back to article 'Draw Mohammed' call prompts Pakistan Facebook ban

Pakistani authorities have ordered ISPs to block access to Facebook ahead of an "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" planned by users for tomorrow. Prompted by a court order, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority today told providers to suspend access. The order runs until 31 May. The Facebook group for "Everybody Draw Mohammed …

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  1. Spoonsinger
    Grenade

    Will this do?

    o

    -|-

    / \

    IGMC.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      LOL!

      You actually beat me to it!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That is...

      ...f**king awesome :D

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    <title/>

    everybody draw mohammed day -> 44028 likes

    AGAINST everybody draw mohammed day -> 59849 likes

    I'll never understand how people can go so mad about a picture of some desert wanderer...

    1. J 3
      Grenade

      Yup...

      Even worse, draw someone about whose appearance nobody has the slightest clue. So, if I draw any Arab-looking caricature and label it Mohammad, that automatically means it must be THE Muhammad? Religious nuts (of all stripes) would be funny if they weren't so dangerous...

      1. Danny 14
        Joke

        aye

        maybe its because Mohammed was a white guy from runcorn. A fact that muslims want to protect. I mean, would you listen to anyone from runcorn?

  3. Cameron Colley

    I was about to laugh at Pakistan's stupid laws...

    ...then I~ remembered that it's still illegal to draw pictures of possibly under-age people engaged in possible sexual acts, or to get a bit pissed off an make a jokey remark about airports.

    1. Squirrel
      Go

      silly stuff

      I still don't know how the London Olympics logo got passed that law... Poor Lisa

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Draw Mohammed Day

    What? I can't draw Mohammed who sat at the other desk?

    Anonymous just in case religious nut jobs are reading...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    Picture related.

    < Mohammed in a troll suit.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Paris Hilton

      Picture Related II

      < Mohammed in Paris.

      1. Player_16
        Big Brother

        Picture Related III

        .

        .

        Close up

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Terminator

          Picture Related IV

          Cyborg Mohammed

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is it the school holidays or something?

    And when did Pakistan replace its leaders with children?

    I'm going to start a "pronounce the tetragrammaton day" group.

  7. Uncle Slacky Silver badge

    Jesusandmo

    It happens all the time here:

    http://www.jesusandmo.net

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    pussies

    "to show the extremists... that we're not afraid of them"

    How about they carry placards of Christ being sodomised by a goat around a major city in Alabama -- that would show that they're not scared of extremists.

    1. Danny 14
      FAIL

      not really the same

      I imagine there are already pictures of this somewhere on the intarwebs. You dont see Alabama banning the internet via court orders though.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      I think...

      that there is quite a difference between a picture of a person, and a picture designed to inflame.

      Perhaps you'd better go back to the crayons. And do try to stay in the lines today.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Not realy...

      Look at the southpark epesode. Noone threatend to kill anyone over Jesus watching porn in that. Christ being sodomised by a goat is not realy in the same leage.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Who new?

    Obviously this is a disguised attempt to protect the people of Pakistan from being "dumb f*cks".

  10. Adam T

    Anons

    Could this turn out to be the thread with the most anonymous posts yet?

    ??

    O

    ----

    |

    / \

    "Even Mohammed didn't understand all the fuss over pictures..."

  11. Ken 16 Silver badge
    Pirate

    Ban Facebook Day?

    Who needs an excuse?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Where's..

    .."draw an airport" day?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    just one problem....

    As we have no real drawings or paintings of Mohammed it is actually impossible to draw him as we have no idea what he looks like!

    So basically any drawing of him is impossible to say whether it is him or not, which means that millions of people get very angry at someone drawing a person and writing the name Mohammed under it. Rather stupid...

  14. Andrew Smith 1

    Mo

    o

    -|-

    / \

    Mohammed

    This is a drawing of the guy in my team named Mohammed. Nice guy as he doesn't have some personality complex which sends him insanely angry when someone draws him.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    We should all have.....

    Pictures of the Prophet on every newspaper, house, bus. Just to show these medieval nutjobs that 21st Century western civilisation will not be threatened by a bunch of intolerant misogynists. If they want to live by medieval values, then they should just snip those internet lines or move to a third world country.

  16. Squirrel
    Alert

    SPOILER

    It was actually Santa in the bear suit... however it WAS Muhammed in the back of the van.

  17. brimful
    Paris Hilton

    Why?

    Although I agree that Pakistan shouldn't get it's knickers in a twist over something they have no control over, I have to ask why is it perfectly acceptable to have this sort of event? Are we saying that since we're not Muslims and so don't share the same faith then it's ok to insult a pretty sizable group of people?

    Can I have a draw your mum day sucking cok on facebook as well? No? why the hell not? Obviously some people here would try to get a cheap win by commenting on the legality of the event as being obscene material etc.

    South park may have had Jesus etc in various compramising situations, but just because the "christian" west accepts the ridicule of their "lord", doesn't mean that the Muslim world should apply the same low standards.

    AC @ 16:07: Your mother is Paris perhaps?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      ...a

      People choose to be offended at things like this. We are talking about a mere depiction of the character. Buddhists aren't threatening violence over the depiction of Buddha on Southpark. This event is the best reaction to those death threats, allowing for the fear based censorship of speech isn't. You can draw, and be critical regarding any religious character in the western world.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        The whole problem is

        How uset they get. Christians, as far as I am aware, did not threatten to kill anyone over the dipiction of Jesus watching porn, where as some extreamists got very upset over the satire of Mohammed in a bare suit.

        It is not the same thing as you are discribing. My mother dose not put herself and her life in the public domain. It is closer to celebrities, and they accept allot of satire and abuse that most of us would not, because being questioned and critisised is part of being in the public domain, just as religions are. This should not go as far as outright attack and lies, for either group, but fair criticism and questioning, be that through academic discourse or satire, or on of many other ways, should be aloud.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ah, I see

      It's alright for my actions to be curtailed because it insults someone else's beliefs, but it's not alright for their actions to be curtailed because it insults my beliefs.

      Yep, don't see an issue with that at all, no-siree.

      Time to stop eating meat 'cos it offends the Buddhists.

      Could be a problem asking the Christians to stop worshipping Christ since it offends the Jews, though.

      Oh good, another Holy War looks to be around the corner.

      Can the rest of us have our planet back when you twunts have stopped destroying each other?

    3. Bumpy Cat
      Go

      Why not?

      Of course you draw whatever you like. You're a bit of an arsehole if you insult someone's mum, but I'm not going to stop you. I can say (or draw) whatever the hell I like, including Mohammed (PBUH), Christ or your mum. That's what freedom is - it was hard won from the religious nuts in the first place, and now religious nuts like you are trying to take it away again.

      Historical note: one of the worst periods in European history was the religious wars of the 16th-17th centuries, and out of that we got people saying "Hang on, why should I want to kill my neighbour because he prays in English and not Latin?". That was the beginning of the Enlightenment, which unfortunately didn't reach another, more monolithic religion. That's their problem, not ours.

    4. Mark Adamson
      WTF?

      .. because..

      Although I agree that Pakistan shouldn't get it's knickers in a twist over something they have no control over, I have to ask why is it perfectly acceptable to have this sort of event? Are we saying that since we're not Muslims and so don't share the same faith then it's ok to insult a pretty sizable group of people?

      ==========================

      Yep, although in fairness it's ok to insult christians, jews, athiests and wiccans too. Especially if they've opened themselves to ridicule for a nut job attitude to those who don't agree with their faith. You won't often get a Wiccan threatening to kill you for drawing a picture of the moon, or an athiest blowing themselves up in an angry response to someone saying that nothing doesn't exist.

      ==========================

      Can I have a draw your mum day sucking cok on facebook as well? No? why the hell not?

      Obviously some people here would try to get a cheap win by commenting on the legality of the event as being obscene material etc.

      ==========================

      You can draw a picture of her pooing onto a coffee table for all i care. It's only a picture after all.

      ==========================

      South park may have had Jesus etc in various compramising situations, but just because the "christian" west accepts the ridicule of their "lord", doesn't mean that the Muslim world should apply the same low standards.

      ==========================

      Low standards? How is not giving a toss about a fairy story character low standards? That's called "sanity" you bell.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You

      You can draw a picture of my mum any way you please and she'll laugh her arse off and then point out that you have a small willy.

      That's the kind of woman my mum is. Hell you could jump out in front of her with your small willy and she'd laugh if she thought you were dangerous she'd then grab your scroat, twist and pull.

      Mental health nurses know how to get on with life.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Ceci n'est pas une prophete.

    Banning images based on what the viewer interprets them to depict is more than a little open to interpretation and much sillyness.

    Since someone mentioned it online I see Lisa Simpson every time the olympics logo comes on the TV; unfortunately while it sounds silly, thats actually what I do see - banning this sick filth is taking it a bit far though - it's only filth in my mind.

  19. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    FAIL

    Yes but...

    I'm not Islamic, have not been taught under the Isamic method, and do not subscribe to it's fictions.

    So I'll draw whatever the hell I choose to.

    Thanks.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    God

    Well according to the bible, you're not allowed to make images of God (well, anything in heaven) - never seen that be censored.

    1. Wommit
      FAIL

      Get it right...

      you're not allowed to _worship_ graven images.

    2. HFoster

      Good point

      Ban Raphael's un-Godly filth!

      No?

      OK.

      Personally, I think these Facebook campaigns for whatever are a load of bollocks. I have better things to do with my time than join a bunch of teenage frakwits making a "point" or a "stand". As I understand it, al Qa'eda are already pissed off that we live in non-Islamic countries where we can drink alcohol, watch porn, eat bacon (mmmm... bacon), and see a woman's whole body (not just her eyes and ankles) without being married to her. I don't need to draw Mohammed to annoy them, I just have to live my life.

      Piece of piss!

  21. Skymonrie
    Pirate

    Insanity

    I do agree that the blocking of Facebook is quite over the top. However, people repeatedly fail to realize it is quite a "conservative" place to be and that the people of "faith" there are devoted to the last breath.

    Hosting a "draw Mohammed day" is just f***ing retarded though and shows complete thoughtlessness about how another person may feel. Now I'm not one of these people who buy in to PC but all this will do is gonna piss them off to the extreme.

    This blocking of Facebook is a good thing I believe, it's just a waste of time anyway. To them, drawing the prophet is the equivalent of killing a swan here in England. Just not cricket.

    "to show the extremists... that we're not afraid of them" - golfclap being sat half a world away...prick is the only word that comes to my mind.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      What the heck...

      ...is wrong with killing a swan - particularly if it attacks you?

      Nasty vicious creatures.

      1. Rob
        Stop

        It's illegal...

        ... swans are protected by the Crown.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nice to see

    So much tolerance and respect of the beliefs of others.

    No .. wait ...

    1. Richard 68
      Stop

      Respect for the beliefs of others....

      .... is a bit of a funny concept in itself. Respect should be shown for people, no doubt- but also for any half baked idea they not only have, but can't justify? Surely not.

      Respect for people should be automatic. Their ideas on the other hand have to earn respect the hard way, by standing up for themselves in the cold light of rational criticism. Or even of irrational criticism, for that matter.

      No idea or belief merits respect simply because someone holds it. Otherwise we just fall into weak kneed relativism, and have a hard time knowing what to do with the various Pol Pots, Hitlers - and Ayatollahs - whose ideas really merit very little.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        This is a title

        I'm not asking you to accept their beliefs, merely to respect them.

        This campaign is quite simply a juvenile attempt to provoke others by belittling, and acting in a disrespectful manner towards, what they believe in, nothing more.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Clowns

    More 'my invisible friend is bigger than your invisible friend' and I thought we left this kind of shit behind with the theory that the earth is flat.

  24. adnim

    offence is a relative reaction.

    "The group's organisers say it is not designed to offend ordinary Muslims"

    But it will. It is not just Muslims, but a lot of organised religion types are very touchy when it comes to folk, even the lay or secular type, criticising or ignoring the propaganda spouted by their various respective religious tombs.

    Should you care? well it's up to, you my book says I have no right to judge you, should you not agree with me.

    Personally though, I couldn't give a flying one.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    What are they hiding?

    I wonder what they are afraid of... Maybe Mohammed was a girl who didn't live inside a cloth postbox!

    Anon cos as a white Anglo-Saxon male I don't trust the UK police to protect my freedom, only restrict it.

    Paris, cos well she might look like Mohammed, and we've all seen her postbox.

  26. the bat
    Pirate

    Why would a prophet want to be anonymous

    Why would a prophet want to be anonymous?? was he the first 2000 year old trickster playing two parts to his followers ... Mohammed for muslims - Someone else for the Jews and Christians ... Collecting money from both sides of the fence!

  27. bruceld

    Amazing...

    I'm atheist, I'm certainly not Muslim and I'm definitely not middle eastern.

    I think it's offensive and ignorant to disrespect other peoples religion beliefs. If a religion doesn't want people to depict or make fun of their God, why would someone want to do that? I'll tell you why; they love the attention, they only do it because they think they're being cute or funny, and they think it's just a harmless prank that doesn't harm or hurt anyone. They think they are brave but in fact they are very cowards. You would expect this type of behavior from children that have not yet fully developed their moral or compassion skills. Contrary to the offenders belief, yes it apparently does harm and hurt others.

    For all you men that think they're brave and think it's all funny, why not go to Texas, dress up like a woman and carry a sign that shows a gay-married black skinned Jesus wearing a gay pride t-shirt giving an abortion to a pregnant preteen? Let's see how brave you are and let's see how long you survive.

    1. Hollerith 1

      Hero for a day

      Have to agree that posting a drawing safely to 'show them extremist Muslims' that we ain't scared of them means precisely zero, and its childishness would, I suspect, offend my MOTR Muslim friends simply because it is childish.

      But you don't need to carry a sign of a black gay-married Jesus in Texas to face real danger. I did that just as an ordinary out Lesbian being white, middle-class and myself. Anything extra (a placard, whatever) would have been superfluous: I was already in danger asking for directions. I will skip the details, but let's just say I was glad I was out of town before nightfall.

      I do get tired of the dominant group showing how brave it is by taunting the less dominant. What courage, etc etc.

    2. Originone

      So many religious beliefs need serious disrespecting.

      Its the religious belief of some that should they strap themselves with dynamite, wander into a crowded cafe and detonate themselves they will get a direct pass to heaven. You might think it offensive and ignorant to disrespect that belief, but I think it idiotic in the extreme not to.

      Its the religious belief of some that women should not be educated nor have a say in who they marry. You might think it offensive and ignorant to disrespect that belief, but i think it misogynistic not to.

      Its the religious belief of some that contraception is a sin, despite the multitude of social and health problems that can be prevented or helped by the use of prophylactics. You might think it offensive and ignorant to disrespect that belief, but I think it terribly callous not to.

      I will respect a persons right to religious belief about as much as I respect a persons right to psychosis, after all they're nearly the same thing. If someone has a religious belief then the practice of that belief better not negatively impact on me or the community/society I live in if you want me to respect your right to that belief, and in a globally connected world that is damn near impossible.

      In this case their religious belief requires the surrender of a tiny little bit of my freedom. Well F*** that I say. I may never have a good reason for exercising that tiny freedom, but I am loath to give it up for fear of offending some nutjob's religious beliefs.

      Having said that I am pragmatic and to smooth my ride through life I will tolerate religious belief where the impact is minimal, that does not require that I respect it.

      As a final point, you sir lack the conviction of your beliefs. Call yourself an atheist? the logical conclusion of that belief is that all people of faith are at least a little bit unhinged. You're more an agnostic if you think its alright for the god botherers to perpetuate these myths and mental illnessess.

    3. Rattus Rattus

      To my mind,

      I think it's offensive and ignorant for someone to expect me to abide by their religious beliefs when I am not a follower of their religion. I wouldn't deliberately go out of my way to offend the religious, but if I want to draw something I will. If I want to consider belief in a magic sky fairy a form of mental illness, I will. I don't accept the thought that it might offend someone as a valid reason, on it's own, to refrain from doing or saying something I would otherwise want to.

      That being said, I wouldn't be a part of this drawing Mohammed day because I can't see the point, but if I did want to draw Mohammed for some reason, someone's religion is simply not going to be a factor I consider. And that applies whether their particular magic sky fairy is called Allah, Jehovah, Ahura Mazda, or Bob.

    4. Danny 14
      FAIL

      silly wabbit

      Thats a bit stupid. You could go to a millwall game dressed in a man u shirt and get fucked over. Go to our local pub "the crown" and profess that you are polish and you'd probably get the snot kicked out of you (lots of anti poles near here).

      But in the same vein, put said group of people taking pictures of "dress up like a woman and carry a sign that shows a gay-married black skinned Jesus wearing a gay pride t-shirt giving an abortion to a pregnant preteen" on facebook and see if texas goes to court to block access to facebook. You also wouldnt get the pope calling jihad and death to all ^^ would you?

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Wow

      "a sign that shows a gay-married black skinned Jesus wearing a gay pride t-shirt giving an abortion to a pregnant preteen"

      I'm sure even Hockney would struggle to get that one done.

      I'm curious, why do they have to go to Texas? I don't think the FB group is advocating everyone travelling to Pakistan to draw Mo.

      If beliefs can't stand up to a bit of ridicule or scrutiny, then they're not very sound.

      As an atheist are you not p*ssed off that the various religious powers around the world are trying to push their beliefs and views onto you? I am.

      I don't need a special book to tell me that I don't want to go around killing people, but I do reserve the right to take the piss out of those who do and then don't condemn those who claim the same beliefs, but go around killing people because they've been "insulted".

      And by that I mean all the Abrahamic faiths particularly.

      It's no good saying you are non-violent and peaceful if you don't back that up by actually being non-violent and peaceful.

  28. David 141
    WTF?

    One sided

    "I'm atheist...

    ...think it's offensive and ignorant to disrespect other peoples religion beliefs."

    Wow, just wow.

    1. You think they give a flying f--- about _your_ beliefs? They wouldn't think twice about locking you up or worse for heresy, blasphemy or apostacy or other thought crimes.

    2. We mock all kinds of non-religious beliefs - politics, sexuality, artistic, musical taste. Why does religion get special treatment? It'd be nice if the religious freaks kept their snouts out of peoples political beliefs, sexual mores, artistic tastes and musical preferences (think heavy metal), but they don't.

    3. Free speech > people's feelings.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Look we all know why they want his image to be kept secret it's an IP issue

    It is because people always assume he is like the jewish god i.e. human looking.

    In actuallity from a distance he looks somewhat like a green rectangle with a crescent and star done out in white. Hey wait a minute, I know some people who uses his image in vain daily, burn the infidels.

    I say take a leaf out of the religious maniacs books and do unto all of them as they would unto others.

    I always wondered if god is love/peace/compassion etc. why so many people are killed in his/her/her/star crescent green rectangles name

  30. Winkypop Silver badge
    WTF?

    Why stop at Mohammed?

    Why not have a "draw your favourite invisible sky daddy" day?

    There must be thousands of gods to choose from*

    That would be fairer for all people of faith.

    * however not as many as there once were...

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In a hoodie

    So here we go ...

    ((><))

    +

    / \

    Mohammed in a hoodie...

    1. Mark Eaton-Park
      Joke

      thats not mohammed

      Oh my god you drew Kenny

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Alert

        The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

        You bastard!

  32. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Not just in Pakistan...

    ...but right here in the Holiday Inn, Nottingham as well:

    "This page has been blocked by your Service Provider"

    ...and even the BBC Search results page was blocked too!

    (Accessed via mobile connection to view and post)

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Draw what you like

    But remember that at the same time, there's been a massive amount of interference in muslim lands which has inflamed opposition and resistance to millions of people being killed. And not only are the outsiders killing and stealing mineral wealth to bolster their economies, now they're taking the piss. This however, doesn't make it right to riot and commit violence because they're annoyed.

    We're lucky to have the freedom to say and do what we want in our own countries, yet it's more important to us to wind up certain groups, whilst out goverments work out which country to bomb next, and we sit and do sweet FA about it.

    Could somebody work out how many people have been killed in the name of socialism and democracy and religion, we'd then have an objective fact in order to compare which ideology is worse for humanity?

    Wise heads would ignore the cartoons and focus on a world in which we can justify invading and oppressing others in order to make our own lives comfortable.

  34. Stefing
    Grenade

    Of course

    The group is full of Muslims either

    a) saying how peaceful they are

    or

    b) threatening to kill people

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Mine a picture of Mo hiding behind a pint of his favourite beer.

    If you look closely you can see him with his 7year old wife......

  36. David Pollard

    The ghost in the machine

    Arthur Koestler maintained that the problem with people is not so much their capacity for violence but rather the underlying drive to belong to a group which is hard-wired into human psychology. Perhaps he wasn't far wrong.

  37. Nathan 13

    The Tltie Is Rqireud, And msut cnotian lteters and/or dgitis

    Everyone seems to be offended by everything these days.

    And that really offends me!!!

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Sara

    Now that you have rejected my last post, I suggest to read the Quran for your own and verify my claims. You will see that I made up nothing.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: @Sara

      I rejected it in the interests of trying to keep the scrapping to a minimum, jlocke, it's not a reflection on whether I think you're right or not.

      For future ref, it's Sarah, not Sara. Ta (rah).

  39. Ian Ferguson
    Thumb Down

    This protest will do nothing

    One, it's upsetting my Islamic friends.

    Two, their families and friends in Pakistan now can't talk to them on Facebook.

    Regardless of who you blame - the group, Facebook, terrorists, the Pakistani government - the people who are being damaged by this battle are, as always, normal people.

    That's why I'm against this protest. Yes, you have a right to free speech, but just because you have the right doesn't mean you HAVE to exercise it and unneccesarily upset people. It's just childish.

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sunni / Shia

    "Islamic teaching typically forbids depictions of its prophet." Actually Shias are more relaxed about this, and Shia art sometimes depicts the prophet. Sunnis mostly don't, though, except for some very old pictures. So it isn't really an Islamic thing as such, more a Sunni thing.

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    RE: This protest will do nothing

    >Yes, you have a right to free speech, but just because you have the right doesn't mean you HAVE to exercise it and unneccesarily upset people. It's just childish.

    Ok, fair enough we have the right to freedom of speech, the problem is however those who oppose OUR freedoms in OUR OWN countries!

    A friend of mine said it best:

    "They all complain about how hard their lives were in their own country, so they decide they want a better life and move to Europe/America/where ever in the free world they desire to live in, and as soon as they get here they bitch and moan about the freedom we all enjoy"

    Although his statement may not represent the mass majority, the minority certainly aren't happy and cry the loudest.

    A troll: he's Mohammed!

  42. ravenviz Silver badge
    Troll

    12:55

    What's facebook?

  43. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    it's been shut down

    Facebook seem to have shut the page down. How predictable that they be so weak and pathetic, just like the people sending death threats to members that posted images.

  44. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You forgot

      8. The English Defence League (or scum like them) have a field day.

  45. Graham Bartlett

    Vain attempt to inject sanity

    Do they really care that these people have drawn Mohammed? Probably not, actually. What bothers them is that 50,000 people want to actively disrespect their religion, and Facebook don't seem to care about it.

    If 50,000 Pakistanis joined a Facebook group called "Wipe your shitty backside with the American flag", I suspect Americans would get upset fairly quickly. Or if 50,000 Jews joined a group called "Dip your circumcised cock in the font of a Catholic church". And both groups would, I suspect, be deleted by Facebook admins pretty damn quickly.

    Or try making a picture of the Virgin Mary, which (and I quote from Wikipedia) "depicted a black African Mary surrounded by images from blaxploitation movies and close-ups of female genitalia cut from pornographic magazines, and elephant dung". Chris Ofili was *very* not popular with Christians after that one.

  46. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    While I'm not opposed to this "protest" outright

    it does seem incredibly childish.

    A group of 10 people threatened South Park over a drawing of Mohammed (or something... I stopped watching South Park when I turned 12), and now over 50 thousand (a lot more than that but the FB group is now gone so I can't check) people have aligned themselves to a cause that basically amounts to the wanton trolling of Islam - purportedly with the goal of using their free speech to bitch about how they don't have free speech.

    Some of the pictures did make me laugh, but I have to say that I've come away with the impression that this is a needlessly divisive stunt that only stands to cause a backlash that will limit people's freedoms in the long run. Pakistan have already banned Facebook and you can bet your bottom dollar Labour bureaucrats are drafting knee-jerk legislation right now. At least they would be if the Miliband clones weren't bitch slapping each other around over leadership. Just goes to show what a joke that party is when their choice of leader is between 2 brothers - neither of whom have any discernible human qualities whatsoever.

    ... but I digress.

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A new low...

    Well, with a few noteable exceptions, this is a new low for The Register's Commentators.

    "These people are different, they have different beliefs and different values to us: Let's piss them off and upset them, that will help in fostering understanding between nations and work towards world peace."

    Really, some of the comments here would shame the Daily Mail, do any of you have friends or collegues who are muslim? Have any of you any idea about Islam? (Don't bother answering, I won't believe you anyway.) If a few of you could just stop and think a bit before vomiting your ill concieved opinions out onto the internet, maybe the world might be a nicer place.

  48. Bunglebear
    Pirate

    The larger picture

    I think the fixation on Islam here is a moot point, its more of an expression of distaste at censorship. The drawing of Mohammed has just been used to bring it to the fore as its so controversial, particularly with the Danish cartoons and the fact there is no good reason for it to be banned in a western, non-islamic country.

    I respect the ideal, if not the methods.

    The pirate symbol looks a bit like a dead Mohammed with his well used scimitars by his side...its how he would have wanted to go. I take this as my contribution to the drawing debate.

  49. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Islam

    "Have any of you any idea about Islam? "

    I have read quite a few pages of the Quran and there are peiodic requests for violence, lethal and non-lethal.

    The PC brigade denies this in the name of "tolerance" and "respect". All "a problem of translation".

    The sucide-bombers are just taking their "holy book literally".

    Now will Sarah censor this ?

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Islam

      No, because I don't 'censor' comments. Please stop being hysterical and elevating your witterings to the level of something greater.

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Respect for religious feelings...

    ...or respect for psychotic episodes. Same old, same old. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist - once someone mistakes their religious feelings for reality they're headed for the closed ward.

    Says a Zen Buddhist...

  51. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      title...

      Ok, this facebook group was either specifically designed to offend muslims en mass or the people who started it are ignorant in the extreme. Dressing it up as a protest doesn't cut it. Let's be clear: Ten people sent death threats to the South Park people, the people who did this do not represent Islam and are not acting within its teachings, hell they may not even be muslims - it could have been people who have interest in discrediting Islam. For someone to then create a protest about this outrage, which will seriously offend a large proportion of muslims is at best disproportionate - especially as it will not single out those who carried out the threats, rather it tars all muslims with the 'violent jihadi' brush. This is why I object to it, it is nothing to do with free speech.

      As for the rest of your post, it seems to drift off into the realms of paranoia. You admit that the only muslim you have known was a nice chap, but seem to buy into the nonsense churned out by elements of the tabloid media about not allowing people to eat in offices during Ramadan and Sharia courts in the UK. Sharia courts only exist to "police" matters such as divorce and the like, matters which can also be dealt with by UK courts but are not criminal or are matters which are specific to Islam and are not in contravention of UK/European law. They don't deal with criminal matters, this would still be the the UK police/CPS/Courts. They don't deal on matters of sexuallity, this is not allowed under the human rights act. Sharia courts cannot impose the death penalty. (do you really think they can?) Not allowing eating during Ramadan was suggested in a council, I seem to recall up north somewhere, by a non-muslim and was dropped as soon as it was suggested because the muslims objected to it.

  52. stupormundi

    My facebook account disabled, LOL [part 1]

    I posted two images at those "everybody draw ..." [the unmentionable] FB pages, which did not actually depict [the unmentionable].

    One was simply an image of a T-shirt that had "The Prophet" written on it. The other was a bitmap of a discourse between a devout and an infidel, which contained some ASCII stick-figures, which were NOT labeled [the unmentionable].

    I'll be glad to put the text in a separate comment, so that it can be censored separately, if necessary (don't want to get your office bombed, what would I do all day without the Reg).

    So anyways just now after I posted the T-shirt picture my account got disabled. I should probably make the T-shirt and walk around in it in meatspace until someone offs me.

    (the T-shirt meme of course is that if you wear it you're not depicting [the unmentionable], but all those randoms who take pictures of you with their mobiles will)

  53. stupormundi

    My facebook account disabled, LOL [part 2]

    Below is the ascii that probably got my facebook account disabled.

    Pretty harmless i think

    (the comments web-app chews up the stick-figures, but I'm sure you get the idea)

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Devout: It is prohibited to depict the prophet and those who do must die!

    Infidel: Since your prophet lived long ago, and no-one knows exactly how he looked, is that not strictly speaking a prohibition of labeling the prophet rather than depicting?

    D: Your splitting hairs. Amounts to the same thing.

    I: Not entirely. If I draw...

    D: Gasp!

    I: Chill. No need to stress out just yet. If I draw a stick-man like this:

    0

    -- --

    |

    _/\_

    ...and I label it...

    D: Watch it!

    I: Relax. ...I label it to make sure it doesn't depict your prophet, like so:

    0

    -- --

    |

    _/\_ *NOT* who-you-think-it-is

    D: Er- alright.

    I: Of course, based on the context of our chat, you could be forgiven for thinking I'm just being sneaky with the labeling and the stick-man is really meant to be your prophet.

    D: Hey! Prepare to die, infi...

    I: But then it's you who's doing the labeling, not me, so you should really be offing yourself instead.

    D: Smartass.

    I: Thanks.

  54. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    West vs East

    We simply have to accept that Islam cannot be reconciled with Western Ethics. Many other cultures like the Hindus and the Buddhist are no problem whatsoever, because they are simply tolerant of others and their culture.

    Just stop that multi-cultural pipe dream and errect solid barriers between the Islamic world and everybody else. If not, we can have two other Afghanistans in Jemen and Somalia. I am sure the Merkins already develop a new superdrone and AI software that will help their soldiers to fight (==lose) those future wars on islamist terror.

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