Internet Censorship's First Death Sentence? 475
mrogers writes "A journalism student in Afghanistan has been sentenced to death by a Sharia court for downloading and sharing a report criticizing the treatment of women in some Islamic countries. The student was accused of blasphemy and tried without representation. According to Reporters Without Borders, sixty people are currently in jail worldwide for criticizing governments online, fifty of them in China, but this may be the first time someone has been sentenced to death for using the internet. Internet censorship is on the rise worldwide, according to The OpenNet Initiative."
Re:1st censorship death sentence (Score:5, Interesting)
This is OUR fault. WE did this. (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh, but I'm sorry... I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new. After all, everyone in America knows that Osama hated Saddam and that the latter had nothing to do with 9/11! Everyone knows that al-Qaeda was originally led by Osama to be an anti-Iraq and anti-Saddam milita!
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=544 [harrisinteractive.com] quote: [in 2005] 64 percent believe that Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda (up slightly from 62% in November).
How is it FUCKING possible that this has happened? Osama is the one responsible for 9/11, and yet trillions spent on Iraq, a country that Osama was actively trying to fight. But, you know, despite the fact that Iraq has been an unending clusterfuck, I at least assumed that things in Afghanistan--the only that actually openly supported Osama--were going semi-decently. Ok yeah, so opium production has been on the rise since we invaded--shit happens, shit happens, plus I'm not exactly a huge fan of the war on drugs anyway so it's no biggie.
But this... What the FUCK. We destroy the Taliban, and then install THIS sharia-based bullshit? Or, at the very least, we allowed this government to take power after the Taliban fell? We're busy JAMMING democracy and freedom down the throat of Iraq, but we're allowing Afghanistan to descend into the dark ages again? We're allowing them to become a breeding ground for the successor to Osama bin Laden?
I don't know what to say. Sounds like the beginning of a Lewis Black routine, but for the life of me I think of a punch line.
I don't understand. Being mindlessly pro-war is one thing. Being mindlessly pro-war vs. a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while allowing the country that harbored and nurtured the mastermind behind 9/11 to DESCEND INTO A FUCKING TOTALITARIANISM AGAIN is just... just...
What is WRONG with you people--you jingoists, you untiring flag-wavers, you twin-tower-tattooing rednecks, you support-the-war-or-you-aren't-a-patriot fucks? Why aren't you screaming at our president for allowing Osama to get away with it? Why aren't you screaming at him to bring 'freedom' to Afghanistan, a country we originally invaded six and a half years ago, a country that was and apparently still is much more oppressive and totalitarian than Iraq ever was?
I don't understand.
Re:1st censorship death sentence (Score:2, Interesting)
EVERY religion sucks! (Score:5, Interesting)
No, let's say thank "god" no one was ever killed on behalf of religious skepticism, or agnosticism, or whatever you call it.
Any kind of blind belief, where faith never bends to reason, is evil, no matter if it's faith in Islam or Jesus Christ.
Robert Heinlein said it best, in "If This Goes On -":
"Yet you are willing to assert your own religious convictions and to use them as a touchstone to judge my conduct. So I repeat: who told you? What hill were you standing on when the lightning came down from heaven and illuminated you? Which archangel carried the message?"
"I believe that a man has an obligation to be merciful to the weak
"I believe very strongly in freedom of religion - but I think that that freedom is best expressed as freedom to keep quiet. From my point of view, a great deal of openly expressed piety is insufferable conceit."
Re:1st censorship death sentence (Score:5, Interesting)
Alas if it is left alone, we get a repeat of the same situation that led to the reason we had to 'help' [koff] them in the first place.
The Taleban used to execute women for, well, pretty much anything. That's not good, but neither is it representative of the entire population.
The problem is, there are a fair few million people who are Afghans, and they'd rather not leave, what with it being their ancestral home of many tens of thousands of years. What do you think would happen if, say, Utah lost proper government for a while and became a place ruled purely by the whims of religious men with absolute power and no desire to let things change?
Do you think the normal folk in Utah would all think it was ok to leave and let the state collapse/be fenced off? Or that they might perhaps want a little help to sort things out.
Re:This is OUR fault. WE did this. (Score:5, Interesting)
What is WRONG with you people--you jingoists, you untiring flag-wavers, you twin-tower-tattooing rednecks, you support-the-war-or-you-aren't-a-patriot fucks?
There's a certain segment of the population that just likes things to be simple. They don't understand the world, and they don't want to. They rely on the President or Bill O'Reilly, or hell, even Susan Sarandon to tell them what's right. If the leadership tells them something simple like "we gotta get them terrorists" they'll defend that forever. Questioning that would be going down the path of trying to understand something they don't want to.
Everyone does that to SOME degree with some topic. If my mechanic started talking about how bad Chevy transmissions are compared to Ford transmissions, and how Chevy was a rotten company for making bad transmissions, my eyes would glaze over, especially if I heard all the time how great Chevy transmissions are from my friends, family, etc. Obviously I think international politics are more important than transmissions... but my point is there's a certain amount of willful disengagement with the populace.
Your message is right, but your approach is wrong. You sound like Ron Paul (in the sanest thing he's ever said) talking about Iraq at the Republican debate the other night. People, at least in the US, don't like to listen to ranting and raving people. It doesn't matter what they're saying, it's just an automatic "this guy sounds crazy, whatever he's saying is crazy".
Re:We had a choice. We could have stopped it. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:1st censorship death sentence (Score:4, Interesting)
Totally agreed.
However, accept that you're going to get royally fucked unless you're in the majority. Your rights are great and all, but the herd hates a mutant.
Re:1st censorship death sentence (Score:2, Interesting)
Contrast with these our modern, pinpoint strikes and massive restraint seeking to minimize civilian casualties.
To sum up, you cannot build up a new system until you've fully torn down the old one.
I am crying (Score:2, Interesting)
I have read the Quraan many times, I know every part of Sunnah.
I know the goals of what is called "Shariaa law", be it far or near.
I have lived and identified with the moral values that this religion calls for (which I presume
But I have never ever witnessed such hatred, ignorance, cruelty, absurdity, hypocrisy in my life
I call all people
to pray with me (even atheists will agree with me, this time)..
that these people may burn in hell
Amen
Quran [16:116] But say not - for any false thing that your tongues may put forth,- "This is lawful, and this is forbidden," so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah, will never prosper.
Quran [4:50] "Behold! how they invent a lie against Allah. but that by itself is a manifest sin!"
Quran [3:94] "If any, after this, invent a lie and attribute it to Allah, they are indeed unjust wrong-doers."
Quran [9:107] "They will indeed swear that their intention is nothing but good; But Allah doth declare that they are certainly liars."
Quran [10:69] Say: "Those who invent a lie against Allah will never prosper."
Quran [58:16] "They have made their oaths a screen (for their misdeeds): thus they obstruct (men) from the Path of Allah. therefore shall they have a humiliating Penalty."
Re:1st censorship death sentence (Score:4, Interesting)
Your Orwellian rant is the speech of a man who expects always to be in the majority, and expects others to protect him if he's not. While your attitude may serve you in a pluralist democracy, it hinges on the existence of the men whom you despise - men who understand that vigilance is not just a necessary evil, but a way of life.
Vigilance and self defence do not mean having a private arsenal in a concrete bunker, and being paranoid of anyone who comes near you. They DO mean keeping informed of the world around you, being ready to defend yourself and others, and seeking to cultivate similar attitudes in those around you. It can be as simple as starting a neighbourhood watch, or as complex as organizing an armed neighbourhood militia to defend your streets, as some of your fellow citizens had to do recently in Louisiana. Ask yourself, how well could you provide for your family tomorrow if a New Orleans scale disaster hit your city? Only fools and sheep depend on others for their defence. It's YOUR life! Protect it!
make that atleast 150 people in grief! (Score:3, Interesting)
If these 60 people had one friend and one relative there would be already 150 people waiting in grief.
It's not as small as it appears like, it's just a number, although a number with numbers attached to it.
Which people tend to forget is the outcome of one individual towards many....