Move over Mr Sharansky
If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views on what he or she would like to eat and drink, without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in an illiberal society, not a liberal society.
What about expressing a desire for cannibalism?
Or a desire for (performing) oral sex?
Suppose impressionable children are walking around the square?
Will the real liberals please stand up when cannibalists call on you?
If it were only about food, not views, China would qualify as the most liberal country on earth. Bring it on, they would say.
@socal,
From the perspective of a man beaten up, how does it matter if the beating was due to his politics or to his eating/drinking preferences? Compared to Jeddah, Shanghai is a liberal paradise.
btw, the cannibalism argument is absurd. You conveniently ignore the harm principle.
cannibalism? What’s not to like? I mean, if the meat is kosher. That together with a nice Chablis Haute Javous 2005. C’est magnifique as we say in Suaheli.
>>If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views on what he or she would like to eat and drink, without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in an illiberal society, not a liberal society.
Hear hear!
And to all you haters, I have this to say: You can have my foie gras when you scrape it off my cold, dead toast!
Also, read what Nitin wrote. Saying that food bans make your society illiberal does not imply that the absence of food bans make a society liberal. Logic is your friend. Use it.
Amole,
Can 5 people chant Falun Gong at once in any public place in Shanghai and not get arrested? China might be liberal than Saudi Arabia but that’s not saying much. One is a religious theocracy other is a materialist one. Simple dissents are still unacceptable in public square in those two countries.
As for harm: What if a cannibalist/cannibalism-supporter opts for euthanasia and donates his body to further cannibalism?
Forgot: What about kidney “donors”? Will such kidneys be kosher since they compensate the donor and are harm-free or harm-nullified?
@socal (#7 and #8)
Yeah, why not? Such a place would be very liberal according to Nitin’s town square test. We are discussing the liberalness of a place, not the ethics of diet.
Can I publicly slaughter a cow and announce eating beef in Delhi ?
All this talk of cannibalism, besides making me hungry, reminded me of a joke.
Two cannibals were eating a clown. One cannibal says to the other – does this taste funny to you?