I didn’t get the impression that @redesigned was suggesting that anybody obey their culture.
I suppose it wouldn’t be, but it doesn’t seem that they were asked anything like this. Living in the modern “global village” not everybody is going to be so aware of local custom as to be aware that their nudity could get them blamed for an earthquake! I doubt if it is in the travel brochures!
I’ll just go and check … 
My Malaysian wife says “it’s utterly embarrassing” and “why couldn’t he have shown some common-sense for goodness sake” plus “why couldn’t they have kept their clothes on?!”. 
You’re conflating decency with oppression.
Over a million people died at Auschwitz, the entire purpose of the facility was mass murder, no one is saying you should be sad and sombre for the entire time you’re there but you should have the common decency not to advertise that you’re goofing around.
…
The Grand Tetons already are naked. 
On that, apparently the guide told them to put their clothes back on, and they told the guide to bugger off.
There’s several other points made in that link, about the mountain being sacred to the locals, it being the residence of the spirits of their ancestors, and such like. You may not agree with them, but it’s akin to streaking through a cemetary - the dirt and stones won’t care, and neither will the dead people lying there, but don’t be too surprised when Mr. Plod has some fairly pointed and uni-directional conversations with you. Apparently the sanction being sought is expulsion and a bar from returning, which doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable.
Apparently it is.
This is rather disturbing to me. As a Kapalika, part of my religious tradition specifically involves both taking drugs and having sex in graveyards. It’s an obligation I don’t take lightly.
The most interesting thing I learned from this is that Malaysia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations courtesy the mention of the Canadian High Commission. Those Brits sure controlled a lot of land, didn’t they?
It seems racist to me. Why don’t these people offend religions in their own country? Why go to Malaysia and do it? Because they wouldn’t dare in their own culture, but it’s perfectly fine to offend the bloody wogs, who cares about their stupid little religious superstitions. This is just your standard pack of jackasses.
Simply being naked doesn’t imply rude or disrespectful, but getting naked over the objections of your local guide who’s telling you it’s offensive to their culture definitely is.
I agree with you about the rest though.
Offending someone’s religious sensibilities isn’t a crime (in the US)… Yet… And when they do make it a crime, it’s called a blasphemy law, and by definition favors one religion’s adherents expression over everyone else’s. Otherwise everyone would be guilty of blasphemy for just existing.
I don’t think disrespect for people’s religion is racist at all.
Now, we don’t know if these hikers are racist. We can probably guess that they’re inconsiderate seeing as they stripped even though their guide protested. But requiring submission to local superstition just reinforces the superstitious’s delusions and isn’t good for anyone.
which should not lead to being charged for a natural disaster responsible for multiple deaths and which being convicted for carries a mandatory death penalty sentence.
if they were rude to their guide that sucks and their rude treatment of him was disrespectful. Worst case scenario, if they were the most disrespectful jerks imaginable, it still doesn’t justify charging them with causing a natural disaster and putting them to death. That is taking their local superstitions way to seriously and far. How anyone could argue that it isn’t is beyond me…
I agree 100%. They might well have been rude jerks, and they might have offended their guide, or had disrespectful motivations behind their action. their motivation largely determines if their actions were disrespectful or not. even respectful actions by one group can be found offensive by another.
I think the word you are looking for is ‘maligned’. Perhaps you feel like people responding to bigotry with wit and passion is something to mock.
Different countries have different laws. This is not a new idea.
Also, they have not been charged with causing the quake. AFAICT, they haven’t actually been charged with anything yet. If they are charged at all, apparently it’s likely to be Gross Indecency. I don’t know what the sentence for that is.
Crying “The witch has caused the crops to fail!” in the middle ages, to a crowd of superstitious people with ideation regressive to the point of believing such gibberish can hardly be expected to be interpreted as endangering her life.
I mean, what are they gonna do, burn her at the stake? She should have respected the prevailing wisdom of morality and not been an outsider or an uppity woman and she would have been fine. What’s the harm in stupid superstition and what could possibly go wrong in advertising such stupid superstitious nonsense to a crowd of people who believe such idiocy?
No, I totally see the light, capitulation to local custom and protecting their right to falsely accuse someone of causing natural disasters can’t possibly go wrong and people who argue against such need to be brought down a peg or two.
that doesn’t mean those laws aren’t a violation of human rights, or shouldn’t be argued against. this is not a new idea and is how progress is made and improvements to human rights happen. regardless of the laws in malaysia, the tourists didn’t cause the quake or the deaths and being charged with causing them is crazy. i really …~sighs~… never mind, i’m obviously not going to convince you that this is completely unjustified or that no action no matter how disrespectful it might or might not be is worth taking a human life for.
yes, but that is what is being discussed, and why they are being prohibited from leaving the country, and the entire point behind this conversation. The Deputy Chief Minister’s latest statement is that he has every intention of charging them for the quake and subsequent deaths. We aren’t talking about a fine for indecent exposure.
The picture was actually taken by the mountain god himself, he was totally into the naked humans, reminded him of all the devotion he used to get when he was just a young but up and coming hill. But what you haven’t seen is what happened right after the picture, when the people turned their backsides to him and bent over…and…they were devotees of the moon the whole time!
So if a country has a law that makes it legal to put every member of a certain religion or group to death… That is ok because its a law? Just double checking where you stand on that particular type of law enforcement…
(GODWIN’D IT!)
Edit:
SHE’S A WITCH! SHE TURNED ME INTO A NEWT!!!
… I got better…
