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Articles like this make me angry. Suddenly its a big deal because Saudi Arabia was thrust into the news for the Khashoggi murder. It has always been a cultura
by austincheney 8y ago
Articles like this make me angry. Suddenly its a big deal because Saudi Arabia was thrust into the news for the Khashoggi murder. It has always been a cultural norm for certain kinds of censorship to occur regularly and the subjects of censorship differ by nation.
I am an American who is currently living in Kuwait and spent about 3.5 years between Kuwait and Afghanistan.
In Kuwait you do not talk negatively about religion. This actually against the law and is largely how Kuwait avoids religious strife that infects other regions. In many nations here you don't talk negatively in public about the current national politics, though the acceptable tone differs by nation. In nearly all the nations here sex does not belong in any form of media. All matters of sex are private and to be kept within the household. Cursing in public is also generally bad. The allowed dress of people in media differs by nation as well.
In many areas they play American movies in public theaters, but will edit out parts that violate the local cultural norms. Remember that Sex In The City 2 was filmed in UAE, but I don't believe it was available in the cinema there.
None of this is new. The cultural challenge that nations face here is how to become modern without losing their unique identify and cultural legacies. The different countries are evolving on this matter at different speeds and prefer to accommodate for various different demands local.
- detcader 8y ago> largely how Kuwait avoids religious strife that infects other regions That's really interesting, can you provide a source on this causal relationship?
- austincheney 8y agoI am not sure. Here are some areas to get you started on your own research * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion_in_Kuwait https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion_in_Kuwai... * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Kuwait_mosque_bombing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Kuwait_mosque_bombing * https://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/freedom-speech-kuwait/ https://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/freedom-speech-kuwait/
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago>Suddenly its a big deal because Saudi Arabia was thrust into the news for the Khashoggi murder. Which was only in the news because he was a journalist. Journalists care when other journalists get wronged. If it was you or I that got sawed up it might have been a footnote on some columnist's hobby blog.
- gammateam 8y agoOr more likely a missing poster on a telephone pole: Everyone knows you are dead but they cant call it
- parthdesai 8y agoJust look at the situation in Yemen. Nobody cared enough to talk about even though what it looks like is one of the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. 1 journalist was tortured and murdered, and suddenly everyone was up in arms about it.
- ForHackernews 8y agoIt's partly because he was a journalist, but also because state-sponsored murder in that state's own consulate is rare. More typically, there's at least a thin veneer of plausible deniability.
- mc32 8y agoThe NYT picks and chooses its targets to further what it thinks is correct cause. I won't wait for them to condemn Venezuelan Censorship or the regime with the same vigor.