Comments on: Worldwide Islamic opinion, Singapore style

By: Lara

Lara — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:54:05 +0000

I don’t think it sounds unfriendly. I hesitate to delete it, as later in the comment you implicitly endorse me for the position of ultimate free speech arbitrator! How often do I get that kind of support?

By: Mei

Mei — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:24:05 +0000

Hmm, coming back to this post today, and found that my comment didn’t really come out the right way, did it? Please kindly delete my comment above … I didn’t mean to imply that Americans don’t know what UN does! The wording seems unfriendly upon second reading, and it’s not what i intended!

Peace

By: Mei

Mei — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:04:08 +0000

Very interesting conversation! i didn’t guess what the taxi driver would say, either.
In lunch conversations, I have heard quite a few US friends saying one of the reasons they support Israel against Palestine as “the Palestinians kept defying UN resolutions”. Others at the lunch table — mostly immigrants from various countries — all responded in surprise “you must mean Israel?” My impression is that a good portion of the US population thinks of UN as just an agent of the US, thus inferring that UN resolutions are all aligned with US preference. They are surprised that UN occasionally makes up its own mind …

I concur with you about the trade-off between free speech and social harmony. I would have no problem having you being the judge of acceptible speech