I enjoyed Ms. Nasrin’s speech at the Reason Rally and was all excited to see her join FreeThoughtBlogs, and then barely out of the gate, she came out with this. (Teal Deer version: “All prostitution is sexual slavery. Because I say so.”)
Since the network is called FreeThoughtBlogs, there should have been no surprise when other members of the community expressed their disagreement with Taslima’s post.
So now, Taslima is all like, “Why are all you meanies attacking me by saying I’m wrong?!” No, seriously, that’s pretty much her angle:
I hope we all Free-thought bloggers believe in freedom of expression. My opinion on prostitution is nothing new. Most feminists believe prostitution or sexual slavery must end. I do not want to be misunderstood. But it looks like a war started against me on FTB because I said something politically incorrect. I feel suffocated because I am opposed by a group I proudly belong to, a group of atheists, secularists, humanists, rationalists.
If you’re now smashing your face into your keyboard in horrified disbelief, then congratulations: you might be a good fit in a skeptical community.
Iggy demands to know: "WTF is this shit?!"
There seems to be something about my comments that her blog doesn’t like, because I’ve posted twice so far and both have been snagged in “awaiting moderation” status. Since Taslima has allowed much more negative and aggressive comments to appear, I will assume it’s a technical glitch and not actually an attempt to keep my questions from appearing, but anyway, here is the comment I have attempted to leave on her post:
Yes, they do believe in freedom of expression, and that is why they are posting their disagreements with your assertions. It’s not a war against you; other bloggers respect you too much to ignore you when you write something they find objectionable. No one is trying to stop you from posting what you have to say. But when they disagree with your ideas, they will say so.
Belonging to a group doesn’t mean disagreements won’t happen. Freethinkers, pretty much by definition, expect to have arguments amongst themselves.
Shit, I hope this doesn’t turn into a case of genuinely Bitter Rifts. She just got there.
ETA: She’s thanked me for my comment. You’re welcome, Taslima. I hope you stick around, and I hope you enjoy some lively debates in the future.
#1 by Reason Being on April 11, 2012 - 6:28 PM
Good post. I think that discussions amongst ourselves only serve to make our arguements stronger in the end. I know that I often learn a great deal from my readers and other freethinkers that I know. Great job pointing out that dissent is not always a bad thing and that amongst freethinkers it is to be expected. This is my first time to your site. Iggy is awesome, is he/she a ferret?
#2 by alysonmiers on April 11, 2012 - 6:44 PM
Thank you. Iggy is a kitten. (Now a grown-up cat living with my former host family in Albania.) See the link up top, “Iggy the Kitty.”
#3 by Reason Being on April 11, 2012 - 6:53 PM
Wow—he/she (I do not know what gender cat we are talking about) is so tiny. My wife found a kitten in a dumpster (don’t get me going on that…it is more disgusting than you think and invloves an infant and crack addicted mother–long story) 6 years ago, he was just a few days old and fit in the palm of my hand easily…now he runs the house.
#4 by alysonmiers on April 11, 2012 - 7:56 PM
Iggy was a newborn kitten when I found him in a dumpster-like setting in 2007. He still had his umbilical cord attached. In the picture, he’s maybe two and a half weeks old.
#5 by aceofsevens on April 13, 2012 - 2:47 AM
I actually just wrote about this. She seems to not be acquainted with the ideals of Freethought or the culture of the blogging network and didn’t seem to understand where people like Natalie, Greta and Maggie Mayhem were coming from. I think she had no idea how different things are in the US and Canada and assumed she was dealing with some elite, privileged group. I know less about Greta’s background, but the sex workers Natalie knew were largely homeless drug addicts flagging down clients on downtown corners. Richard Carrier just wrote about thsi as well. His take is she doesn’t get just how successful the sexual revolution was.
#6 by alysonmiers on April 13, 2012 - 7:33 AM
I got the impression of cultural differences at work, too. Still, she’s with FTB now, and their culture means arguments happen.
#7 by Reason Being on April 13, 2012 - 11:07 AM
I agree, I think culutre did play a role in this. However, Taslima did not stop and try to look at where her critics were coming from. Instead, she dug in and attempted to fortify her position. I do not think there will be a reconciation on this issue over at FTB.
#8 by aceofsevens on April 14, 2012 - 9:56 PM
She seems to have realized that there are scholarship expectations she isn’t meeting, no one agrees with her and most of the people on the network actually think she’s a regressive and that legalization is an important human rights issue. She”ll likely not admit she’s wrong, but has moved on to vaguely anti-semitic stuff instead.