Pakistani Obscenity Vigilantes
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:16 PM

Naturally, they have an expansive view of obscenity; for instance, audio and video shops are verboten in the worldview of the private oppressors, independently, it seems, of precisely what wares are on offer at the shops. So if the government in Islamabad won't close brothels and audio and video shops, they will take matters into their own hands. This is no idle threat -- their stick-wielding anti-vice groups have already issued hard-to-ignore warnings to shop owners. Last month the vigilantes kidnapped, and held for two days, a woman they accused of being a prostitute, along with three of her relatives, according to this article.

How come they get to decide? If I decide that sticks and anti-vice activities are verboten, can I suppress these vigilantes? Oh I see, they have adopted what John Stuart Mill called the "logic of persecutors," that is to say, the idea that "we may persecute others because we are right, and... they must not persecute us because they are wrong." But what if both sides adopt this logic?

Oh yeah, the self-appointed anti-vice lords were none too pleased when a female Pakistani government minister embraced her paragliding instructor in Paris. I thought it was illegal not to embrace in Paris.

Vice Squad has noticed similar private anti-vice enforcement in the past; for instance, in Pakistan (February 13, 2006), and repeatedly for Valentine's Day (February 14, 2007).

Update: The logic of persecutors also makes continued appearances in the form of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws: "Catholic man arrested twice on wedding day for alleged blasphemy;" and, "Play about burkas banned in Pakistan."

Labels: blasphemy, Mill, obscenity, Pakistan

 
Apostate Cheats the Gallows
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:38 AM

Apparently standards have fallen to such a point that one can utter any heresy and not fear serious consequences. An Afghan court has imposed a slap on the wrist, a mere two-year jail sentence, to blasphemous magazine editor Ali Mohaqiq Nasab. This piddling sentence will be appealed, and perhaps the prosecutor's wise suggestion, that the death penalty is warranted, will receive due consideration at that stage. Mr. Nasab, you see, is the editor of a magazine that "had run two articles in its latest issue about apostasy that violated the law by saying that while apostasy was taboo, it was not a crime under Islam." Fortunately, it appears as if the authorities were able to remove copies of the offending issue of Women's Rights magazine from the newsstands.

The most recent blasphemy prosecution in the United States, which ended in dropped charges, took place in Pennsylvania in 1971.

Labels: Afghanistan, blasphemy

 
From Sikh "Blasphemy" to Muslim Brothel
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:56 AM

In December, England's Birmingham Repertory Theatre succumbed to intimidation by violent and threatening Sikh protestors and closed a play that the protesters found offensive. The new Birmingham Rep play is set in a Muslim brothel. Let's hope that the tepid response by the government to the previous threatening behavior does not encourage a repetition.

Labels: blasphemy, Britain