exprimere

In the news today, a woman in France who went through facial reconstruction and religious fanatics challenging the biased beliefs of freedom of expression because of the doings of arrogant Europeans. What is the common denominator between the two? Both are victims of history. Fortunately the woman is the lesser of the two evils. Why? Her suffering led to salvation albeit personal (let's not get into the scalpel of fame her surgeon now wields.)

The religious bunch. Thought nations have been at loggerheads for centuries, it still irks me how simple words can be misconstrued. Granted that some people should be more sensitive when dealing with topics of religion. Yet I can't help but blame ourselves for the situation that we are in.

I was watching CNN today while dancing on the treadmill. Images of Muslims shouting and screaming at policemen. Then the question flashed across the screen: What is the extent of "Freedom of Expression?"

I read it. Twice. Then it dawned upon me. The freedom of expression edict doesn't exist. Has it ever? Is it different for an individual? To me it looks like something someone came up with to cover a guilty ass.

I studied Political Science and when I studied freedom of expresssion, I held it to be a most wondrous thing. The right to express an idea, the unbiased exchange of information, the human justice of living. Now all it is is one big joke. Racial slurs is not freedom of expression. Asking your government for more funds to keep a war going because of freedom is not freedom of expression. Go express yourself somewhere else.

So, we are to blame. The intelligence of Man. As the world grows and becomes truly global with open channels and borders, people regress and become tribes again. Tribes of people that never venture further than the surrounding jungle. Dare I say, narrow-minded.

With every convenience available at the swipe of plastic, it's no wonder we allow our narrow minds to jump at the slightest inconvenience. Freedom of expression is a poor excuse for the common man to raise a club to hurt another. It's like my sorry relatives who snigger behind my back and say I'm a bad muslim because I'm not a pure-bred Malay. What does my race have anything to do with my religion? That's between my God and me. A holy man then told me not to be concerned with my relatives. These were words spoken through lips laced with insecurities. A loss of cultural and racial identity, and religion as a substitute. He added, "If you believe in God, he will believe in you. It doesn't matter what everyone else has to say."

Doesn't every religion teach patience, tolerance and understanding? It doesn't seem the case with hundreds of thousands around the world bearing clubs and weapons of mass destruction.

In our history, wars came about when a sovereign wanted to stake claim on a foreign land or defend his own. Then some idiot decided that religion had to come into play. Now we suffer for it. Just like with everything else we suffer. And most of the time we don't even know why. We follow only because our buddy next door said so.

All that's left for us to do is open a fish & chip shop and run for government. Oh yes, let's not forget a race riot on a beach in Sydney. That's always good for releasing stress. That, and a nice cold beer.

Now that the French woman has a new face, she can live a normal life in a world where at any moment she could lose it again. And I mean really lose it.