In the country of Myanmar, the government has made it a crime to offend anyone’s religious beliefs. Apparently, it’s just fine to insult people’s love of freedom. It seems that the Burmese government has no problem with the violation of people’s freedom of speech, but say anything that anyone finds remotely controversial about religion, and you will be in trouble with the police.
This month, the government of Myanmar has arrested the owner of a bar and two managers of that bar. These three men were not accused of organized crime, or fraud, or slipping anything into peoples drinks. All that these men did was to create an advertisement for their business that featured an image of the Buddha, surrounded by psychedelic colors, wearing headphones.
In response to that advertisement, local Buddhists whipped themselves into a frenzy, and demanded that somebody be punished. So, the three defendants were arrested, put behind bars, and charged with blasphemy. They face up to two years in prison, plus fines, and the closure of their business.
The Buddhists of Myanmar seem to think that by punishing acts of blasphemy in this way they will encourage people to regard their religion in a positive light, and prevent future acts of blasphemy. To prove that the contrary is true, and to show that when Buddhists use the law to oppress others, they make a laughingstock of their religion, we are posting a repetition of the original blasphemy here in video form, featuring the original image of blasphemy, but now talking and mocking the Buddhists of Burma.