The blasphemy debate debacle
The debate on free-speech, blasphemy and the Sax Appeal controversy, scheduled for April 29th between Tauriq Moosa, Jacques Rousseau and Peter Hammond has been cancelled.
Blasphemy debate (update)
“this is not vengeance”, so I’ll focus on the problems associated with burying one’s head in the sand more generally, rather than picking on poor Pastor Michael.
Dennett in South Africa
I’d urge anyone who is/can be in Cape Town (31 March) or Stellenbosch (1 April) to attend these lectures by Daniel Dennett. I went to Durban last week to hear his talk on Religion as a natural phenomenon, and will certainly be attending both lectures in the Cape – he’s a wonderful speaker, and as any of you who have read his books know, also a thinker well-worth paying serious attention to.
Carte Blanche, 15 March
The insert on Sax Appeal and it’s “blasphemy” aired tonight, and even though the show did its best to not offend the fragile, that hasn’t stopped some ranting from occuring – I suppose simply because thinking seems the last thing on some people’s minds in cases like this. See some choice mindless reactions from viewers at Carte Blache’s site.
Another victory for the hypersensitive?
It is, however, more likely to be the case that it’s only posts that offend the religious that will attract censorship, as they apparently have special needs – or are at least deserving of extra-ordinary protection. One would have thought that having a heavyweight such as “god” on your side is protection enough, but apparently she chooses to not intervene in these matters, nor to guide her flock in terms of learning ways to deal with offense. This is a case in which the religious may do well to remember that they are also regular folk, leaving aside the issue of their bizzare beliefs.
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