The Danish government will seek to "find a legal tool" that would enable authorities to prevent the burning of copies of the Koran in front of other countries' embassies in Denmark, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told the national broadcaster DR on Sunday.
  • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
    264·
    1 year ago

    I remember when Oslo’s mayor (iirc?) said something along the lines of “this is something a free society has to live with if it doesn’t want to surrender their freedoms” after Breivik’s attack.

    We need more politicians like that. People who are capable of telling how it is: There is no sane way to prevent anyone from burning books. We can only invest in education and hope that people get the message that burning books doesn’t do anything of value.

    • cnnrduncan@beehaw.org
      11·
      1 year ago

      Man I agree with the sentiment (particularly how you’ve applied it) but I dont think that the mass murder of children for ideological reasons actually is something that a free society should have to put up with in order to maintain freedom.

      • zephyrvs@lemmy.ml
        3·
        1 year ago

        It shouldn’t, but I don’t see how to prevent something like that? Lone wolf, used legal material, didn’t arouse much suspicion. (It’s been a few years since I dove deeper into it though.)

    • bstix@feddit.dkEnglish
      35·
      1 year ago

      There’s a big hurdle in communicating something like that to the religious people in the middle east, versus informing a domestic population.

      The issue is that both the senders and recipients of the “message” seem to believe that the actions are representative of the nation even when it is clearly not. Especially because both parts have an interest in believing that it is.

      It ought to already be illegal for individuals to deliberately interfer in international relations. It’s not like they can plausible deny that they’re aware of the consequences.

      Personally I think that if they really believe they have a message to the Muslim priests that they should then go to the Muslim priests in the middle east and burn the books, instead of hiding behind “freedom of speech” in a safe country. They won’t do that because they know of the consequences. They just don’t want to deal with the consequences of their own actions, but by doing it this way, everyone else has to deal with their shit.

      • Mrs_deWinter@feddit.de
        18·
        1 year ago

        Personally I think that if they really believe they have a message to the Muslim priests that they should then go to the Muslim priests in the middle east and burn the books, instead of hiding behind “freedom of speech” in a safe country.

        The message is “this is allowed here, and it will stay that way”. There would be no message doing it in a country without free speech, only violence.

        I’m not saying I like that they did it, but I definitely want to live in a society where it’s allowed to do so. There is no place in a modern society for relics. If people want to worship a book that’s their private decision and should be without consequence for the rest of society.

        • bstix@feddit.dkEnglish
          21·
          1 year ago

          The message was clearly intended for the countries of the embassies. It didn’t even make the news locally until the outrage against it was in the world news. The issue with book burnings should be addressed in the countries that have issues with book burning, not here. No one here cares.

          If people want to fight a book that’s their private decision and should be without consequence for the rest of the society.

          • Mrs_deWinter@feddit.de
            92·
            1 year ago

            If people want to fight a book that’s their private decision and should be without consequence for the rest of the society.

            It is. That’s why it isn’t prosecuted. The government doesn’t care if you eat, burn, or bury a Bible. As it should be.

            • JoeyJoeJoeJr@lemmy.ml
              1·
              1 year ago

              They do care. They’re trying to find a way to stop it. That’s the point of the article. It’s the first sentence:

              The Danish government will seek to “find a legal tool” that would enable authorities to prevent the burning of copies of the Koran in front of other countries’ embassies in Denmark, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told the national broadcaster DR on Sunday.