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So, this case of the British teacher who allowed her class to name their teddy bear “Mohammed” has got me wondering: What is a “Mortal Insult”, or rather, what is something so offensive that you deserve to die for it? 600 Sudanese protesters are calling for her execution and I am truly baffled.

Now I understand that there is a cultural divide probably so vast that no amount of thinking could bridge it, but I am trying, for the life of me (no pun intended), to figure out what insult would be so terrible that I think someone should die for it.

So let’s start with the single most important thing to me, which to those in Sudan calling for the teacher’s death I have to assume is their Islamic faith. My life and my love for my family are probably the most important things to me. Now what could someone possibly say to slander either of those to the point that I would wish for their death? I think the only thing that could come close would be for someone to threaten the existence of my life and my family. If I had reason to believe they were capable and had a plan to carry out our deaths, why then, yes, I would wish for their death. But I can’t guarantee that I would actually try to get them killed. I probably wouldn’t in fact.

Further, what are insults anyway? Do words really matter? Does it matter that someone agrees or disagrees with or maybe even hates your deepest beliefs? Deepest beliefs should be unshakable, shouldn’t they? If you’ve found something so pure and compelling that has made a profound difference in your life, indeed, something that gives you deepest understanding of the meaning of your life, is there anything anyone can possibly say to take away from that? I can’t possibly see what would. Nothing outside of you, not insults or opinions, would matter because you have found the meaning inside of yourself. It’s value would live in you.

Now, maybe I’m just pontificating from a western individualistic cultural perspective that places the highest value on the actualization of the individual (Maslow’s Higherarchy of Needs). Perhaps if I lived in a more collective culture I’d understand how an insult to the core of that culture is indeed an insult to everyone. And maybe I’d even understand how one person’s life is really not that important in the grand scheme of things when the ultimate goal is to be a part of the collective. But if that is so, I’ve got a long ways to go, and I have a feeling that half the world does as well.

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans@Next2Friends.com
www.Next2Friends.com