That Nutty United Nations
A couple of recent articles demonstrate just how off-track this august body has become.
First, an opinion article from USA Today that speaks out against UN efforts to criminalize the criticism of religion. This is as clear-cut a free speech issue as you can get, and the cure is worse than the disease.
Thinly disguised blasphemy laws are often defended as necessary to protect the ideals of tolerance and pluralism. They ignore the fact that the laws achieve tolerance through the ultimate act of intolerance: criminalizing the ability of some individuals to denounce sacred or sensitive values. We do not need free speech to protect popular thoughts or popular people. It is designed to protect those who challenge the majority and its institutions. Criticism of religion is the very measure of the guarantee of free speech — the literal sacred institution of society.
You don’t destroy free speech in order to save it. There are clear exceptions to this rule, but "offense" isn’t one of them. Thank you, UN
Second is a special report submitted to the UN by its Human Rights Council that has in it a definition of gender that the UN itself has been trying to get enough nations to agree with. In a report entitled, “Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism” (which clearly involves genders, right?), we find this:
Gender is not synonymous with women but rather encompasses the social constructions that underlie how women’s and men’s roles, functions and responsibilities, including in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, are defined and understood. This report will therefore identify the gendered impact of counter-terrorism measures both on women and men, as well as the rights of persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. As a social construct, gender is also informed by, and intersects with, various other means by which roles, functions and responsibilities are perceived and practiced, such as race, ethnicity, culture, religion and class. Consequently, gender is not static; it is changeable over time and across contexts. Understanding gender as a social and shifting construct rather than as a biological and fixed category is important because it helps to identify the complex and inter-related gender-based human rights violations caused by counter- terrorism measures; to understand the underlying causes of these violations; and to design strategies for countering terrorism that are truly non-discriminatory and inclusive of all actors.
Emphasis mine. Is the UN really unaware of biology? No, they’re just trying to bend it to their will in order to mainstream behaviors that they deem okey dokey.
This is way beyond a big diplomatic table where nations can work out their differences. As with any political body, they expand to fill any area they wish, not being otherwise constrained. This is a body badly in need of remaking from the ground up.
Filed under: Culture • Doug • Religion • United Nations
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!