A New Kind of Censorship
Eddie Fung wants to open a new Chinese restaurant in Durham. It will be his second: he already has one in Belfast which is doing very nicely, thank you. But he’s hit a problem in Durham: the city council doesn’t like the restaurant’s name. It, like its Belfast sister, is to be called Fat Buddha but the city council won’t allow that.
Why? Because, according to a letter sent to Mr Fung by the head of the city’s cultural services department, Tracey Ingle, “To use the name of a major religion’s deity in your restaurant brand runs contrary to this city’s reputation as a place of equality and respect for others’ views and religious beliefs.”
Hang on! Buddha isn’t a deity. Not only that, Mr Fung is actually a Buddhist.
Ms Ingle then says the restaurant “does not offer vegetarian cuisine solely, not does it refer to Buddhist belief systems in either its operation or offer” - whatever “offer” means in this context!
The name, she says, is “provocative”.
A few moments’ research throws up the fact that, in the well-known statues of the Fat Buddha, “his fat stomach, which protrudes from the robes he wears, symbolises the largeness of his soul. It is also a symbol of happiness, luck and generosity.”
Apart from the fact that the city council’s objections to the name are clearly a knee-jerk reaction based on ignorance - and is, therefore, far more insulting to Buddhists - I find it frightening that a local authority should attempt to censor - for that is what they are doing - the name of a restaurant.
What’s next? Are they going to tell the local papers what stories they can print? Or bookshops what books they can sell? Or the theatre what plays it can put on?
They (Durham City Council) have already banned smoking in the open air in a number of locations in the city, so perhaps now they’ll turn their attention to the way people dress. Perhaps you won’t be able to go into Durham wearing hoodies. Or perhaps they’ll introduce a system of rationing in the pubs so people don’t drink more than is good for them. Perhaps they are even now looking for ways of making their citizens stop using saturated fats or forcing them to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day. (Like many councils, they’re already doing that with school meals, with the predictable reaction that the kids are voting with their feet and heading off to the nearest chippy or Macdonalds at lunchtime.)
It really is scary. And the horrifying thing is that this council is run by the Liberal Democrats. Perhaps they should change their name to the Liberal Fascists!