Comments on: Oh, come on!

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:35:24 +0000

@ Daph : Now that is a very sound logical argument!

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:25:42 +0000

@SB – Syrians are NOT Arabs. They’re Syrians. Strictly speaking, Arabs come only from the region of Saudi Arabia, though the term can be stretched to include neighbouring states. It has come to be used for all speakers of Arabic and related languages (except the Maltese) by those who don’t speak Arabic. Those who do speak Arabic, on the other hand, prefer to be known as Egyptian, Tunisian, Algerian, Libyan and so on.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:19:42 +0000

@ nobody in particular: if everyone who says ‘Haqq l-ostja’ (damn the host) were to be prosecuted, they would have to set up a special Insulting the Host court.

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:46:47 +0000

@moderator: it all boils down to respect, respecting the law even if I don’t agree , respecting other people’s beliefs even though they may sound silly .For you ” Hosts are Hosts” for a Catholic a Host is changed to the body of Christ when consecrated.It will not hurt you if the Catholic believes in this “mystery”, as far as you are concerned you lose nothing and gain nothing. When you state ” Hosts are Hosts” you will only hurt other people’s feelings and gain nothing. The same thing happened with the cartoon depiction of the Prophet Mohammed , the cartoonists did not respect other people’s feelings and beliefs and brought on themselves and their country only trouble.
When I was in a foreign country an American 18 year old used to stop me to try and convert me to his religion -I think The Mormons- which among other things states that one of the Tribes of Israel emigrated on a ship before Colombus , to America ; I did not believe this story ,but I respected this young lad and did not in any way try to ridicule his beliefs.
Why shouldn’t we consider everything in its context wether it is historical , cultural , religious or whatever?
One should respect other people especially if he/she is in a foreign country.
By the way, in the so called western civilisations we are enphasising on the freedom of expression and running roughshod on the freedom of religion. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Your freedoms stop where my rights start.

By: Vanni

Vanni — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:36:43 +0000

@ John Schembri

“@ moderator , if you try to speak in favour of Nazism in Germany , I think you will be arrested, and prosecuted.”

Forget the “I think”. YES, you will be arrested and prosecuted. In fact one may not for example apply for a personalized car registration plate with SS, SA, and/or other initials that may have Nazi connotations.

You may find this article interesting:
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/censor-nazi-net.html

However you have to keep in mind the reason for the heavy hand. The Germans feel that they have a cross to bear, and they will have to carry it for ever.

By: SB

SB — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:35:11 +0000

Allow me to share my two cents (ok it’s five eurocents now) worth on the Arabs-phoenicians debate.

Actually Phoenicians ARE Arabs as they originated in Syria. On the other hand, the North Africans that we usually call “Arabs” are offended when they are called so!!!

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:02:32 +0000

@ moderator , if you try to speak in favour of Nazism in Germany , I think you will be arrested, and prosecuted.
I have known some German workers who are of the opinion that Hitler did nothing wrong except that he should have persecuted the Arabs instead of the Jews.
Should such statements be expressed in public without one being arrested?

[Moderator – Germany’s laws must be understood within the historical context of the state. Hosts are hosts – genocide is genocide.]

By: Jason Spiteri

Jason Spiteri — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:09:31 +0000

Anybody who loves freedom of expression and the rule of law can only thank Daphne for this post, whether he be Catholic, Muslim or Scientologist.

The horribleness of the charges brought against this man is that first and foremost (other than the ones relating to resisting arrest and breaking the public peace) that they are not based on law. Daphne is correct to state that only insulting the President is a prosecutable (and archaic) offence under Maltese law – otherwise, insulting any person only becomes a prosecutable contravention on the complaint of the injured party. The reason for this is that people DO have a right to express themselves freely – if others take offence at that they have legal remedies in certain cases, but it is certainly not the police’s business to prosecute some individuals arbitrarily.

The second horrible aspect is that this is actually a blatant case of discrimination on the part of the police prosecutor. They only brought the insult charges because this man is foreign and Muslim. Like Daphne said, people insult the PM and Cabinet every day. People call the host a lot of unflattering things every day in front of police officers (try going to a football match at Ta’Qali), and I’ve heard loads of police officers do the same themselves. In the prosecuting officer’s opinion, does this man’s insulting the host by stating a scientific fact about it constitute a more heinous offence than adding a lot of adjectives to it?

Let’s hope that the Magistrate sees through this hogwash and three cheers for Daphne.

By: Vanni

Vanni — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:17:51 +0000

Slightly at a tangent (OK, drop the slightly)

Have a look at this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouDRDzqTu0M

@ Mod
Your call to allow or not : )

By: John Schembri

John Schembri — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:08:09 +0000

I will give more examples how to respect the locals’ feelings when one is a guest in a foreign country , in South Korea one should never mention the Japanese , in Finland people feel insulted if someone praises the Russians , one should never speak about the Nazi period to a German or tell an American that the Arabs within their country attacked successfully The Pentagon(they try to forget that).
The message is always :” You are our guest in our country , so please respect our traditions and our feelings”
Now dear Ronnie & Moderator I changed my “keywords”.

[Moderator – Yes, but will you be arrested for offending a national in either of those countries?]