I've seen a story in a couple of different places in the last day or two about the University College London student union trying to force the college atheist/secularist society to stop using a 'Jesus & Mo' cartoon to publicise its meetings, because some Muslim students have complained that the image is 'offensive' to their religion, and that it would be 'disrespectful' to those people to continue to use the image once the complaint had been made. Well, I'm offended, as I've said more than once recently, by the suggestion that anyone attracted to those below the age of consent is a rapist, so should I expect all and any such claims to be removed? I doubt it, somehow. I'm also offended by what I see as the way that some versions of Islam treat women and children as chattels of the patriarchy, so Islam should be banned, right? Well, no, I don't believe that, either. People have the right to believe in whatever they want, as far as I'm concerned, but what I don't subscribe to is any suggestion that they have an inalienable right for their beliefs to be sacrosanct and immune to any and all criticism. If you disagree with what someone is saying, debate them on it, and persuade them of the correctness of your opinions. Don't expect to be able to 'win' your argument by censorship of the other side.
I woke up at some point during the day, literally breathless, after an exceptionally vivid dream. I was, in character as one of a group of daredevil teens, edging my way along the roofline of a building (a castle, maybe?) perched on the edge of a sheer cliff, dropping hundreds of feet away below me, when a huge vertigo attack set in. Amazing how the human mind can construct such images, even in the absence of any real world stimuli - I was asleep in my bed, after all - to the point of inducing strong physiological responses. The power of imagination, and no mistake.
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
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