Your Danish Cartoons Hangover Update

* the country of Bangladesh has apparently blocked Facebook, citing a request from what this article describes as the "anti-crime and anti-terrorism elite force" called "Rapid Action Battalion" to institute a temporary ban. On Saturday officials arrested 30-year-old (I think, he's also described as a youth) Mahbub Alam Rodin for uploading images of Muhammed and political leaders onto a Facebook account. The description of the Rodin as having multiple Facebook accounts as some sort of nefarious sign is both funny (my Mom has multiple Facebook accounts) and depressing.

* on the other hand, this article suggests that the Bangladeshi ban has more to do with the Everybody Draw Muhammed day promotion.

* on the other other hand, parts of the Pakistani Facebook ban focused on that promotion have been lifted. Sort of, I think.

* one of the distressing elements of the entire Danish Cartoons Controversy is that it's given greater credence to people that argue for limits to Free Speech based on some apparent right not to be insulted. I blame the lack of seriousness of the original stunt, and the inability of its sponsors and creator to articulate why they felt it had to be done beyond that weird reference to a children's book story that lacked an artist (which was later published, with art and everything). I think others would lay the blame for that elsewhere, if they cared to address the issue at all.

* an editorial with word "Right" in both its title and its descriptive asserts that Muhammed was the original anti-religion satirist.
 
posted 9:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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