A postgraduate in philosophy, politics, and jurisprudence, now employed at a small book publishing firm. I have interests in ancient history, cross-cultural dialogue, religion, mysticism, and psychoanalysis.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 23rd, 2023

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  • I think we’re all capable of recognising the important differences between burning a flag representing a particular state, or some aspect of its government or policies, and burning a Torah in front of a Synagogue, as happened frequently in Nazi Germany, or in this case burning a Qur’an in front of a Mosque.

    It’s a hateful act designed to encourage hatred with the intention of turning that hatred into acts.

    The person burning the Torah in front of a Synagogue is not saying “I disagree with the Torah’s rulings on x”, they’re saying "those who follow this religion are disgusting and we should do something about it."

    The person who burns a LGBT pride flag is not saying “I think this movement oversteps the legitimate reach of the state”, they’re saying "those who are part of this group are disgusting and we should do something about it."

    Same with the Qur’an.

    It needlessly inflames tensions, encourages hatred and horrible acts towards Muslims, and both makes Muslims feel unsafe and directly contributes to making them unsafe. It’s not the sort of thing a decent, civilized society should tolerate.





  • They want to burn a Qur’an right outside Stockholm’s main Mosque. How is that not incitement to violence or racial hatred?

    If I burned a copy of the Torah outside a Synagogue, would that just be an expression of ‘free speech’? Or would I not be giving a pretty unambiguous signal of both what I think of the people inside and the way that we should treat them?

    This absolutely should not have been allowed to go ahead. It is incitement to violence and racial hatred.











  • Swarming@sh.itjust.worksMtoBooks@sh.itjust.worksBooks
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    1 year ago

    Definitely. About two years ago, I read Michel Houellebecq’s Soumission. And it’s still just sort of constantly in my head. I don’t read it as a kind of reactionary book at all – in fact it’s a strangely utopian book, pessimistic about the possibility of secular politics to rectify deep metaphysical questions in our societies, but strangely curious and probing about whether Islam could in fact at least answer them. The ambiguity at the heart of that novel still puzzles and interests me.

    I should read it again…