I never expected something like this to happen in Pakistan. Ever.
So some one decides to hold a Draw Muhammad Day, and uses Facebook to popularize it. The main purpose in my view was to make sure that as many muslims as possible see it, get angry, start retaliating, and hence… provide some cheap popularity and satisfaction to the anti-muslim sentiments of this person hosting it. And what do you know? It worked… in fact… it worked really well.
I got numerous messages from people in my Facebook friend’s list yesterday… some about reporting this page, some about deactivating my account for a few days in protest and register the protest with Facebook admin, and some that went to the extent of requesting that I stop using Facebook altogether. True, I hadn’t even heard about this Draw Muhammad Day till it was pointed out by those who were against it, but my curiosity was obviously aroused… after ignoring the first few messages… scoring the first point for the organizer of this stupid event with me.
And so after several arguments with several people around me about freedom of speech and of how pointless it was to actually stop using facebook or protesting, since it would only encourage the organizers to continue with such events to tease us “so called Muslims” even more, it was best to just ignore it. Besides, I am addicted to Mafia Wars and boycotting Facebook even for one day would mean loosing out on a lot of score, gifts, and everything else that comes with the game.
Researching the background of this whole thing… and my facts might be a little hazy… sitting halfway across the world and having boycotted news channels ages before I boycotted Facebook, so some cartoonist Molly Something initiates the idea… originally as protest against South Park censoring a part of their program that made fun of Muhammad (s.w).
I wonder, would South Park creators ever produce an episode that praises Hitler and the holocaust? Would they even ever dream of dreaming such an idea… even if only as comedy? and if something like that ever happened… what would be the reaction? Will they not be hanged… if not literally… but in every other sense of the word? Will the western so called free society tolerate such humor? And say if they made an episode, and later decided to censor it… will someone publicly denounce such a move and announce the first “Praise Hitler and the Holocaust” Day? I don’t even have to answer that… we all already know the answer.
Now I am not praising Hitler here or appreciating what he did. No way. I am merely pointing out a a very very sensitive point with the western people. Something that they have laws passed against. Denying the holocaust is a jailable offense in some countries. So how come degrading the basic faith of the second largest religion in the world is just freedom of speech???
Whats funny is that the initiator of this fiasco, Molly Norris, got cold feet and backed out of the whole thing. But the idea stayed. And is being followed today. In the American Media, Simpsons has all but endorsed it. And the world is celebrating this Draw Muhammad Day or in other words… tease Muslims Day today.
For years now, I have been trying to understand the hatred of Islam and Muslims in the western societies. Is it the deep rooted hatred from centuries ago when the Muslim civilization was superior to theirs? If it is that, then it’s the most illogical reason one can come up with. The “lost glory;” as one of my friends put it to me last night… has been lost for quite some time now. And there don’t seem to be any chances of it being found anytime soon.
Coming back to the original point… was it right for the Pakistani Govt. to ban Facebook… even if for a few days? I personally think it was. And I know people differ. But I think it was. In fact, a night before the actual ban was placed… I quit Facebook for good. And the next day, saw on TV that a temporary ban had been placed on the website. The optimists and the “westernized” and the so called “modrUn” people of the society aren’t bothered of course. They know where theres a lock, there’s always a key. But what I am happy about is the Govt’s stand. Making a statement, and sending it across the world. That we will not allow our masses to access this website. And imagine… just imagine… the loss in revenue to Facebook if millions of users from only a few muslim countries are unable to log on to the website, even if for a few days.
Now THAT.. is making a statement. And I am all for it!!!
