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Pakistan Blocks Facebook After Muhammad Caricature Contest
A Pakistani court has ordered the government to block access to Facebook due to a contest involving images of the Prophet Muhammad, and has also asked that the foreign ministry investigate the roots of the competition. The government has complied, telling ISPs in the country to block Facebook and any other site displaying caricatures of the prophet, but the sites have not received court orders as of yet, according to Reuters.Any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemous in Islam, and recent history shows that the cartoons are no laughing matter. In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 caricatures of Muhammad, with infamous results. Over 100 people died in protests over the cartoons -- including five in Pakistan -- and the Danish Embassy was bombed by al-Qaeda in 2008.
But the order by the Pakistani court comes on the heels of the recent 'South Park' controversy; an episode that was aired last month lampooned Muhammad in a bear suit (a reference to the Jyllands-Posten controversy). As a result, show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone received threatening messages from an online Islamist group.
The creators of the Facebook contest wrote, "We are not trying to slander the average Muslim. We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Mohammad depictions that we're not afraid of them. That they can't take away our right to freedom of speech by trying to scare us into silence."
On the one hand, we think that it's a lot of knee-jerk reactionism on the part of this Pakistani court to block access to the world's largest social networking site over a single contest -- and it could backfire among young Pakistanis. We're also not sure if blasphemy and truly dangerous speech are one and the same. Should Pakistanis be able to access information that goes against and even derides their faith? We happen to think so. On the other hand, instead of imposing American ideals (which we are so often ready to do) on Pakistan, we should also take a step back. We can see the anger that such depictions cause -- and what do they accomplish? Do people think that, by ridiculing Islam, its followers will somehow become more endeared to non-believers? It's a thorny issue. [From: Reuters]
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Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsoujMay 19th 2010 4:20PM
Please try to step into the shoes of muslims.
Wouldn't you be enraged and ready to bomb everything too if somebody drew a caricature of, say, Jesus or Obama?
DothanAlabamaMay 20th 2010 1:44AM
Mad, maybe. Ready to bomb something, absolutely not. Making caricatures of our Presidents is a respected craft, actually. As for Jesus, I'm sure there are countless pictures of him out there that are not reverent. Freedom of speech is America's greatest freedom. You can make an American angry with speech but usually that anger comes out in the form of speech. We have "hate speech," that's about the worst of it. To kill over a cartoon (or like Joe Stack, taxation) is insane in most of our eyes.
Imran PanwalaMay 20th 2010 3:33AM
Bombing is a bad thing friend to kill any human is like killing hole of human kind --quran speaks i want to ask if there is a freedom of speech is there why u dont make competition for comments on holocast?
UsamaMay 28th 2010 3:55AM
http://propakistani.pk/2010/05/23/one-facebook-two-faces-one-is-real-ugly/
basitjee1Aug 2nd 2010 5:50AM
Since its a long time that incident happen, but still I have arguments for Pakistani Court I would like to express.
Pakistani court toke the right step and blocked facebook, during contest involved images of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Cartoons are laughing matter. If Someone says that Cartoon are no laughing matter then its a fake statement. Pick up any newspaper and you can see the cartoon in it, for laughing purpose with laughing statement. Who said that recent history shows cartoons are no laughing matter?
I read through the article, and i came to know that creators of this contest are saying "right to freedom of speech". There is a difference between "right to freedom of speech" and "insult". For example, If i start using abusing language to someone by saying "its my right to freedom of speech", does that Ok and fine. Right to freedom of speech have some manners. Can I ask the person who start this contest that If I undressed my paint to his wife and get naked and say, "its my right to freedom of Show" ,does that alright with you. I have my body and I have right to show it to other people, because its my body. Its my equal right to show my body to your wife. Why you are blasphemous?
Remember, that rights to freedom to speech, have certain manners and limitations. You cannot insult and disgrace someone by the Record Word "Right of Freedom of Speech."