The offensiveness of pineapples
Meet Mohammed. He is a pineapple. He is not offensive.
Yet the Reading University Students Union (RUSU) would have you think otherwise. When the Reading University Atheist, Humanist, Secularist Student Society (RAHS) displayed a pineapple with a name badge on it that said Mohammed at a student fayre people complained, and the RUSU ordered RAHS to remove the pineapple from display. When they refused they were told to leave, and later escorted away by security staff. Read what happened in this statement from RAHS.
Yes, that’s right. The Students Union told RAHS to remove the pineapple that was offending a small number of other people, suggesting that they think some people, based upon their religious beliefs, have a right not to be offended.
Hint: they don’t.
The decision to order the RAHS to remove the pineapple to protect these poor souls from being offended by a pineapple also suggests RUSU believe that the religious freedom and freedom of speech of the RAHS representatives is worth less than that of those who complained.
Hint: it isn’t.
What happened is not okay. It never will be okay. This sort of censorship happens far too often because of the sensitivities of a small majority of religious people (who, by the way, do not represent the majority of religious people.)
If a persons faith can be insulted by a pineapple I’d suggest that the problem lays with their faith, and not the pineapple and its name badge that reads Mohammed. Just a thought…
Are you suggesting that people have a right not to be offended for other reasons?
No, I think you’d have to read between the lines to come to that conclusion.
We should note though that at some point of pragmatism, free speech is legitimately overruled by complaint when it is deemed harassment… and when it is a racial insult it’s overruled too (though I tend to think this is a bad rule)
It doesnt seem cut & dried and universal
(I support the RAHS)
I assume that official complaints are being laid and that the people at the student union that gave the order to call in security will be suitably reprimanded and/or removed from their positions?
Let’s be honest. This is just blatant turd stirring by the RAHS, ridiculous as the Islam issue of gentiles and representations of the prophet (pbuh) are. I have to wonder whether this was done solely to attract some cheap headlines. There are better ways of promoting non-belief than such cheap stunts.
Even if that is the case and attention grabbing was the intention, this is still a form of censorship and wrong decisions were made.
I think it’s been a brilliant promoter of the fos issue and highlights to me yet again that I should feel very uncomfortable that this nonsense is going on closer to home than Id like
The university have the right to remove people they believe are acting inappropriately, in the same way that you can with posters on this website. Censorship or a situation where a little respect would be more appropriate?
What the representative of RAHS did was cheap, tacky and performed on a very soft target. Bearing in mind who the event was aimed at, what better way to greet new students including those who are Muslim. RUSU would have been eager to ensure all attendees felt comfortable so I can fully understand their viewpoint.
In this case RUSU did the right thing especially as a wider safety issue may have arisen. There are far bigger and more appropriate stages for these issues than a student fayre.