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Pacific United Sikhs Takes Action Against Publication Of Nihang Sikh In Aussi Porn Magazine

spnadmin

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United Sikhs takes action against publication of a photo of a Nihang Sikh in an Aussie Porn Magazine

By GURTEJ SINGH

http://www.sikhsiyasat.net/2013/01/...-of-a-nihang-sikh-in-an-aussie-porn-magazine/

Brisbane/Queensland, Australia (January 29, 2013): “On 26 January 2013 “Manmeet Singh, a newsagent in Brisbane, Queensland, brought to the attention of United Sikhs the first-page article, “Turban Legend” in a pornographic magazine “The Picture” (#1272 30 January 2013). He saw a photograph of a Nihang Sikh (belonging to a centuries-old warrior Sikh order) on the cover page as he was shelving magazines in his shop, then saw the article and was deeply distressed” informed a recent press release by United Sikhs, a US based NGO.

As per information he magazine shows a photograph of a Nihang Sikh with hands clasped in prayer (the unclear background is of the Darbar Sahib (Golden temple), the sanctum sanctorum of Sikhs in Amritsar, Panjab). The article about Nihang Sikhs is surrounded by photographs, including at the foot of the article, of nude females. The entire magazine displays raunchy nudity and is replete with foul, irreverent and inappropriate language and the tone ridicules the dumalla (turban) and Nihang Sikhs. The magazine is on sale Australia wide.

“United Sikhs is of the view that the publishers have breached both Federal and State criminal, civil and human rights laws. We are lodging a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission” reads the release, a copy of which is available with Sikh Siyasat News (SSN).

“The United Sikhs Legal and Advocacy’s Rapid Response Team is liaising directly with Manmeet who has not only withdrawn the magazine from his agency’s shelves but will urge other retailers to do likewise” a United Sikhs representative told SSN.

While talking to SSN Sukhwant Singh, Director, National Legal Affairs, United Sikhs-Australia pointed out that, “Those in positions of influence must remain vigilant on 2 fronts: promote harmony and preserve Australian diversity and discourage attempts to de-harmonise diversity, increase risk of active abuse and marginalise a minority. Importantly, in this instance, there is a need for prompt reassurance to ethnic Australians that the article does not represent the views of main stream Australians”.

He informed that the United Sikhs is reviewing the criminal sanctions that may apply and are obtaining legal advice covering Federal and all States/Territories laws for the purposes of lodging police complaints.

Besides this the organization is notifying all Sikh Gurdwaras and organisations of the publication to galvanise concerted action at State and Federal levels and to inform the sangat (congregation) by protestations to the publishers and Members of Parliament (MPs).

He further informed that: “We are activating its Legal Team to issue formal legal notices to the publishers, printers and distributors and to launch the necessary legal action under Federal, States/Territories laws including the Australian Human Rights Commission” and “issuing a statement to all State and Federal Premiers and Members of Parliament” he added.

Summarizing the focusing points on the issue the statement issued by United Sikhs reads as below:
“Right to Free Speech:
United Sikhs supports and advocates for the democratic right of all Australians to free speech. Such a right comes tempered with responsibilities to fellow ethnic and culturally diverse Australians.

Social Responsibility &Respect for Fellow Australians:
Right minded and morally upright Australians, especially on a soul-searching Australia Day (on 26 January 2013), have merely to examine the placing of the image of a Sikh, regaled with Sikh religious symbols during a religious event, with raunchy nudity to feel deeply affronted. The image so displayed with the abundant and callous use of vulgarity is irreverent, intended to ridicule, morally reprehensible, religiously offensive, profoundly insensitive, sharply hurtful and, really, un-Australian, to say the least.

Infrequent (yet regular) and sporadic (yet persistent) ‘minor’ and isolated (but incremental) snipes and sneers couched as verbal jocularity and covert degrading of religious beliefs, depicted sensationally, seem to be ‘under the radar’ until the trials and tribulations of minorities in some parts of the world are flashed onto our TV screens with sickening and appalling constancy.

Hardcopy magazines, stung by the proliferation of social media, seek to profit by publicising increasingly offensive and inflammatory commentary to secure media attention and enhance distribution statistics”.

Action Required by MPs:

The United Sikhs has called upon all Australian MPs to stand up and publicly condemn irresponsible and morally offensive publications such as this article and to call on the publishers to exercise common decency, restraint and responsibility towards fellow ethnic and culturally diverse Australians.

Action Required by Government:
United Sikhs has called upon all Australian Governments to review, revise and refine legislation and processes in response to, and to curtail the conduct displayed in, publications such as this”.

United Sikhs has also urged every Sikh (especially in Australia) to call up the local Federal and State MP and lodge a protest and insist that the MP takes the action suggested above.
 

spnadmin

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Tejwant ji

I copy! But after thinking about it, I realized that it would be impossible to post a copy of the picture with nude women. SPN forbids that. Individuals may have access.

p/s I was able to access the mag's main page, but of course pictures cannot be displayed, and would be blocked by filters for most people. The mag does have pages on facebook and MySpace. Checking facebook there are many obscene images, and equally obscene headlines, pitched as if they are funny. However the picture of the Nihang is not among them. I am not myself in a disposition to do much searching because the imagery is truly offensive. I don't wish to see more.
 
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Ishna

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I'd pick up a copy, scan it, obscure appropriately and share it here, but wouldn't that violate copyright laws?

In any case, I'll check it out tomorrow and report back... I'll at least type out a few sentences to put it all into perspective.

And then I'll be making some phone calls. *cracks knuckles*

I'm with you adminji, I don't relish the idea of having to FIND the article in the mag to begin with...
 

spnadmin

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Ishna ji

Thanks! I do not know if it violates copyright laws. Why not upload the pic to the Visitor's Messages which are not flashed on the Internet, limiting circulation to a very few hand-picked sample of members. It is ok to skip me. Pardon the pun.
 
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Tejwant Singh

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Ishna ji,

Guru Fateh. Thanks for doing that. If you can scan the article and edit the pics so we can have a better idea regarding what the article of the Nihang is about, it will be wonderful.

Regards

Tejwant Singh
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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I read this article when it was sent to me. I fail to understand what truely happened. What kinds of insults were in the magazine article about the Sikhs. I wish we got hold of it and read it ourselves to make a better decision. I remember Playboy being bought for good articles.
:redturban:

Ha ha Tejwant Ji..I too remember that one...tried to convince mt dad once !!! using this argument..."Good Articles"....when i was around age 14 and a penpal from the USA sent me a Parcel of about 100 Playboys in mint condition....and me and dad ji wnet to collect it form the Post Office and once home we opened it together...and was I surprised (my dad must have been too..but he was one great LIBERAL...he kept silent while i flicked through..centerfold and all...and looked at my dad..GOOD ARTICLES..dad ?? and dad smiled and said OK..IF you say so...ha ha..I still have them..and kept them "hidden" form my kids (guess i am not so liberal as my Punjabi Educated dad..or i dont trust my kids that much...he he)....until one day my eldest asked me..dad shall i sell off the ??? together with the old newspapers...and i said..you saw..yeah dad..old hat stuff..Internets much better esp HD and streaming... !! ha ha How times have changed...Talibanism just cant/wont work...ha ha
 

Tejwant Singh

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:redturban:

Ha ha Tejwant Ji..I too remember that one...tried to convince mt dad once !!! using this argument..."Good Articles"....when i was around age 14 and a penpal from the USA sent me a Parcel of about 100 Playboys in mint condition....and me and dad ji wnet to collect it form the Post Office and once home we opened it together...and was I surprised (my dad must have been too..but he was one great LIBERAL...he kept silent while i flicked through..centerfold and all...and looked at my dad..GOOD ARTICLES..dad ?? and dad smiled and said OK..IF you say so...ha ha..I still have them..and kept them "hidden" form my kids (guess i am not so liberal as my Punjabi Educated dad..or i dont trust my kids that much...he he)....until one day my eldest asked me..dad shall i sell off the ??? together with the old newspapers...and i said..you saw..yeah dad..old hat stuff..Internets much better esp HD and streaming... !! ha ha How times have changed...Talibanism just cant/wont work...ha ha

Gyani ji,

You made my day and night with this. LOL. Thanks for that. My dad was a Chemist in Ferozepore which was an important British garrison. He had one shop in Lahore at the same time. He had a special licence to import special medicines from the UK, Germany, US and other countries.He had his own labs in both stores at the back to concoct the medicines needed He was the only one in Punjab who had this permit. Along with this permit, he also had the exclusive permit to import Playboys which were the favourite reading material of Maharaja of Faridkot who was our family friend and it is a nearby town. As he was the only one with the permit, The Maharajas of Kapurthala and Patiala used to get this literally material. This is the way I started reading the good articles. LOL.

You are right. The Talibanic Such is the worst jooth propagated by different Taksals, Derawalas, AKJ and others, which is a shame. Little do they know that Munn mela will remain dirty no matter how spotless the kapre and the dastaar are.

Thanks for the memory lane. LOL

Regards

Tejwant Singh
 

Harry Haller

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some might say, they would not dream of doing this to the muslim community, they would rather pick on us,

I would say I am glad we are seen as reasonable and human enough to see it for what it is, instead of finding the nearest 'effigies r us' shop and taking to the streets with wailing and chest beating

We have such publications in the UK, Nuts is one, its a mens lifestyle magazine, the fact that many young australians are now wondering what a Nihang is, what a Sikh is, is a splendid thing, the fact that the publisher is not getting bombed will also stick in the mind, ahhhhh these people, these Sikhs, hey they have a sense of humour too.........
 

Luckysingh

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How bad could the australian media really do ?
I mean we have our own community that loves to portray and label nihangs as the 'legal' drug using sikhs. Then we have the pro-veggie jathabandis that label them as meat eating drug users using jhatka as an excuse !

So, what if we see one that maybe trying to impress Hugh Heffner to say 'look what we can do!'' and then again it is plainly done with humour. A little like where female school teachers are shown giving the student a good spanking !- I never see any teachers complaining and I never heard anyone complain when Britney played the schoolgirl in her famous 'hit me baby one more time' video !!


Anyway, like an average sikh, I'm not going to be too bothered about some magazine with a story being told by by some nihang pictures and action.

I would rather wait for the movie to come out and then watch the unedited version !!

Balle Balle...........
 

spnadmin

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I suppose that spnadmin ji is the only prude then on this thread. If the pics prove to be consistent with the description then wrong has transpired. Here are several reactions so far.

Pornography is wrong. It sends messages that exaggerate the sexual identities of men and women and distorts sexuality. Pornography does not promote sexual intimacy.

Should pornography be outlawed? That is another thread!

Why a Nihang in a picture festooned with nude women? The visual message again distorts who the Nihang are. I can imagine an editorial board saying, "Let's get some Sikh mystique on the cover! Yeh! Nihangs, the emblem of the "martial race." A man's man! Wonder how much... you know ... how much they get on average? Women must be flocking! Let's play that idea up! Boys, will that draw some traffic!" These are the thoughts of the advertising mind, so I don't think I am off base here. Maybe the content was different, but the intent is to make money. Therefore I can't be that off base.

I am neither a panthic groupie of the Nihang, nor an advocate of the "martial race" sloganism that many Sikhs keep kicking on the Internet. Be that said, Nihangs historically were celibate, and later married orders of Nihang have developed. But their case today is best made by their public identity. Nihang are no longer needed to fortify the forces of Guru Sahibhan, to defend mahants of different religions. Today they have a different seva: education, schools, preservation of the martial legacy, preservation of important eras of Sikh history, care of the sick and unfortunate, care of orphans. All the other stuff - riding around on horses, gatkha, flashing weapons, weaponry exhibits and contests, pilgrimages to villages where they are welcomed as a blessing - all that is not about machismo either.

A bunch of guys, and probably some women too, who have not a clue about Sikhism, Sikhi, Nihangs or for that matter sexual intimacy, have sent out a distorted message and keep the myth of the big guy on the block churning. It just happened to be the Nihangs one week. The big guy wears a turban, and lives in the wild. Yet.... he prays. My only consolation is that "The Picture" magazine sure looks stupid. Somewhat more stupid tha the internet posses on facebook who lap up the "martial race" scenario and know almost nothing else of the Nihang.

I had to get this off my mind. Forgive me!
 
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Gyani Jarnail Singh

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Spnadmin Ji..you are not a "prude" and neither are you "alone". And YES Porn is WRONG (thats why most of us oppose the DG )...But today's world is commercialized to the extreme..money talks and talks BIG..so big that it shuts up most mouths...We do all we can to protect oursleves and our beloved ones form the smut peddlers..and when its raining smut..snowing smut...tsunamiing smut....and the world is drowning in smut..it becomes a little difficult to remain DRY..but we TRY !!!swordfight CHEER UP and keep in Chardeekalla..always jios.
 

Luckysingh

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OK, a few of us are taking offence here !!

Let me first just reassure that this magazine does not seem like a pornographic mag or a typical 'jazmag'.

From what I gather, it looks like what in the UK were called 'lads mags'.
It's not the sort that comes wrapped in cellophane on the top shelf only.

It's a 'typical' mens magazine that have been very successful and on the rise since the 90's..

I think my brother Harry ji also seems to have a better idea of this class of magazine!

It's full of funny true stories, jokes, bad language, nude scenes for humour and not sexual pleasure, fashion disasters,drunken encounters, advice given in an entertaining obscene nature to actual questions by readers...etc.... I think you get the idea.

These magazines are for pure entertainment and other famous one's which I used to enjoy and I'm sure Harry ji did too are....Loaded, Esquire, FHM, Maxim, Zoo, Arena.....to name as a few.

No one reading any of these could ever be offended because they are tongue n cheek humour at the highest !!

I mean in these you get pictures of the Pope's or Obama's head superimposed on something rude and amusing !!

It's all a laugh and joke really and doesn't mean to offend from what I know.

I will be honest though that for some people when they see the cover they think it's a full pornographic magazine.
In my experience I always found that women who would first see the cover and think it's porno would then realise after they saw the contents and would be quite amused.
Infact, I knew many women at work that used to enjoy every new edition that I would bring!!
Most of them would comment and say that it was better than the women mags they had because there was none of the same old gossip, but just pure humour !!!
 

spnadmin

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OK, a few of us are taking offence here !!

Let me first just reassure that this magazine does not seem like a pornographic mag or a typical 'jazmag'.

From what I gather, it looks like what in the UK were called 'lads mags'.
It's not the sort that comes wrapped in cellophane on the top shelf only.

It's a 'typical' mens magazine that have been very successful and on the rise since the 90's..

I think my brother Harry ji also seems to have a better idea of this class of magazine!

It's full of funny true stories, jokes, bad language, nude scenes for humour and not sexual pleasure, fashion disasters,drunken encounters, advice given in an entertaining obscene nature to actual questions by readers...etc.... I think you get the idea.

These magazines are for pure entertainment and other famous one's which I used to enjoy and I'm sure Harry ji did too are....Loaded, Esquire, FHM, Maxim, Zoo, Arena.....to name as a few.

No one reading any of these could ever be offended because they are tongue n cheek humour at the highest !!

I mean in these you get pictures of the Pope's or Obama's head superimposed on something rude and amusing !!

It's all a laugh and joke really and doesn't mean to offend from what I know.

I will be honest though that for some people when they see the cover they think it's a full pornographic magazine.
In my experience I always found that women who would first see the cover and think it's porno would then realise after they saw the contents and would be quite amused.
Infact, I knew many women at work that used to enjoy every new edition that I would bring!!
Most of them would comment and say that it was better than the women mags they had because there was none of the same old gossip, but just pure humour !!!


"I will be honest though that for some people when they see the cover they think it's a full pornographic magazine."

Just a clue. Go to the facebook page for "The Picture" and take a look.

"In my experience I always found that women who would first see the cover and think it's porno would then realise after they saw the contents and would be quite amused."

Definitely. Next stop is to ask the "lads" at Budha Dal if they are "amused." My bet... they will laugh, the way a sardar laughs.

Final stop is to send the editorial board of "The Picture" a couple of Nick Flemming videos and see if it is possible to edit some nudes into the action.

But let's face it. Nihangs are sensitive guys. They don't just do shastar vidya. They pray and adopt orphans. They have real potential to attract the metrosexual market.

See the balance of my concerns is not about pornography per se, but the misrepresentation of Nihangs. No need for the original to figure that out.
 
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Ishna

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It does come wrapped in cellophane, hubby says it's, ahem, not just t!ts but box too (his words!!), so it's a bit more racy than a lads mag I think. But not too much.

And yes I did make hubby buy it!! Haha

I gave fair warning didn't I? spnadmin
 

Ishna

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My appraisal of the magazine: it's a very soft magazine. It's boobs, bums, maps of Tasmania with the shops shut (if you know what I mean), lesbians kissing, so it's nothing to get too worked up about, really. It's a Restricted 15+ mag, not even 18+. I wouldn't class it as 'pornography', but maybe I'm desensitised. The text with the pictures is pretty smutty, I won't repeat any here. *wrinkles nose*

Oh and there's a funny story about people who've shaved their labradoodles (it's a breed of dog you sick people! hahaha) to look like lions with manes. And a story about a public toilet with windows instead of walls (and I mean proper windows, not just one-way!).

The article about the Nihung is on page 1 - so there's the front cover, the inside front cover with sex-line ads, and opposide that is the Nihung story. That's better than having it in the middle of the magazine with the lesbians and home girls I think haha.

The worst is thumbnail pics at the footer of the page illustrating the 3 main parts of the magazine (the contents). Contrary to the original post, the article is not 'surrounded' by pictures of nude females. There are small ads opposite (with vulgar language) but the only naked women are in the thumbnails at the footer. There are naked women on the following pages.

The article about the Nihung itself is the kind you'd read about about someone who drives a monster truck, or is sky-diving from a huge height, or goes shark diving, or is a lion tamer, so some other far-out kind of story. The most offensive comment to me personally was the last line 'There is no prize for the biggest turban, but we reckon a free visit to a physio to treat a seriously f***ed up spine wouldn't go astray."

I give it a 2/10 on the richter scale.

Oh and there's a picture of Sunny Leone on page 11 and on page 10 is a picture of two naked ladies in Sweden protesting about the Egyptian Constitution. One has 'Sharia is not a constitution' written on her body and the other is holding a sign over her Tasmania which which says 'Religion is slavery' and on her body says 'No Islamists Yes Secularism'.
 
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