your enemies and kill them —and the police protecting them.

As we saw in Paris and Garland, there are a number of radical Muslims who are willing to kill people simply because those people mocked their religion and, unless they’re in Texas or a government building, they are likely to take rack up a sizable body count.

I’m not a fan of Pamela Gellar, either. I’ve found her anti-Islam stance to be annoying and obnoxious at times. And, yes, I don’t think trying to openly mock Islam is productive in the grand scheme of things but, and this is MY big “but” Marci Stasi, I firmly believe they have a right to do so. And, Ms. Staci, Trudeau, and the PEN boycotters, anyone who claims that those people “caused” the deaths and injuries resulting from a terrorist attack is full of it. It may not be right to be a provocative, sneering, obnoxious asshat but it in a society that allows freedom of religion and freedom of speech, it is every citizen’s God-Damned Right.

Ms. Stasi, she mentioned freedom of religion, well, guess what? Every religion is an idea, with its own unique claims about how the cosmos works and its own variety of ideas about how best to live your life. True, most religions’ ideas overlap in many areas but there are just as many areas where they don’t overlap. And those areas have to be argued, debated, and criticized in order for us to find out which one, if any of them, are at the very least likely to be true. And allowing that debate means even allowing mockery. Even disgusting and offensive mockery.

And, you know what? Sometimes, standing up for free speech means standing up for speech you find at best unwise and at worst disgusting. But you stand up for it because freedom of speech and religion must be protected from the government and the mob, be it a mob of 40 or 2 angry youths with guns.

That is why I tweet #JeSuisCharlie.

Have a nice weekend.