"That which one disfavors, apply not to others" (#68; Topic C)

In the last few days, there were demonstrations by members of the Islamic faith in front of Dutch and Norwegian embassies in Syria and elsewhere, for 12 cartons first shown in a Danish newspaper on 9/30/05, depicting prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb as turban or otherwise casting him or Islam in an unfavorable light. In the name of freedom of speech and press solidarity in EU (jumps in circulation apparently played no role), newspapers in Norway, and later in Germany and France, reprinted these cartons, thereby widening the confrontation. Vatican's response was cautious, while the White House merely called for calm. A native of Damascus now residing in the DC area, though only 16 years old, almost hit the mark: "If somebody showed a picture of the pope with a bomb on his head, that would cause a great public outcry. Nobody would be talking about freedom of speech" (Washington Post, 2/5/06) (He missed the bull's eye only because Danes are mainly Protestants.) Over 25 centuries ago, Confucius, in the name of considerateness, advised: "That which one disfavors, apply not to others" (15.24; 8 words in the original, 8 here, from my translation of the Analects published in 1999). Thus, if one does not wish to be defrauded, one would think twice before committing a fraudulent action of one's own; when everyone is considerate and thinks this way, honesty prevails. I hasten to add that there is a saying in the bible ("Do to others what you like others do to you") which western translators equated to Confucius's saying. Not so. The one in the bible is stated in the positive; it is both presumptuous and coercive. Confucius's is stated in the negative; it is considerate and non-threatening.
Posted at 6:19 pm, Sunday, February 5, 2006