Friday, May 21, 2010

Exercising the Rights of Free Speech

Just got to know that yesterday, 20th May 2010 was the Everyone Draw Mohammed day. Apparently, there's a facebook fan page encouraging everyone to draw the face of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) as well as blogs dedicated to this cause. From my readings, the event transpired in protest of the death threats by Islamic extremists to the several people such as Salman Rushdie, Matt Stone, Trey Parker and the Danish cartoonists. If one could pin it down, it is bacisally the fight of freedom of speech vs. Islamic fundamentalist. The logic goes, if death threats were issued to those who publish images of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), there is no way they (referring to the extremists) can kill everyone if everyone draws a picture of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), is there? Hence, proving a point.

Pakistan, as a nation, has blocked facebook and youtube altogether - read here and here - over 'sacrilegious content'.

I tend to agree with what Ahmed Rehab, the Executive Director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, Chicago, has to say in his piece regarding the matter;
Just because one has a right to do it, it does not make it the right thing to do.
In another article, Zeenat Rahman, the Director of Strategic Partnerships of Interfaith Youth Core wrote:
... interfaith engagement is not only up to rabbis, imams, and priests--we all have a responsibility to know one other. Yes, we can draw pictures that we know will offend others, but should we? Is that progress?
In the end, it is all about tolerance, innit? It's just sad that some (a lot, actually) people have to go to this extent to proof a point.

As for myself. I am exercising my own rights of free will - tak nak masuk facebooklah dalam seminggu ni. Merajuk.

-dillz blogging out-

11 comments:

ms ngantuk said...

oh so that's the story morning glory...i was wondering apa kes on 20/5 ni.. btw freedom of speech is one thing tapi bukankah kita dr kecik diajar to respect others' culture n religion? c'mon la i x sibuk pun write/draw offensive things about jesus, buddha or whatever.. kenapa org lain nak do that to our beloved prophet (pbuh)? i think ppl2 gini are bloody buta perut n stupid.

anyway, i tagged u! check out my post. (tag u blm buat lg.. nanti eh!)

Along said...

Dah cakap dah...Facebook is eeeevvvviiilllll!!!!

dillazag said...

kay,
tu lah. macam tak heboh pun belah-belah kita ni kan? tak pe lah. kita jangan buat orang, ya. tak baik...

read about the tag. I shall (Insya Allah) do it when the time permits - nampak macam banyak la time sikit since dah tak masuk facebook seminggu. hihhihihihi

dillazag said...

Along,
it's not the fesbuk, but the orang....

kawan cakap, that group dah takde in facebook, but there's an alternate fan page pulak. There's also anti-movement pages too.

tapi saya tetap merajuk jugak. hihihihi

KS said...

mari kuar FB ramai2.. :P

eh, tapi saya dah takde FB dah :P :P

twitter lagi best. 4sq pon best.. oppsss :P

dillazag said...

KS,
Tak kluar lagi, cuma hiatus sekejap.
Dah masuk 4sq? Add cepat!!!

dillazag said...

Dear Anon,
Messages of hatred and vile languages are not accepted here. I have deleted your comments.
Have a good day!

NORA ANSHAR said...

i'm just curious as to what did the Anon wrote. care to publish?

dillazag said...

noresh, apa email ko? nanti aku hantaq. i don't like the choice of words and made my bulu roma meremang.

NORA ANSHAR said...

it's noresh_anshar@yahoo.com. thanks :)

that bad eh?

dillazag said...

noresh,
done!