Dangerous Blogging

Slashdot reports on the case of a Malaysian blogger threatened by legislation that may brand his weblog a potential danger to "national security." Did he leak military secrets? Call for the assassination of public figures? Not quite. Apparently one of his readers posted a comment (later removed) that was derogatory to Islam. The people calling for this guy's head must not get out in the blogosphere much, because if that counts as a national security threat, Malaysia is really, really insecure.

Comments

[M. Simon]

Julian,

I see your education in Islam has begun.

[questioning]

1: What kind of Malay is named Jeff Oii? That's like Henry Honda.

2: Haven't those guys over there ever heard of the Constitution? 😉

3: Islam is coming to America, to a store near you!

[Jason Bourne]

M. Simon,

This behavior isn't something exclusive to Islam. You find the same behavior amongst Chinese Communist secularists after all. Now it is particular to regimes which don't respect freedom of thought, etc.; but again, those sorts of regimes are not exclusive to Islam.

[thoreau]

I see your education in Islam has begun.

And as we all know, attitudes like that are the best way to avoid a "clash of civilizations."

[Julian Sanchez]

Actually, my education in Islam--albeit one heavier than one might like in post-Marxist economic determinism--began at NYU under Michael Gilsenan. I did a longish paper for him on the Nizari Ismaili sect (popularly known as "The Assassins"); I keep waiting for someone better schooled than I in Hasan I Sabah's little cult to look at modern terrorism in light of that history. Probably someone already has, though I've not seen any lengthy treatments.

[Mo]

M. Simon,
I see that your education in Islam still needs to begin. Last I checked, Castro wasn't Muslim, but something tells me he wouldn't much appreciate anti-Castro blogs.

[Curtis]

Thanks for the post. It matters less when people come to realize what tyranny is about than what they do upon recognizing it. Best wishes.

[Todd Fletcher]

If only Al Qaeda would use hashish.