While last weeks blog post dissed the FCCs strict ruling on broadcast news, this week's makes me grateful that the FCC has not gone as far as the Turkish Government.
Nedim Gursel, author of the novel "The Daughters of Allah" is facing up to a year in prison if he is found guilty under Turkey's laws of humilating religious values and inciting religious hatred. The author defends himself by stating the book is fictitious and he did not intend to offend. This began in 2006 when a Turkey citizen complained that the novel was blasphemous.
Honestly this article has really opened my eyes. I am so use to our rights in America, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion, I forget that is not always the case in other parts of the world. I guess that makes me guilty of taking our rights for granted. This article has made me realize how much I need to appreciate these rights. I can't even put myself in the shoes of this author. It's hard for me to fathom be careful of everything I say, write, believe, or express for fear of jail time.
France has decided to publish the book later this year.
Also, I wonder how American author's reacted to this news article?
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Jenn,
ReplyDeleteThat man is being oppressed because of a lack of intellectual freedom in Turkey. He did not even intend to offend and yet he still gets a year in prison for insulting Islam. It looks like the court must not have believed him and thought he did this intentionally. I did not realize that Turkey was a country that limits freedom of speech this much. Roger Barnes
Hey Jenn,
ReplyDeleteI too argee with you that we take our rights here for granted. I can honestly say that I couldn't image living in Turkey under such strict rules. It's truly sad that we don't realize how blessed we are to live in a county that values and respects our rights, such as Freedom of Speech, etc..But I want to mention that even though we have freedom, many states are starting to change some of the things Americans are able to do. For example, on my blog I posted an article that discussed how many states are starting to ban certain license plate statements such as "Pro-Life"/"Pro-choice". Even though this article/issue is minor compared to your posting, but I think we as Americans are slowly approaching Freedom to speech issues too.
Jenn -
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing a whole other aspect to what we have been talking about in class. As Americans, we do tend to forget the drastically different cultures of other countries. I have been living in Germany for over a year and still learn new things. And Germany isn't even that extreme. We should try to keep our liberties at the front of our mind and protect them.