Should This Man Have Been Allowed To Speak?

[The Neo Nerd]

'Honour killings' speech prompts boycott of Festival of Dangerous Ideas

A speaker at the upcoming Festival of Dangerous Ideas will seek to defend so-called honour killings - the murder of women deemed to have brought shame or dishonour on their family.


Uthman Badar, a Sydney-based Muslim speaker, writer and activist, will deliver a presentation titled "Honour killings are morally justified" and argue that such acts are seized on by Westerners as a symbol of everything they dislike about another culture.

I don't think this man should be allowed to speak. Murder is a crime. Murdering a woman because she has "disgraced" her family is ******* revolting.

There is no excusing these actions.

What do you think?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

No, let him speak. Let it become apparent how awful an excuse for a human being he is.

 

[The Neo Nerd]

By giving him a platform to speak this hatred and bigotry you are indirectly lending legitimacy to the idea.

 

[Treks]

Further down in the article...

Co-curator Ann Mossop told Fairfax Media the speech will "obviously" not advocate honour killings but will discuss the framework in which the killings take place. She said many of the other sessions will present ideas that are considered ''feminist'' such as ''Women for sale'', a discussion of sex trafficking.

"Nobody needs to attend [Mr Badar's] session if they don't want to. Taking [it] in isolation is misleading, I think."

Like the article says, I'd say the title is a marketing stunt for the event, and probably reads in full "Honour killings are morally justified [within this cultural framework]". I'm intrigued to see what the talk is actually about. Let him speak. It will raise more awareness of the topic and I doubt that in Australia, anyone is going to say "Hey, great idea!" in response. If anything, a barrage of anti-honour killing topics will hit the tellie.

 

[columbus]

'Honour killings' speech prompts boycott of Festival of Dangerous Ideas



I don't think this man should be allowed to speak. Murder is a crime. Murdering a woman because she has "disgraced" her family is ******* revolting.

There is no excusing these actions.

What do you think?

I've never heard of the "Festival of dangerous ideas", but it sounds interesting.

I don't know what is going on here, but if that isn't a dangerous idea I don't know what is.

I think the best way to deal with this sort of thing is to let them talk then point and laugh. But since I don't know the context I am not sure that is appropriate here.

Tom

 

[4consideration]

By giving him a platform to speak this hatred and bigotry you are indirectly lending legitimacy to the idea.

Not necessarily.

The way I see it some people actually do the very thing he is talking about. It could be an opportunity for people to see the line of thinking that allows a person to think this is justified behavior, and have more information for dismantling the idea.

I think most people can't even wrap their brain around someone thinking such behavior is justified. It is difficult to effectively combat a bad idea if one does not understand why someone thinks it's a good idea.

There can be a fine line between discussing the reasoning behind an idea, and advocating for it. Since this seems to be an event called Festival of Dangerous Ideas, the idea of "Honor Killings" does qualify in my book as a dangerous idea.

 

[Quintessence]

By giving him a platform to speak this hatred and bigotry you are indirectly lending legitimacy to the idea.

It doesn't grant it any more legitimacy than the creation of this thread does. That which you speak of, you grant power. That which you grant power, you grant legitimacy. Ignore that which you wish to dispel and speak of it not, and you starve away the idea of it with ignorance.

 

[columbus]

Mr Badar says he did not choose the title of the speech, but did consent to it. He also said he wanted to discuss a different topic.

"I, in fact, suggested a more direct topic about Islam and secular liberalism - something like 'The West Needs Saving By Islam' - how's that for dangerous?" Mr Badar said.

"But the organisers insisted on this topic, which I think is still a worthy topic of discussion, for many reasons."

Mr Badar also noted that events at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas are "confronting and provocative".

So once again the media are more focused drama than reality.

Tom

 

[columbus]

Hysteria wins out. Opera house cancels my session at #FODI. Welcome to the free world, where freedom of expression is a cherished value.
7:46 AM - 24 Jun 2014

Another quote from Mr Badar.

Tom

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

By giving him a platform to speak this hatred and bigotry you are indirectly lending legitimacy to the idea.

I just tend to err on the side of free speech. I'd rather a person be able to say what they want and for it to be confronted, then to have their right to speak their mind taken away and democracy as a whole suffering due to it.

 

[Revoltingest]

'Honour killings' speech prompts boycott of Festival of Dangerous Ideas
I don't think this man should be allowed to speak. Murder is a crime. Murdering a woman because she has "disgraced" her family is ******* revolting.

I vigorously object to describing this practice as "revolting".
It's "evil".

 

[Sunstone]

If he's actually advocating criminal behavior, then I think you can make a case for his not being allowed to speak.

 

[Sleeppy]

We perform honor killings, and imprisonments, right here in America, as well. There's always enough people to justify these things.

 

[Vinayaka]

Let him speak, then arrest him for hate speech.

 

[columbus]

If he's actually advocating criminal behavior, then I think you can make a case for his not being allowed to speak.

That's kinda murky territory in a country that used to be run by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, etc.

Tom

 

[4consideration]

That's kinda murky territory in a country that used to be run by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, etc.

Tom

Doesn't this festival take place in Australia?

edit: I don't see the connection to the names mentioned. Could you elaborate?

 

[columbus]

Doesn't this festival take place in Australia?

Yes. I'm not sure what is legal there. But Sunstone and I both live in the USA.

His point wasn't clear.

Tom

 

[Twilight Hue]

By giving him a platform to speak this hatred and bigotry you are indirectly lending legitimacy to the idea.

Maybe depending on who you are. Yet it can illustrate the mentality behind "honor" killings and maiming. It could expose the lunacy and madness of that type of thinking and action can bring about by simply having a person espouse his views. Speech should never be impeded, otherwise there is no justice served when everything comes to the table.

 

[Twilight Hue]

We perform honor killings, and imprisonments, right here in America, as well. There's always enough people to justify these things.

There was actually a Muslim honor killing in my area. A man beheaded his wife no more than twenty miles from where I lived a while back. He's since been arrested and imprisoned for his crime.

 

[The Neo Nerd]

I vigorously object to describing this practice as "revolting".
It's "evil".

My apologies ohh revolting one.