Bar manager arrested in Burma over 'Buddha' drinks promotion

[fta]

New Zealand bar manager held in Burma over ‘Buddha’ drinks promotion

Manager and staff arrested after complaints that picture of Buddha on Facebook wearing headphones and promoting drinks was insulting...

Under the Religion Act, anyone who attempts to insult, destroy or damage any religion can be punished by a maximum of two years in jail, with another two-year penalty for those who attempt to insult religion through the written word.

See the offending images here.

 

[Juma]

Offended idiots... We must somehow get rid of theese types of laws.
Would like to say to these offended morons:
"Noone offends you, you make yourself offended."

 

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

Neither of those images is a picture of Buddha. The fat one is a Budai, a Chinese folkloric deity, and the other one has 6 arms, not an attribute connected with Sidharta, aka Buddha.

And even if they were, so what? Buddha himself (if he ever really existed) would be aghast at the way he is venerated, if not deified, and at the outpouring of anger - one of the sources of suffering according to his teachings - displayed by his so-called devotees.

I'm always astonished at the way Buddhists and Muslims, whose supposed founder figures explicitly said they were just men, and not to be deified in any way, go so much against those teachings.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Neither of those images is a picture of Buddha. The fat one is a Budai, a Chinese folkloric deity, and the other one has 6 arms, not an attribute connected with Sidharta, aka Buddha.

So, though the law is about in tent, it's illegal to 'attempt' to offer religious insult', it's enforcement is for 'having given a Buddhist an opportunity to take unjustified offense.'

 

[Atheos]

It may be a stupid law (it is) but if you're in a country where that is the law then you'd best be prepared to face the consequences for violating it.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Offended idiots... We must somehow get rid of theese types of laws.
Would like to say to these offended morons:
"Noone offends you, you make yourself offended."

The religious are saying, "You're making fun of us and making us look like idiots." They hardly need our help for that.

 

[fta]

Neither of those images is a picture of Buddha. The fat one is a Budai, a Chinese folkloric deity, and the other one has 6 arms, not an attribute connected with Sidharta, aka Buddha.

The newspaper admits it published the wrong pictures and has now updated the article with the actual "blasphemous" Facebook image.

 

[fta]

*bump*

New Zealand man jailed in Myanmar for insulting religion

Philip Blackwood, 32, and two locals were charged in December over an online ad for the V Gastro tapas bar which featured a picture of Buddha wearing DJ headphones.

At court in Myanmar's former capital Yangon today, they were each sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

The sentences included two years of hard labour for insulting religion and six months for disobeying an order from a public servant.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

*bump*

New Zealand man jailed in Myanmar for insulting religion

Philip Blackwood, 32, and two locals were charged in December over an online ad for the V Gastro tapas bar which featured a picture of Buddha wearing DJ headphones.

At court in Myanmar's former capital Yangon today, they were each sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

The sentences included two years of hard labour for insulting religion and six months for disobeying an order from a public servant.

Am I the only person who gets goose bumps when I read this? What an experience. The only thing better would be to witness it personally. Someone pinch me.

I'm fond of relating my experience about whenever I go into a church where these people all around me are singing songs to an invisible spaceman. They want to go live with it. They want it to bring them presents. I always feel so invisible when I'm in there. It demonstrates how utterly backward some people are - intellectually.

There must be two different gates in our brain. One gate is purely emotional and it's open at birth, the default setting. The other gate is intellectual and is barely cracked open at birth. All our experiences pass through these two gates, in effect our lenses through which we experience everything. It's pretty obvious that a room full of four-year-olds experience their lives through that emotional lens, which means they'd pass laws prohibiting anyone from insulting Santa Claus. That's actually what we have here.

 

[Draconis]

There's no right not to be offended. Partly because people can get offended over anything, religion or not. And of course, if your belief does not include a god or gods, it is ok to offend you (lets say it's your belief in free speech), but add a god (whether existent or not) and your belief suddenly becomes far more important than anything else.

 

[Valjean]

A house of straw is exquisitely vulnerable, so must be defended with extraordinary vigor and draconian laws.