Interesting Finds, Part VII

Nowhere is it more important to protect and guarantee freedom of speech, than on university campuses! Students and professors should have academic freedom and should not worry about being censored. Unfortunately, when it comes to certain subjects, there have been some worrying trends with censorship.

It was best said by Philosopher John Stuart Mill,  
"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." 

He further shared that, "the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error."  

To be clear, I would not consider myself a free speech absolutist, as I view some extreme/obscene hate speech as unlawful expression in diverse societies. Having an opinion is one thing, encouraging discrimination and directing hateful speech at large groups of people is quite another. I don't believe this thesis falls into this latter category, however.


Interesting perspective on WikiLeaks, with another here.

Surprise, Surprise! NOT. This is just confirmation of the existence of double standards in Saudi society. To start, there should be one law for everyone. The law of privilege, nepotism, status and wealth is the very antithesis to the values and principles inherent in the theology and practice of Islam. Shame on you SA!

Borrowed from SCOLA

This is a great article on untranslatable words. My familiarity with French, Urdu, Arabic, Spanish and English have made me appreciate the uniqueness of words and their meanings. There just aren't enough words in a single language to concisely describe certain phenomenon! It's really beautiful to see how these words capture certain feelings and acts so precisely. I picked up a few very useful words that I think I might start using. Due to this article's popularity, a second one was actually written with some even more interesting additions! Take a look!

This is a great word that describes my current concern: Torschlusspanik
And here's the perfect word to describe my general outlook on life: Wabi Sabi

For truly with hardship comes ease; truly with hardship comes ease. (Qur'an, 94: 5-6)