Talk Elections

pick one (https://www.google.com/webhp?rlz=1C1_____enUS391US391&sourceid=chrome-instant&ix=seb&ie=UTF-8&ion=1#hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1_____enUS391US391&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=zombie%20mohammed&pbx=1&oq=&aq=&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&fp=8fffa4365236a613&ix=seb&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=643)
The gist of it is:
An atheist activist dressed up as Zombie Mohammed for a parade in lily white Mechanicsburg PA. 
A Muslim man happened upon the parade, saw Zombie Mohammed and attacked the atheist.
The prosecutors go for a harassment charge instead of an assault charge.
The judge says it's a "he said she said" issue (despite denying the victim the ability to show a video of the assault) and throws the case out.
The atheist illegally audio tapes the court proceedings, releases them with a transcript that clearly doesn't say what is actually on the tape.


Obviously everybody involved is a douche, but still weird that it's ok to attack somebody in front of dozens of witnesses and get off on it because you were insulted.

That's the way it seems to be some times. German media seemed to be more interested in talking about the US sokdiers who burned the Koran (which was quite a dumb thing to do, of course) than the violent response really.

Clearly some people do have a right not to be offended.

I certainly think that if the report was accurate then it certainly seems like a clear case of assault although I'd probably have the sentence reduced slightly due to provocation. Although given the Over the Top response from many muslims to the Mohammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper a few years back, it could be argued from a utilitarian perspective that this is the best outcome possible.

Self censorship out of fear is just as bad (maybe worse) than state sponsored censorship.  We shouldn't stop doing something because some asshats get violent, we should ALL start doing it.

I do debating so this was a bit of a it could be argued devil advocates argument rather than a position I actually believe.

NOTE - The atheist claims to have had the judge's permission to make an audio recording.

It is nice to agree with you Franzl- and if Christians were as violnt as Muslims seem to be, imagine the response to Family Guy making fun of Christ!

Indeed, just think back to the cartoon "controversy".

Hear, hear!

Clearly both of these fellows are absolute assholes, but I think this was wrongly decided.