Wait, who?

Descendants of the Caliphate?

The Mughals?

Mongolians?

Japanese?

Which empire, exactly?

News-flash: Historically speaking, nearly every state on the winning side of a power imbalance has tried using it for imperialism, up until very recently. The fact that the Western powers were the latest beneficiaries of that power balance during the most recent time-period prior to the global renouncing of most forms of colonialism is relevant in some ways, but not nearly so much as you think. When it comes down to it, most of us — of every color — are descendants of imperialists in some sense or another.

sean – FYI, the color of my skin is not that much darker than theirs… While my opinions are not about me being racist, I can admit that I have some prejudices just like everybody else; they tend to be based in some sort of reality. I’m fortunate that I have not experienced police brutality, but I have had the misfortune of experiencing racism from the descendants of Imperialists. Perhaps my prejudice allows me to more readily accept the reports of demeaning slurs being used, and that an arrogant post-colonial mentality was behind their action (at least hers). As I’ve repeatedly stated, what I think is most worthy of punishment is the attitude.
As far as innocence and guilt are concerned, I’m only talking about facts: public displays of affection are illegal; they broke that law. I have issues with this law and countless others like it, but that doesn’t matter. I also think the traffic laws in VA are ridiculous, but if one breaks them he/she pays the consequences.

Anybody who thinks that two human beings should have their lives destroyed and go through the hell of prison over kissing in public is indeed “silly, barbarous and cruel.” I realize the color of these people’s skin makes it impossible for you to consider the possibility that these two are in fact innocent, but I think it is telling that the arresting officer never testified in court and the defense never had a chance to cross-examine and question him, at which point the truth may have come out. This would be considered a fundamental injustice anywhere, and really calls the credibility of the police and prosecution into question.

If you know anything about how the police operate, when they arrest you for one offense they have a tendency to tack on a whole lot of other offenses you may or may not be guilty of in an effort to destroy your credibility and to make you plead to a lesser offense. If you ever have the misfortune of experiencing police brutality, you will likely find yourself accused of “resisting arrest” and “assaulting a police officer.”

So when I hear this woman allegedly assaulted the cop with a shoe and said bad things about Islam, or that they had public sex (with their clothes on), that sounds like the kind of thing the police and prosecutors in an Islamic country would throw in to make a more powerful case. If she had really assaulted that cop, you can bet your ass they would be charging her with assault. The fact they blew a kiss out of all proportion but ignored an alleged attack against a cop speaks volumes.

“” Let me be clear – it doesn’t matter whether or not the two were having sex, even hugging and kissing in public is forbidden. “”

Can you see how the idea of forbidding such behavior is fundamentally illegitimate in a society based on secular-liberal principles?

Related point: Can you see how basing a society on something *other* than secular-liberal principles is fundamentally illegitimate?