{"id":9549,"date":"2021-02-27T10:44:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T14:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=9549"},"modified":"2021-02-27T10:45:42","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T14:45:42","slug":"what-is-freedom-of-expression-what-is-tolerance-what-is-courage-and-what-is-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2021\/02\/27\/what-is-freedom-of-expression-what-is-tolerance-what-is-courage-and-what-is-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"What is freedom of expression? What is tolerance? What is courage? And what is compassion?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/QuestionMark-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9550\" width=\"163\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/QuestionMark-4.jpg 657w, https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/QuestionMark-4-270x300.jpg 270w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 163px) 85vw, 163px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>For Bambi, freedom of expression starts with self-tolerance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, tolerating our own freedom of thought. By this,\nBambi means giving ourselves the freedom to use our brains to think, to\nquestion, to agree with, to be open to the world. This means tolerating our own\nthinking processes and brain plasticity, so to speak. We allow ourselves to be\nwrong, to be stupid, or to be wise.\u2026 and from ourselves, we extend this tolerance\nto others:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tolerating their thoughts on this or that topic, whether\nwe agree with them or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why can\u2019t we allow others to be wrong anymore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why can\u2019t we allow others to be stupid anymore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why can\u2019t we allow others to think differently anymore\non this or that topic? The topic does not matter here. It could be related to politics,\nscience, religion, arts or to anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is the intolerance that underlies them all\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why should we mob, harass, cancel, vilify, exclude,\ndestroy, and throw under the bus others when they express another opinion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Freedom of speech is first and foremost about\ntolerating different speeches, precisely those with which we do NOT agree with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a reason why freedom of expression is\nprotected in our Canadian Charter and NB laws\/charters, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The laws are all beautiful on paper, but when a society\ndoes not feel the urge to stand up for freedom of expression anymore (especially\nof those with different opinions), the boat of tolerance sink\u2026 and we all drown\nwith it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it normal for a society to tolerate the harassment,\nmobbing, or vilification of citizens, professors, or politicians when we disagree\nwith their expressed opinion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bambi wonders about how many of those who are repeating\nclich\u00e9s, taking words out of context, making false accusations, and\/or threats\nhave taken the time to read this blog?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why are they condemning the messenger if they did not\nread or like the message?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When one of us is under attack because of his or her\nopinions, we all lose. Yes, collectively, we lose our freedom. Collectively, we\nlose our tolerance. Collectively, we lose our compassion\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to mobs trying to suppress a voice they do\nnot like or endorse, is it compassionate to harass, mob or throw under the bus\npeople we do not agree with? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it normal in Canada to tolerate abuses like that done to Dr. Jordan Peterson, Ms. Lindsay Shepherd, Professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval, and many more\u2026 now even Bambi!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is this the Canada that we want? If it is done to one\nof us, will it be done to all of us? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is perhaps the main difference between the people\nof Lebanon and Canadians\u2026 There, people stand up for each other when freedom of\nexpression is under attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some risk their lives to defend it. Some literally\ngive their lives. The latest victim was called Mr. Lokman Slim\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ironically, in this tiny bankrupt, and extremely vulnerable Lebanon, and despite the power of one group over the others, there is more tolerance and more freedom of expression than now in Canada\u2026 Can you imagine the irony? There, you can write whatever you wish in media comments (always open by the way) and online. When people see threats to their freedom, they denounce it collectively\u2026 and keep it protected. We are talking about a country that was in war not a long time ago. We are talking about a neighbourhood with dictatorships\u2026and yet, there is a light of democracy in Bambi\u2019s birth country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where is the light of freedom, tolerance, and\ncompassion in Bambi\u2019s beautiful Sackville, New Brunswick, and Canada? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Bambi, freedom of expression starts with self-tolerance. Yes, tolerating our own freedom of thought. By this, Bambi means giving ourselves the freedom to use our brains to think, to question, to agree with, to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9549"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9554,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9549\/revisions\/9554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}