No, I Will NOT Respect Your Culture

Recently, Lina Lutfiawati, a 33-year-old woman in Indonesia, was sentenced to two years in jail for posting a video of herself eating pork and uttering "Bismillah," an Arabic and Islamic phrase that Muslims tend to use to express their gratitude to God. Muslims commonly say the same phrase when they sneeze, drink water, or even greet an infant. Eating pork is forbidden in Islam, and the Indonesian government charged Lina with "blasphemy." How can this be considered blasphemy? (source: Indonesia: TikToker jailed for two years over pork video - BBC News )

I stumbled across a post on Al Jazeera's Instagram about this story and thought, "This is insane, but surely people have enough common sense to realize that this is stupid, right?" I was so wrong.

Here are some of the top comments left on that post. I've chosen only four because there are too many ridiculous comments. (source: Al Jazeera English (@aljazeeraenglish) • Instagram photos and videos )

It baffles me that, in this day and age, people are actually happy about an innocent woman being jailed just for praising God before eating food. It's always the same story: "Respect our culture!"

Last year, Qatar hosted World Cup 2022, which sparked a lot of outrage because of Qatar's extreme anti-LGBT and disgusting, slave-like migrant laws — rightfully so. How did everyone respond to it? "RESPECT THEIR CULTURE" or "YOU ARE RACIST AND JUST DON'T WANT AN ARAB COUNTRY TO HOST WORLD CUP" or "WHAT RIGHT DOES THE WEST HAVE TO LECTURE THE MIDDLE EAST AFTER EVERYTHING THEY DID?".

Even right-wingers are hell-bent on defending the barbaric laws of these countries. James Cleverly, a British politician and member of the Conservative Party, urged LGBTQ+ football fans last year to be respectful of Qatar's culture and laws. Yes, guys, you hear that? Don't be disrespectful of laws that want to imprison you for just being who you are.

Recently, I came across a Brett Cooper video where she criticized people for speaking up against Indonesia's law banning sex outside marriage, saying that "this isn't an abnormal law" and emphasized that Indonesians are happy with this way of living; therefore, we shouldn't enforce "western" values on them. Many right-wing commentators use the same argument when addressing ridiculous laws in some Muslim countries. No wonder they are gaining a good amount of support from conservative Muslims. Bigotry feeds bigotry, I suppose.

The biggest problem with saying stupid crap like this is that it only works if the laws being introduced don't harm anyone and don't strip away the rights of certain individuals. It doesn't work when the law is dangerous and harmful! Most of these countries don't have freedom of expression like we do in the West. Progressives aren't open about their views for fear of going to prison or getting murdered! There are many underground progressive or LGBT communities in these countries who don't have a voice. They seek the help of outside organizations to assist them and be their voice. So when different organizations in Western countries speak up on the barbaric laws of these countries, that is a major point for these closeted individuals! They don't have anyone else to turn to! So when conservative morons bash these organizations for speaking up on these issues, I can't help but feel utterly disgusted and pissed off. They're literally harming people who rely on these outside organizations to help them! It is funny — not long ago, conservatives used to be the ones who would bash leftists for not speaking up for the rights of marginalized people in Middle Eastern countries, and now that they are, they are being criticized for "pushing their agenda" on other countries. You literally can't win with conservatives; they don't have a brain. What's funny is this actually will result in something they don't want: an increase in refugees.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think you should go out of your way to disrespect cultural practices that aren't harmful at all. Doing that would actually make you a bigot. But if a culture has dangerous practices that clearly harm others, not only do I believe you should speak up against it, but I think it's your obligation to NOT show respect for it. You know who else asks for "respect our culture"? The Taliban. Why? So they can continue assaulting women, children, and other minority groups, and hide behind this shield of "If you don't respect our culture, you are a bigot and racist".

If disrespecting barbaric laws and practices make me a bigot because I care about the safety and well-being of every group, then sure, call me a bigot. I will wear that label with pride, but I will never stop criticizing and supporting movements and organizations that call for boycotts or put pressure on countries with terrible laws.