Yes, and the limits installed have to be carefully devised. In this case you say you can’t burn a Muslim holy text. Can I burn a Jewish one, Buddhist? What if Heinlein is my religion and someone burns a stranger in a strange land, is it the same, different? How so?
As I said in my original comment, consider the context. There is no noteworthy discrimination against followers of Heinlein, if such people exist, and as far as I know it’s not a religion recognized by any country. There is extreme discrimination against Muslims in the West. There’s also discrimination against Jews. For Buddhists, it would likely be less of a problem since it’s not a prominent religion in the West, but it could also lead to further escalation.
Even if we analyze this without context, what kind of expression is the state silencing by not allowing public book burning? We’re not talking about someone burning a Quran in their home, where nobody else can see it. Do you believe it should be legal to stand in a public place and shout ethnic slurs into a megaphone?
Shazam! You got it! Who defines religion, the government and once you give them carte blanche that feelings of persecution grant special protections there’s no stopping them abusing it. There isn’t “extreme” islamaphobia in the us, the statistics show a skew but not nearly enough to set such dangerous precedent. Yes, there’s discrimination against Jews and basically any other religion because the basic premise of most is an intent to wipe the other from the face of the earth.
A book burning though distasteful is still legal and expressive of general distaste in most cases. What you’re suggesting is to make religious texts special and separate from any book which is wrong, any religious text is just that a text. Giving religious texts special protections is essentially the government endorsing religious practice which is again wrong. And yes I do believe it should be and in fact is legal to stand and scream racist slurs. You should look into the hecklers veto boss.
complete freedom of expression doesn’t exist anywhere, there are always limits and some are more reasonable than others
Yes, and the limits installed have to be carefully devised. In this case you say you can’t burn a Muslim holy text. Can I burn a Jewish one, Buddhist? What if Heinlein is my religion and someone burns a stranger in a strange land, is it the same, different? How so?
As I said in my original comment, consider the context. There is no noteworthy discrimination against followers of Heinlein, if such people exist, and as far as I know it’s not a religion recognized by any country. There is extreme discrimination against Muslims in the West. There’s also discrimination against Jews. For Buddhists, it would likely be less of a problem since it’s not a prominent religion in the West, but it could also lead to further escalation.
Even if we analyze this without context, what kind of expression is the state silencing by not allowing public book burning? We’re not talking about someone burning a Quran in their home, where nobody else can see it. Do you believe it should be legal to stand in a public place and shout ethnic slurs into a megaphone?
Shazam! You got it! Who defines religion, the government and once you give them carte blanche that feelings of persecution grant special protections there’s no stopping them abusing it. There isn’t “extreme” islamaphobia in the us, the statistics show a skew but not nearly enough to set such dangerous precedent. Yes, there’s discrimination against Jews and basically any other religion because the basic premise of most is an intent to wipe the other from the face of the earth.
A book burning though distasteful is still legal and expressive of general distaste in most cases. What you’re suggesting is to make religious texts special and separate from any book which is wrong, any religious text is just that a text. Giving religious texts special protections is essentially the government endorsing religious practice which is again wrong. And yes I do believe it should be and in fact is legal to stand and scream racist slurs. You should look into the hecklers veto boss.