You may have read or watched the news of a 20-year-old Egyptian woman who posted nude photos of herself on the Web. She did it, she said, to assert her freedom.As expected, she touched off a firestorm about the kind of society the conservative Islamic Egypt is about to become. Thankfully, for her, the Egyptian militarys attempt to rig the transition process to entrench themselves has touched off an even greater firestorm. I will return to that next Sunday.Though Egyptians protests against their military have eclipsed their concern for the freedom to post nude photos, the issue still looms large. It is emblematic of the challenge of politicaland hence, culturaltransition.I have always had problem with people who have an infantile notion of freedom. They do provocative things not for the utility, but for the heck of it. Problem is that such notion of freedom often causes the recession, rather than advancement, of liberty.In this case, it is playing into the hands of Egypts Islamic conservatives. They point to it as evidence of what the more liberal parties will bring to Egypt. If the nude photos help the Islamists win Egypts forthcoming election, the nude lady will probably find herself in the bakaa or out of Egypt.Such overzealousness is, of course, commonplace in the liberal spectrum of politics. They call it pushing the edges.It reminds me of a passage in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart. The Christian missionaries had had quite some success making converts. And, in fact, the native converts were much more zealous than those who brought them the good news.The converts were eager to strike down every vestige of idol worship in Umuofia, convinced that with the power of God behind them, they were invincible. It fell upon the missionary to counsel them: Everything is possible but not everything is expedient.That is a good advice for those striking for liberty, whether they are artists or painters or aspiring nudists.In the name of art, people have drawn the image of Christ with someone urinating on it. Some years ago, a streaker in Cleveland, Ohio, as I recall, claimed that she was doing it to glorify God for the beauty of His creation. Filmmakers have depicted all kinds of sexual acts and mayhem, all in the name of liberty.Most of such subversions of societys norms are gratuitous. They lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value, to quote the U.S. Supreme Courts phrase regarding obscenity.Even in the liberal democracies of the West, most people find subversions of basic mores distasteful. But so long as people dont become involuntarily exposed to such things, the attitude is that of tolerance.But among Islamists, such things are the ways of the West. Little do they know in Egypt, for instance, that a young womans posting of nude photos is not exactly applauded in the West.In fact, other than the latters penchant for bloodshed in the name of Allah, it is remarkable how much Christian fundamentalists share with Islamists. Much of what passes for Western culture is condemned by conservative Christians.In any case, even as I rile against gratuitous provocateurs, I have to pay homage to the utilitarian ones. That is, those who pushed the cultural edges to make the world better.In parts of Nigeria, where human beings are condemned as osu, for instance, we have to applaud those who breached the cultural norms to end the odious system. The same goes for Indians who disregard the caste system.In the global and historical scheme of things, Galileo Galilei has to rank up there as one of the greatest utilitarian provocateurs. As I have written before, the 17th Century Italian mathematician, physicist and astronomer pushed the cultural boundaries of his time and paid the price for modern science to flourish.Galileos greatest achievement was, of course, his proof of the Copernican theory that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around.He especially infuriated the authorities with his book, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, the systems being religion and science. In the dialogue, Galileo had the Pope speaking for the religious system. Not surprisingly, he didnt come off too well.Critics said that Galileo went overboard by making the Pope look stupid. But the pious man couldnt have done this gratuitously. The Pope was actually his friend.The Dialogue was Galileos ingenious way of getting his point across. After all, it was not easy to overturn a belief system that had endured for centuries, even among the best scientists of the time. That is a far cry from posting a nude photo to assert freedom.Assassination attempt on ObamaYoumust have heard that someone fired a high-powered rifle into the White House recently and President Barack Obama was the target. The aspiring assassin, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, aimed his shots at the Obamas residential area, including a balcony where they spend time to relax.Mercifully, the Obamas were out of town. In any case, the reinforced glasses kept the bullets from penetrating.It is another incident that should galvanise action against the easy availability of weapons. But given the politics of gun ownership in this country, that is improbable. Ortega purchased the AK-47 used in the shooting with the same ease that we would purchase a shirt.By the way, Ortega wanted to kill Obama because he sees Obama as the anti-Christ. And he takes that very personally. You see, Ortega had proclaimed himself the modern day Christ.Citizen Cain under protectionThreeSundays ago, I wrote about the possibility that another black man, Herman Cain, would succeed Obama as Americas president. Cain was leading the Republican Partys candidates vying to challenge Obama in November next year. I also noted that he was facing a barrage of sexual harassment accusations.Well, the accusations have sunk him in the polls. Even then, he too is facing threats of assassination. And so, he has asked for and received Secret Service protection. He is the only candidate so far to need such.
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