Patterico's Pontifications

5/19/2010

Pakistani Court: Facebook Is Blasphemous

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:00 pm



Because of the whole Everybody Draw Mohammed thing:

Plans for the “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” contest drew an angry reaction, provoking street demonstrations in the Muslim majority country.

On Wednesday, Lahore High Court responded to a petition by the Muslim Lawyers Movement, ordering Pakistan’s internet regulator to block the entire site.

Users lost access to Facebook about two hours later.

Which reminds me: here is a link to the Facebook Everybody Draw Mohammed thing.

Oh, and here is a link to A.W.’s Everyone Draw Mohammed blog.

P.S. Rule for this thread: nobody will call anyone a coward. In fact, those who did so in past threads should consider apologizing.

28 Responses to “Pakistani Court: Facebook Is Blasphemous”

  1. Seeing as we know Vilks is not responsible for the reactions of his viewers, I am assuming the opinion is if “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” sparks riots where bystanders are killed, the cartoonists involved in that will also bear no responsibility for the deaths and other violence.

    MD in Philly (88a119)

  2. I agree with that, MD in Philly.

    I’m not sure you do, but I do.

    Patterico (c218bd)

  3. I agree that the people who started the riot are responsible for their actions, should be arrested, and sentenced accordingly.

    There are many things we do everyday that may get linked to a subsequent event that is harmful that we would have never dreamed of, and we can not reasonably be assigned responsibility. During college my thesis concerned the synthesis of several enzyme inhibitors and characterizing their interactions with the enzyme (which was linked to the rapid cell growth of cancer cells). I was shocked some years later to find that one of the compounds was being used experimentally to induce abortions, which, being pro-life, was never a consideration on my radar screen. As a doctor, every day decisions are made that could have life and death implications, even something as simple as having a nurse tell a a patient (over the phone) come in today or wait until tomorrow. One can make a decision that is not “technically wrong” that still is in the chain of events that leads to a death. Often there is no reasonable standard that would assess blame, but usually there is some degree of remorse and thinking “what could I have done different”. I imagine lawyers can have similar events while being involved in major events of a person’s life.

    I guess a lot of litigation is based on what was or was not reasonable precautions to take in certain events. When was it bad luck to slip on ice and break a bone and when is it negligence on the part of the home or business owner to not have cleaned off the snow earlier. Of course, successful litigation in a court in the US does not necessarily correspond to appropriate judgement of responsibility.

    MD in Philly (88a119)

  4. i think the Pakistani court are cowards, for being afraid of their fellow members of the “religion of peace”.

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  5. I wish the Facebook page didn’t have the Richard Dawkins page as one of its favorites (in fact, as its only favorite). It sort of dilutes the message from being one of free speech to that of being anti-religion. I am not as much of a supporter of this page as I might otherwise be.

    And those people who are submitting pictures of Muhamad (PBOH or whatever) receiving anal sex: This is just the sort of trash that undermines the whole message, folks.

    JVW (08e86a)

  6. NO THEY’RE HEROES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Leviticus (30ac20)

  7. participating in the event got my FB account suspended a little bit ago…. must have been the islamic free speech movement…. %-)

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  8. “the islamic free speech movement”

    — Okay, I’ll bite: speech that is free from references to Islam?

    Icy Texan (deac71)

  9. Left a cartoon — under my own name and city/state — at A.W.’s site: was delighted to see him get so many cartoons (and per JVW’s comment above, it’s porn free too — the focus is on the solidarity).

    Have never done ANYTHING on the web in my own name and likely never will again, such is my love of privacy — but these latest recent cavings-in to the terrorist barbarians are the final straw for me.

    The idea to (all at the same time) take a stand in solidarity to encourage the threatened artists, tell the terrorists “I am Spartacus,” and tell the peaceful Muslims (for whose sake I drew the most inoffensive cartoon I could think of) that if they don’t loudly and vigorously oppose the terrorists sullying their shared fairh they’ll unfortunately have to endure much more of the same, seemed a terrific “three-fer” message to me, and worth it.

    no one you know (14208b)

  10. nobody will call anyone a coward

    What it comes down to, for those whose high profile makes a clear target, is a decision between principle and life – and not just their life, but the lives of those they are associated with. Those who have no part in the decision. One who has not been tested, who has not counted the cost, should think twice before examining others.

    I have no such high profile. All I can say is that I would hope I have the courage (or, more precisely, fearlessness) to make the right decision when the time comes. The same decision so many of my ancestors made in forming this free society we enjoy and are not necessarily worthy of.

    I suspect that radicalized Muslims mostly respect the kind of faith that is stronger than the fear of death. That is why they do not respect a people who see martyrs as stupid dupes. I’ve debated several ways of saying this but, since I can’t draw Muhammad in this format and I really have no desire or need to draw him anyway, I’ll just say that I am a Christian. Jesus is my God. Muhammad is NOT my prophet. That is my faith, come what may.

    Amphipolis (b120ce)

  11. I will try to be the bigger man and apologize. I am sorry for lashing out at MD and calling him a coward. I believed at the time, but that was not as charitable as i should have been.

    A.W. (f97997)

  12. Btw, the facebook thing has been coming on and offline. i don’t know what the culprit is. Did they decide to ban it and then hear rage from around 80,000 members? Or are the servers being crushed under the strain. I see evidence pointing in both directions.

    I just think that if they were going to shut it down, they would have done it sooner. i mean shutting it down today is only smart if you actually want to piss off the users, but then people are not always smart, are they?

    And PAtterico, it was cool of you to link to the site even if you were mad at me, which i suspect you were.

    A.W. (f97997)

  13. I am an avid Mujammas drawer. I have them stacked neatly next to my underwear.

    enoch_root (9548cd)

  14. As for problems with facebook, they have banned me 3 times, now. It is a very simple thing to create a new gmail account under a fake name, and then go on merrily offending. I won’t call it censorship, because in my mind its a different breed from when violence (by the government or by private individuals) is used to silence people. But its still kind of d–k thing to do.

    NOYK

    Btw, even if i figure out who you really are, I will never tell. I could go into a long story about this, but bottom line is i strongly respect people’s right to confidentiality when they want it.

    A.W. (f97997)

  15. 11.I will try to be the bigger man and apologize. I am sorry for lashing out at MD and calling him a coward. I believed at the time, but that was not as charitable as i should have been.
    Comment by A.W. — 5/20/2010

    Being the textualist that I am, the phrase “bigger than” begs the question “bigger than” what?

    I would like some clarification, please.

    MD in Philly (88a119)

  16. Look, man, A.W., if your idea of fun is crude cartoons of a bearded man being being sodomized well that ain’t your fault, man, prolly something your parents did to you when you was a kid, man, if you know what I mean, man, so don’t sweat it, man, just get over it, man.

    nk (db4a41)

  17. Less’n you’re a pervert, man, and I better not see you around my house, man, cause I’ll just kick your ass, man.

    nk (db4a41)

  18. NK

    Actually i would say the most popular topic is Aisha, but don’t let the facts get in the way.

    A.W. (f97997)

  19. A.W.-

    Maybe you missed my request for clarification at #15.

    The request for an apology came from Patterico, but if I’m the one who is to accept it (or not), I would like to know what it is I’m accepting.

    MD in Phily (88a119)

  20. I, and I ALONE, am responsible for my actions.

    mojo (8096f2)

  21. Facebook seems to have problems whenever a particular user or status starts getting a lot of hits; I don’t see any need for a conspiracy or plan or intentional action (although that tendency does make such intentional acts perhaps too easily excusable.)

    @:<{|#-|-<

    ^obligatory drawing of the day

    htom (412a17)

  22. I have just been reading about the “Everyone Draw Muhammad ” day and thinking how it relates to the conversation about intentionalism. Here’s a good article:

    http://pajamasmedia.com/zombie/2010/05/20/the-new-free-speech-movement/

    “This is not an argument over the right to be “provocative” or “offensive”; rather, is it something much more significant — an argument over who gets to determine what counts as provocative or offensive in the first place. ”

    In other words: Who gets to assign meaning in the communication process. Some Islamists are asserting a “right” to determine what you mean by your drawings and thus dictating (at risk of death) your range of communication options.

    Do you grant them this prerogative?

    jls (3b1a14)

  23. Comment by no one you know — 5/20/2010 @ 4:43 am

    This I can respect. You don’t shoot your mouth off, strut around wagging your finger, or get into verbal shooting matches that involve a lot of ego. Instead you quietly and bravely make your point and stand by your convictions. I like that you posted your cartoon under your real name. I adore my privacy so I can really understand what a step that was.

    Well played, sister.

    Dana (1e5ad4)

  24. Comment by Dana — 5/20/2010 @ 5:24 pm

    Thanks for the very kind comments. I don’t think it was bravery so much as just a boiling point of utter anger and disgust at how these barbarians ( = the non peaceful Muslims, literal terrorists or not) think they can scream and bully people into submission. And as we all know, appeasing a bully always and ever only makes things exponentially worse.

    no one you know (14208b)

  25. The Dreaded Stick Figures of Blasphemy rock.

    JD (d55760)

  26. htom

    Agreed, i tend to think the issues with facebook are technical, not content-related. Still i always belive in plan for the worst and hope for the best. Anyway, two hours to go on the east cost, which i think is 5 hours on the west.

    A.W. (f97997)

  27. Oh, and a South African Paper has been stopped from showing mohammed. i discuss it in a little detail, here: http://everyonedrawmohammed.blogspot.com/2010/05/another-cartoon_6142.html

    And, btw, its a funny cartoon. One of the better ones.

    A.W. (f97997)

  28. Okay, the marathon blogging is done. Mind you, if you keep sending me cartoons i will keep publishing them. But i need to get some sleep.

    Thanks for all the support.

    Btw, the big facebook page is down again. last i saw they were at about 107,000 members. they have had technical difficulties before, so it might be that. who knows?

    A.W. (f97997)


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