The Dementors are coming! The wicked witch of the west?
There's no way this dude was BLOND! Enough already...
Real Magic: The Pineapple Named Muhammad- A Worrying Trend of Insidious Intolerance Reaches New and Comical Heights
Dear Students,
I was both entertained and outraged to read the story of Reading University Atheist, Humanist, and Secularist Society who were ejected from the university’s annual Fresher’s Fair for naming a pineapple firstly Muhammad, and then Jesus.
In the words of the statement they released, kindly quoted:
"Among the material displayed on our stall was a pineapple. We labelled this pineapple 'Mohammed', to encourage discussion about blasphemy, religion, and liberty, as well as to celebrate the fact that we live in a country in which free speech is protected, and where it is lawful to call a pineapple by whatever name one chooses.
Towards the end of the afternoon, we were informed by a member of RUSU staff that there had been complaints about the pineapple, despite the fact that no complaints had been made at any point to anybody on the stall. Our commitment to freedom of expression meant that we refused to remove the pineapple from our stall. After a few minutes, we were told by another member of RUSU staff that 'Either the pineapple goes, or you do', whereupon they seized the pineapple and tried to leave. However, the pineapple was swiftly returned, and shortly was displayed again, with the name Mohammed changed to that of Jesus."
Following these antics, the society were asked to leave the Fair...
Let’s get this straight. The Atheist, Humanist, and Secularist Society were asked to leave the Fresher’s Fair, because they chose to make fun of religion.
So what?
Why should they not make fun of religion? They don’t believe in it! This is what they do. Well, it’s not all they do, but this is surely one of the most fundamental tenets of their ideology...
In the nick of time I must hasten to assure you that I am a very open minded person. I would even say I am a spiritual person. I would like nothing better than to be able to believe in something- give me enough solid evidence and I gladly will.
However, in the same way that I am more than happy to be tolerant and polite to evangelists who accost me, actually on my doorstep in the case of certain Jehovah Witnesses, and to women in full Niqab which I personally find disturbing and derogatory to women (just my opinion, of course I don’t have any personal feelings of malice to anyone who chooses to wear a headdress.) I expect the same toleration of my little foibles. Like the apple here that I have named Buddha to provoke debate...
Pineapples are a beautiful and some would say god- given fruit. They are a delight and they make life more interesting and exotic. If the Atheist, Humanist, and Secularist Society had chosen to name a small pile of steaming horse dung Muhammad then I might have been tempted to say that they had strayed from debate provocation into petty wind-up territory. But they didn’t. It was a pineapple!
Violence and intimidation are never
acceptable. But teasing, joking, and debate provoking are fair game
as far as I am concerned. This is the price of a free society: the acceptance
that not everyone will agree with your views and that some may even laugh at
them or challenge them. By throwing out the Atheist, Humanist, and Secularist
Society from the Fair, someone, somewhere showed that they have lost sight of
our beautiful heritage. It is as much the Atheist’s prerogative to actively and publicly disbelieve in religion as it is the religious person’s prerogative to carry out their devotions in public and attempt non forcibly to convert others. And of course it is the prerogative of the pagan to peacefully make their magic spells and practise real magic all over the world!
Long live free Britain! I am afraid that in this current culture of hyper sensitivity we may find that we have to become a little more zealous in our determination to preserve our freedom of speech, and our hard won right to be our sometimes controversial selves!
As intelligent young witches and wizards, let’s not shy away from this essential social duty. Never be afraid to openly question and to laugh or one day we will find ourselves living in a silent, insidious dictatorship of misplaced pandering to the feelings of the oversensitive.
And when the day comes when you are teased about your magic, which it surely will, remember the price of your freedom and let it pass over your head like water off an owls back, with an indulgent smile.
Don't forget to spend some time considering the plight of others in less fortunate countries in your magic spells and magical contemplation, I know I will be...
Aurora Brown, Principal
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