Thanks.
Let me make a correction. The holy mythological figure is Sita, not Saraswati. That was a typo. FMH painted Sita riding Rama devotee hanuman. Many hindutvabadis saw this as an insult to Hindus many of whom want their women to follow the ideals of Sita and Sabitri.
Unfortunately many so called muktomonas maintain double standard on the point of allowing freedom of expression.
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On Apr 5, 2015, at 12:41 AM, balakrishnan k t kannurbalukt@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
very informativeOn Saturday, 28 March 2015 7:34 PM, "Subimal Chakrabarty subimal@yahoo.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
1. It is now clear that Mr. Mahfuzur Rahman's article has been thought provoking. Personally I have enjoyed the article.2. On the interior walls of a school one of my sons went to was written a slogan: Ours is a school of zero tolerance. No one should have any objection to such a slogan. The principle of zero tolerance should be applied whenever it comes to violations of rules, regulations and laws. Obviously appropriate authorities should enforce these.3. The spirits of Mr. Rahman's article do not apply to this kind of zero tolerance. It is about freedom of expression which should enjoy virtually infinite tolerance. Looks like this tolerance has been gradually running away from our society.4. The attack was on Daud Haider in early seventies. Then Taslima Nasrin became the victim. About a decade ago was attacked Humayun Azad. Recently we have seen two killings let alone innumerable death threats. The data point to the validity of Mr. Rahman's conjecture. The trend is there.5. How much one will tolerate is subjective. The cartoon of the prophet of Islam by a Christian cartoonist will not be tolerated by some and will be approved by others. The same argument applies to the paintings of Hindu goddess Saraswati and holy mythological figure Saraswati by a Muslim painter.6. I am not bringing up issues like gay rights and abortion as these are not related to freedom of expression. But I can bet even the Muktomonas will be divided on these issues. We see them as legal, moral and ethical issues. Moral and ethical judgments are subjective.
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On Mar 25, 2015, at 9:14 PM, Sukhamaya Bain subain1@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:I am not clear as to what you are saying.On Wednesday, March 25, 2015 6:47 PM, "'mahfuzur@aol.com' mahfuzur@aol.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
"Intolerance, when done right [emphasis mine], is needed." What a brilliant idea! I am dazzled. It is only that I am flabbergasted too. Perhaps this is one of the ways brilliant minds sidetrack issues.Mahfuzur Rahman-----Original Message-----
From: Sukhamaya Bain subain1@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Mar 24, 2015 6:35 pm
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] Where has all the tolerance gone
Actually, it is a much bigger and more intractable problem than intolerance. The problem is lack of education, lack of development of human minds. When I say education, I mean ability of reasoning, not academic degrees. In fact, when the mind is a zombie that follows instructions from religious books, the human common sense and intelligence are gone, the ability to think is nowhere to be found; and nothing can be on the way of following the imaginary God's words. Barbaric intolerance is only a corollary to that bondage of human minds.I do not think it is appropriate for anyone to think that they tolerated humanists like Dr. Avijit Roy. Rational thoughts are for learning from, for developing human minds. We tolerate faults that are not very harmful; and humanism is not a fault by any means. It is for all kinds of humans, including the Muslims, to live in a just and peaceful world.In fact, intolerance, when done right, is needed. For example I am fine with any force that would be totally intolerant of the bribe culture in places like Bangladesh.Sukhamaya Bain==================================================
On Monday, March 23, 2015 6:07 PM, "'mahfuzur@aol.com' mahfuzur@aol.com [mukto-mona]" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
My apologies to you all. Here is (I hope) the correct link to the article in The Daily Star, March 16, 2015.Mahfuzur Rahman
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