{"id":1450,"date":"2020-12-08T04:58:58","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T04:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=135110"},"modified":"2020-12-08T04:58:58","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T04:58:58","slug":"freedom-of-expression-good-for-the-western-goose-forbidden-for-the-muslim-gander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/08\/freedom-of-expression-good-for-the-western-goose-forbidden-for-the-muslim-gander\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom of Expression: Good for the Western Goose, Forbidden for the Muslim Gander"},"content":{"rendered":"

When French president Emmanuel Macron was pilloried in some quarters for defending freedom of expression as a French value<\/a>, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison backed his European counterpart: \u201cWe share values. We stand for the same things.\u201d This professed French\/Australian value for freedom of expression has now come back to bite the backside of the Australian prime minister.<\/p>\n

When it comes to publication of inflammatory western depictions of the prophet Mohammed that raise the ire of many Muslims worldwide, many western voices will step forth to defend freedom of expression. However, this fidelity to the freedom of expression will often change when what is being expressed casts the West in a negative light; a case in point being an image of an Australian soldier slitting a Muslim child\u2019s throat.<\/p>\n

News.com.au featured<\/a> a 60 Minutes<\/em> Australia report about \u201cdisturbing allegations of the murder of children and a \u2018killing as a sport\u2019 culture\u201d among Australian fighters deployed in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

A sociologist, Samantha Crompvoets, spent months interviewing Special Forces soldiers about alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. Among the insouciant acts noted were soldiers tallying their kills on wall boards \u2014 kills that included civilians and prisoners.<\/p>\n

60 Minutes<\/em> described the killers as a \u201crogue band\u201d of special forces soldiers. One especially \u201cdisturbing allegation\u201d described how Australian Special Forces soldiers mercilessly slit the throats of 14-year-old boys, bagged their bodies, and tossed them in a river.<\/p>\n

A Guardian<\/em> exclusive<\/a> exposed depravity with a photo of an Australian soldier drinking beer from a Taliban fighter\u2019s prosthetic leg.<\/p>\n

The findings by Crompvoets and the 60 Minutes<\/em> report were corroborated by the Australian government\u2019s redacted Brereton Report<\/a> of \u201cpossibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia\u2019s military history\u201d:<\/p>\n

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\u2026 39 unlawful killings by or involving ADF members. The Report also discloses separate allegations that ADF members cruelly treated persons under their control. None of these alleged crimes was committed during the heat of battle. The alleged victims were non-combatants or no longer combatants.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What particularly stuck in the craw of political Australia was a tweet by a Chinese official, Zhao Lijian, of a gruesome throat-slitting image.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Australian prime minister Morrison was apoplectic, calling the post<\/a> \u201crepugnant,\u201d \u201cdeeply offensive to every Australian, every Australian who has served in that uniform,\u201d \u201cutterly outrageous,\u201d and unjustifiable noting that it was a \u201cfalse image.\u201d Morrison demanded an apology from the Chinese government, the firing of Zhao Lijian, and for Twitter to remove the post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is utterly outrageous and cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever, the Chinese Government should be totally ashamed of this post,\u201d Morrison said.<\/p>\n

First, calling the image false is deflection because anyone who gives more than a cursory glance to the image will right away realize that it is has been photo-shopped and does not purport in any way to be an untouched photograph.<\/p>\n

Second, the Australian prime minister obviously has backward moral priorities. I submit that what should be deeply offensive to Morrison and every human being being \u2014 not just Australians \u2014 and especially offensive for every Australian who has served in the Australian military are the egregious war crimes committed by those wearing the same uniform. The starting and focal point for condemnation must be the war crimes. Logically, if the spate of gruesome war crimes had not been committed by Australians in uniform, then outcry at the crimes would not have been filliped.<\/p>\n

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying did address the outrage by Morrison in a TV address.<\/p>\n

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