Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Still On My Feet

Yes, I am still standing on my feet.  Barely, but still there.  I am like the guy in the old Simon & Garfunkel song:


In the clearing stands a boxer 

And a fighter by his trade 

And he carries the reminders 
Of ev'ry glove that layed him down 
Or cut him till he cried out 
In his anger and his shame 
"I am leaving, I am leaving" 
But the fighter still remains 


Not sure which one I like better.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Radical Free Speech - How It Works

What follows below is a Facebook conversation primarily between Kulwinder Singh ji and myself.  It will give some idea of how the idea of radical free speech actually works.  Except for correcting misspellings and deleting our profile pictures and meaningless Facebook artifacts, this is exactly as it appears in Facebook.  Since it is clearly marked with the Public icon, I see no reason it cannot be reproduced here.




Kulwinder Singh this is not necessarily true...

Inderjeet Kaur Perhaps not true for you.

Kulwinder Singh perhaps not true for many..

Inderjeet Kaur True only for those who believe in radical free speech and act on that belief. Only a few.

Kulwinder Singh there are some ignorant Muslims here in UK .. asking us to defend their right to say stuff (like some weird stuff) ... will you defend that ?

Inderjeet Kaur Yes. As long as it is not a direct threat of physical violence or legal fraud.

Kulwinder Singh speech to implement Sharia law in UK .. would you defend that ?

Inderjeet Kaur I believe that all ideas, however, bizarre can be expressed. Free speech especially protects unpopular or dangerous speech. If I disagree with something, I am free to counter it...it's governmental censorship I oppose.





Inderjeet Kaur Yes, they have a right to express their ideas. Of course, I have an equal right to oppose them

Kulwinder Singh nah.. you said .. you will defend to the death their right to say that .. so you will defend their right to say ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psZBaJU_Cvo

Inderjeet Kaur If you shut them up, all morality aside, you only drive them underground where you can't see what they're up to. You can't stop them.

Kulwinder Singh we know what they saying ..they said it before.. can we shut them up now ?

Inderjeet Kaur Shutting them up will not stop them. As I said, it will only drive them underground. This way you can see clearly what they are up to and devise a strategy to counter it.

Kulwinder Singh ^ G that was not your point though

Inderjeet Kaur I obviously disagree very strongly with their beliefs and what they are trying to do. That doesn't change my stand on their right to express their views.

Kulwinder Singh it was a simple statement ,"I will DEFEND to the death your right to say it"

Inderjeet Kaur My point is that I support the right of people to express their opinions, even when I violently disagree with them.

Kulwinder Singh so you would support their right for speech (Hate speech)

Kulwinder Singh Last week .. UK has deported someone who was doing the same thing (Hate speech) .. you think UK did the right thing ?

Inderjeet Kaur Yes, I would put myself in the line of fire to defend their freedom of speech. I do not defend any imaginary right they may believe themselves to have to commit violence. I support free speech, not free violence.


Kulwinder Singh what about free speech that promote violence ?

Inderjeet Kaur I am not in a position to judge what the UK did in that case. In any case, a visitor to a country does not enjoy the saME RIGHTS AS A CITIZEN OR PERMANENT RESIDENCE.

Inderjeet Kaur Any controversial TALK MAY promote violence in some people's minds.

Kulwinder Singh He was not a visitor !

Inderjeet Kaur I myself have shouted "Khalistan  Zindabad!" more than once.

Inderjeet Kaur It's hard to comment on a case where I don't know the facts.




Inderjeet Kaur I hope lots of people read this exchange. It says a lot. In fact, I may do a c/p into my blog...although no one reads my blog.

khoon ka badla khoon.. i don't think there were Muslims involved. that man is still raking millions, apologies for intruding, but I must admit, here i find people debating a topic after deciding upon the conclusion.

Inderjeet Kaur My conclusion is stated at the very beginning. I believe in free speech...except direct threats of physical violence and demonstrable, legal fraud. This means I OPPOSE GOVERNMENTAL CENSORSHIP AT ALL LEVELS.

Inderjeet Kaur Prabu ji, feel free to join in, no apologies necessary. This is a public discussion and a good example of what "the free exchange of ideas" means.

Inderjeet Kaur I realise that India, where every little real or imagined slight sets off communal rioting and murder, is not ready for this type of free expression. I don't live in India nor do I care to. Right now, this will work only in the Western, industrialised world which has a history and tradition of free speech. The freest has been in the USA, and that is what I use as my model. The USA has done a lot of things wrong, very wrong, but this one thing they have done right, IMNSHO.



RADICAL FREE SPEECH PICTURES


Image License: I, Inderjeet Kaur, the creator of this work, hereby release all images in this blogpost into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible, I grant any entity the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

If this image is subject to copyright in your jurisdiction, I, Inderjeet Kaur, the copyright holder, have irrevocably released all rights to it, allowing it to be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, used, modified, built upon, or otherwise exploited in any way by anyone for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, with or without attribution of the author, as if in the public domain.

Size A4   297 x 210 mm for printing in the civilized world
Size 8.5" x 11"  for printing in USA..

Size I use on my gmail signature 200 x 300 pixels

Facebook cover size
851 x 350 pixels


300x300 Profile picture size.