{"id":6171,"date":"2010-05-19T14:03:56","date_gmt":"2010-05-19T19:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=6171"},"modified":"2010-05-19T14:18:50","modified_gmt":"2010-05-19T19:18:50","slug":"pakistan_vs_fac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/19\/pakistan_vs_fac\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan vs. Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pakistan-flag.jpg\"\nOh government of Pakistan, pick your battles, please. You want to cut the power<\/a> for hours at a time, crippling the economy and lowering the standard of living for the general populace? Fine, go ahead. The people may grumble, but life goes on. But for the love of all things proper and sacred, don’t take away the people’s right to Facebook. Heed my warning, you’re playing with dynamite here. I predict a revolt in the vein of the Russian revolution. Heads will roll because of this, mark my words. Never, ever get in between an auntie and her Facebook. You’ve been warned.<\/p>\n\n

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Pakistan’s government ordered Internet service providers to block Facebook on Wednesday amid anger over a page that encourages users to post images of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n \n

The page on the social networking site has generated criticism in Pakistan and elsewhere because Islam prohibits any images of the prophet. The government took action after a group of Islamic lawyers won a court order Wednesday requiring officials to block Facebook until May 31.<\/p>\n \n

By Wednesday evening, access to the site was sporadic, apparently because Internet providers were implementing the order.<\/p>\n \n

The Facebook page at the center of the dispute — “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” — encourages users to post images of the prophet on May 20 to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of South Park for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year. [Link<\/a>.]\n Oh great, here we go again. Back to the Prophet Muhammad cartoons. Only this time, it’s a protest involving South Park, the satirical show that spares no one – except for when it does<\/a>. The Facebook page in question, Everybody Draw Muhammed Day!<\/a>, with more than 47,000 fans worldwide, has a simple aim. The creators write “We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Mohammed 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 to silence.” The group encourages folks to draw Muhammad tomorrow, May 20th. Not gonna lie, there are some seriously inappropriate photos in the group’s album. For instance, the prophet doing the nasty with um, a not-so-haram animal. (Hey Facebook minders, pay attention!) And some random cartoon porn. (Do yourself and read some of the discussions if you will. With topics such as ‘Administrator of This Page will Get hell InshAllah in this world SOOON,’ you really can’t lose.) But, really Pakistan. Really? This is the tipping point for you? Really? Because banning Facebook is EXACTLY the way to draw away attention from a group protesting censorship issues. Brilliant move. I applaud you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

I don’t know about you guys, but the only reason my parents and their extended family joined Facebook is to keep in touch with relatives in Pakistan and vice versa. Not a day goes by where my mom and her cousins don’t log onto Facebook and compare family photos, chat with each other and re-connect with old classmates and family friends. And really, isn’t Asif Ali Zardari himself on Facebook<\/a>? Doesn’t he realize he’s (*gasp) alienating his fans? How can I hit the ‘Like’ button if I’m in Pakistan and I can’t access Facebook? I mean, what’s up with that Mr. Prez? Cannot wait to see how this plays out. I’m predicting that once some cabinet minister realizes his wife can’t go on Facebook and screen her friends’ photos for a prospective groom for their daughter, it’ll all blow over. Until then, I poke you, my Pakistani brethern. I poke you. *pokes<\/p>\n\n

Ah yes, and am also pressing an imaginary ‘Dislike’ button. In the meantime, I believe I have some calling cards to buy for my mother. Adieu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh government of Pakistan, pick your battles, please. You want to cut the power for hours at a time, crippling the economy and lowering the standard of living for the general populace? Fine, go ahead. The people may grumble, but … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6171"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}