To all the protestors at SMU Thursday afternoon:
As a bystander and current student at SMU, I saw a good portion of the protest on campus, and I felt the need to comment. I found it rather disturbing that a lot of protestors were holding signs that said something along the lines of “Religion is not to be criticized or mocked.” I found it particularly jarring to see that most of the people holding these signs were female. I think it is necessary to point out that if religion had never been criticized, the women in that crowd would have no venue in which to express their views & beliefs, let alone to protest. They would not have the opportunity to gain an education, and would have been raised as vessels for breeding and as household servants, the property of whatever male was predominant in their lives. Their very right to protest, and the fact that they exercised it, runs contrary to their signage.
As for the men holding that view, I would also like to point out that the cellphones and cameras you were using to document your protest, and the cars and computers you regularly use in your daily life would also not be possible if religion was never criticzed (or downright ignored). Our science (and therefore technological) base only exists because scientists had the freedom to formulate theories outside of the religious arena.
A big part of what makes Canada what it is today is the set of freedoms we have as human beings – one of those being the right to free speech. The protestors, at least from what I could see from the sidelines, were protesting Professor ****’s rights – ironically, demanding his (and others’) rights to say what they want about whatever they choose (in this case, trying to open a discussion on how Islam is practiced in some areas of the world) be taken away, even as they USED that right themselves. It is that same right that allowed the crowd to protest, free from being shot at by the police or military, free from being charged with treason or disturbing the peace, or even worse. If the protestors get what they want, then they lose rights themselves – and so do we all.
It is one thing to object to an image of the Islamic prophet being displayed – it is altogether another to demand that basic rights be altered to suit a single theology. I would merely ask that those who object to the posting of the cartoons think about how NOT allowing their posting affects everyone, and how it is more than just a black and white issue.
As a final note, I want to express my disgust with the large number of students who were obviously “protesting” only because it’s the “thing to do” when in university. Particularly the two girls I saw running by in the crowd, giggling and taking pictures with their cameraphones and waving tampons the air. Nice, girls – real classy. Did you even have a clue what the protest was about in the first place?
By Canadian Student
This article appears in Feb 9-15, 2006.