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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Dos Equis on May 19, 2010, 01:45:23 PM
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Thank God for the First Amendment.
Pakistan shuts down Facebook over 'Draw Mohammed Day'
By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
May 19, 2010 3:57 p.m. EDT
(CNN) -- Pakistan is blocking access to Facebook in response to an online group calling on people to draw the Prophet Mohammed, officials said Wednesday.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority issued the order a day before "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day," scheduled by a Facebook group with the same name.
"Obviously (the blocking of Facebook) is related to the objectionable material that was placed on Facebook. That is why it is blocked," said Khoram Ali Mehran of the telecommunication authority.
"We have blocked it for an indefinite amount of time. We are just following the government's instructions and the ruling of the Lahore High Court. If the government decides to unblock it, then that's what we will do," he said.
The organization has not received any complaints from internet users about the Facebook group, he said.
Devout Muslims consider it offensive to depict Mohammed.
There were riots around the world in response to a series of cartoons of Mohammed in a Danish newspaper in 2005, and at least two European cartoonists live under police protection after publication of their drawings of the Muslim prophet.
Mimi Sulpovar, who started the Facebook group, said she read about the idea on a blog after Comedy Central bleeped out part of an episode of "South Park" that mentioned the prophet.
"This is meant to be in protest," she said.
"This is something I have felt strongly about for a long time: Bullying by certain Muslim groups will not be tolerated in a free country," said Sulpovar, who is American.
But Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the idea behind the group was offensive.
"Islam discourages any visual representations of the prophets of God -- Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, anybody -- because we believe it can lead to a form of idol worship," he said.
"The majority of Muslims worldwide object to any representation of a prophet of God," he said.
The idea of "Draw Mohammad Day" originated with a cartoonist who has since distanced herself from the idea, Sulpovar and Hooper said.
"The whole campaign has been taken up by Muslim-bashers and Islamophobes," Hooper said.
But Sulpovar denied being anti-Muslim.
"This extends beyond being able to draw Mohammad," she said. "If it's offensive to you, that's fine, but I don't feel it's right to impose your belief on others through intimidation.
"This is nothing to do with hate or bigotry," she said. "Nobody is inciting violence or preaching open hatred towards individuals."
Sulpovar said she is not a Muslim but added that she had received "hundreds of e-mails from people trying to explain this to me."
One group member said she saw anger and fear on both sides of the controversy but felt that free speech could not be compromised.
"This is a hot-topic debate, but so is abortion, illegal immigrants, gay marriage and politics. If we allow even a small compromise for one group, then the free speech on topics like abortion, illegal immigrants and politics can also be censored based on accusations that they cause violence or hate," Autumn Meadows said on CNN's iReport.
"Hate speech is wanting a group eradicated, physically harmed or dead. I dont think drawing Mohammed falls under that category," she said.
"Islam is not above criticism or cartoons. I believe in equality, and censoring Mohammed while we can draw every other
figure in the world does not equal equality," she concluded.
Sulpovar said Pakistan's decision to block Facebook was "ridiculous."
Facebook is investigating the block, said Debbie Frost, the company's director of global communications.
Sulpovar's group and a similar one had attracted about 7,000 fans between them Wednesday. Groups opposing the idea had about 68,000.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/19/pakistani.facebook.shutdown/index.html?hpt=T2
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Sure glad facebook isn't backing down from this.
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I realize that various groups have fought religious wars over the centuries, but doesn’t anybody get this?
These people are plotting murder and terror attacks over "cartoons."
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Its because they are mostly barbarians and third world vermin.
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I realize that various groups have fought religious wars over the centuries, but doesn’t anybody get this?
These people are plotting murder and terror attacks over "cartoons."
x2......and it's happening NOW......not 500 years ago.
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I realize that various groups have fought religious wars over the centuries, but doesn’t anybody get this?
These people are plotting murder and terror attacks over "cartoons."
FaceBook can spark the new Crusades. I propose all religious idiots to jump inside their computers and fight to the death.
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Censorship wins.
Pakistan lifts Facebook ban after page removed
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan lifted a ban on Facebook on Monday after officials from the social networking site apologized for a page deemed offensive to Muslims and removed its contents, a top information technology official said.
The move came almost two weeks after Pakistan imposed the ban amid anger over a page that encouraged users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.
"In response to our protest, Facebook has tendered their apology and informed us that all the sacrilegious material has been removed from the URL," said Najibullah Malik, secretary of Pakistan's information technology ministry, referring to the technical term for a Web page.
Facebook assured the Pakistani government that "nothing of this sort will happen in the future," Malik said.
Officials from the website could not immediately be reached for comment. They said earlier the contents of the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" page did not violate Facebook's terms.
The page encouraged users to post images of the prophet to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of the American TV series "South Park" for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.
Pakistan blocked Facebook on May 19 following a ruling by one of the country's highest courts. The Lahore High Court reversed its ruling Monday because of Facebook's response, paving the way for the government to restore access, Malik said.
The government will continue to block some Web pages that contain "sacrilegious material," but Malik declined to specify which ones.
The Facebook controversy sparked a handful of protests across Pakistan, many by student members of radical Islamic groups. Some of the protesters carried signs advocating holy war against the website for allowing the page.
Bangladesh also decided to block Facebook on Sunday but said it would restore access to the site if the offensive material was removed.
It is not the first time that images of the prophet have sparked anger. Pakistan and other Muslim countries saw large and sometimes violent protests in 2006 when a Danish newspaper published cartoons of Muhammad, and again in 2008 when they were reprinted. Later the same year, a suspected al-Qaida suicide bomber attacked the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, killing six people.
Anger over the Facebook controversy also prompted the Pakistani government to block access to YouTube briefly, saying there was growing sacrilegious content on the video sharing website. The government restored access to YouTube last week but said it would continue to block videos offensive to Muslims that are posted on the site.
http://hosted2.ap.org/HIHAD/d9e770efdd4b467dbf1c088dc48d0192/Article_2010-05-31-AS-Pakistan-Internet-Crackdown/id-e2e25ca04d1c4add819bd05655b4cffb
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They vehemently and violently protest cartoons yet when 100 unarmed Ahmadis, who advocate peace and non-violence, are massacred at their place of worship, there is nary a peep from the Muslim world condemning the atrocity. Quite the despicable double standard from so called peaceful people.
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pakistan bans facebook....
those bastards ...what r we eva eva gonna do now >:(
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Censorship wins.
Damn, guess I have to eat my words. I was really hoping they wouldn't back down.
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Facebook is yet another group of cowards bowing down to fanatical Muslim terrorists, which will only serve to empower them and their islamofascist agenda. I assume this "sacrilegious" material only applies to the world's only 24/7/365 victims in the Muslims. ::)
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Damn, guess I have to eat my words. I was really hoping they wouldn't back down.
Dude if it were me I would fold too. Would not risk my life to stand up to the crazies over posting of stuff on the internet.
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Dude if it were me I would fold too. Would not risk my life to stand up to the crazies over posting of stuff on the internet.
Where does the backing down end in your opinion? At what point do you stop fearing Muslims and start standing up to them?
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Where does the backing down end in your opinion? At what point do you stop fearing Muslims and start standing up to them?
I'm not sure exactly where I'd draw the line, but I would pick my battles. I'm not afraid of Muslims per se. I'm worried about those prone to violence.
I'm thinking about this more from a business standpoint and what kind of risks I would take with my business.
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Dude if it were me I would fold too. Would not risk my life to stand up to the crazies over posting of stuff on the internet.
Fuck that.
I would have put a big ass middle finger graphic on the home splash page to greet them.
They don't like it? Sucks to be them. Don't log on.
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It's a good thing that we dump tens of billions of dollars into Pakistan every year.
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Fuck that.
I would have put a big ass middle finger graphic on the home splash page to greet them.
They don't like it? Sucks to be them. Don't log on.
Can't really argue with you.