Pakistan To Scour Google, Yahoo For Blasphemy 371
sv_libertarian sends in this excerpt from an AP report:
"Pakistan will start monitoring seven major websites, including Google, Yahoo, and Amazon, for sacrilegious content, while blocking 17 other, lesser-known sites it deems offensive to Muslims, an official said Friday. The moves follow Pakistan's temporary ban imposed on Facebook in May that drew both praise and condemnation in a country that has long struggled to figure out how strict a version of Islam it should follow. ... 'If any particular link with offensive content appears on these websites, the (link) shall be blocked immediately without disturbing the main website,' [said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority spokesman Khurram Mehran]."
Fulltime Job (Score:5, Insightful)
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The department that will handle that will one day become larger than the IRS.
I was of the understanding that the Pakistan has good relations with China, so maybe they could get some firewall installed with a little help. If China can sensor the whole internet to the extent that it does, I have little doubt that that Pakistan could at least attempt to modify it for anti-Islamic comments instead of (or maybe in addition to) political dissent.
So I guess that's the danger of censorship and anti-net neutrality. Once they get the ball rolling, it will probably become more efficient an
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, really, what a job description!
"Actively go out and find stuff that offends and appalls you"
I hope they get paid well to have to essentially work with insults all day long.
What metrics will they use to track their job performance? If they don't find enough offensive content, will they have to create their own to justify their existence?
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:5, Insightful)
If they don't find enough offensive content, will they have to create their own to justify their existence?
Have you seen the internet?
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:4, Informative)
You left out the offensive part where it turns out the Rabbi was heavily invested in goat futures.
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Yeah, really, what a job description! "Actively go out and find stuff that offends and appalls you"
I think they might need an Islamic equivalent of shabbos goy.
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:5, Insightful)
Better still: just start a campaign to get anyone who calls these call-centers to blaspheme down the phone every time they call.
It won't be long before all the jobs are shipped back to more tolerant people.
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Have you SEEN how many of them stand around in the streets chanting Death To XXXXXX during work hours? I'm sure they can find plenty of 'em who would love to do the job of fundamentalist censor.
Re:Fulltime Job (Score:5, Funny)
With enough offensive stimuli, some are likely to suffer from premature detonation.
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Just wait until they learn about Rule 34.
8==D O: Muhammad sucking a big cock (Score:5, Insightful)
So does that mean they are only block my comment from being viewed, but not all of slashdot? I'd like to see how they plan on doing that.
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Best hack in the world would be to change whatever error message pops up when someone hits something blasphemous so that it redirects to Encyclopedia Dramatica. [encycloped...matica.com] I like this one. [encycloped...matica.com]
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Ah, but we do want pakistanis to find this. It is their government that doesn't wish for them to view it.
Re:Grow up (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because someone is going to get mad, doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. I'll exercise discretion as I please, who are you to dictate your ideas of respect to me?
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But the AC is right... freedom of speech is no excuse for being ignorant, intolerant and offensive.
Though... flying civilian filled airliners into a civilian target causing thousands of pointless deaths IS a great reason for being offensive, but not ignorant or intolerant.
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Who's being intolerant? Mocking something does not make one intolerant. Just because someone bashes aspects of Islam (or any religion or idea for that matter) does not mean they are intolerant of Muslims. Plenty of people think Raptor Jesus is funny and hate Christianity, but as long as I'm not going to to try to silence them, that doesn't mean they would not tolerate me (a Christian). It's pretty ignorant to suggest people are intolerant because some people are offended.
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Having no sense of humor is no excuse for limiting free speech.
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It is my right to say that, and I refuse to offer an excuse.
Yup, but that doesn't make your opinion intelligent, educated or insightful.
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That wasn’t his opinion, it was merely an illustration of his opinion that people should be allowed to say that if they want to.
Re:Grow up (Score:5, Insightful)
If he's going to trample on other people's rights over it, you're damn right I should. This isn't about making people mad. I know some Muslims, they're decent enough, and I don't really care for offending people just for the sake of it, but this isn't about offending people. This is about people who want to control other people's inherent right to free speech , and I would rather stand up and say yes, I have free speech, and if you don't like what I, or anyone else, has to say, if you find it offensive, that's fine, you have the right to be offended, but if you want to stop anyone, go fuck a pig. [encycloped...matica.com] Warning, link NSFP (not safe for Pakistan).
Oh, and maybe your idea that what other people think should influence what I can say is offensive to me, so you should stop.
FUCK OFF!!!!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Just because you know calling another kid a name will make him mad doesn't mean that you should do it. A little respect, please.
When the entire PURPOSE of that anger is to squelch dissent and stifle free speech?
FUCK OFF!!!!
This world will be a much better and safer when Islam is dragged out of the 11th century.
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Re:Grow up (Score:4, Interesting)
Who is more mature;
the person who says empty words to anger another,
or the person who lets nothing but empty words anger them?
Not defending the act of insulting another for fun, just defending the right to do so. And to point out that you took the bait as the OP intended.
Re:Grow up (Score:4, Insightful)
You miss the point of this entirely. Prohibition of blasphemy is a rule you set up for the members of *your* faith only, not for others. Trying to impose your rules over people who have not signed up for your religion has to be called on.
Only one way this can end (Score:3, Funny)
Allah Akbar.
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Are you capable of defending yourself, or are you simply hiding behind the protection of your government? Are you always certain it will be able to protect you? Will you never leave its influence? Are you foolish enough to believe that once you leave its borders, it will go to the ends of the earth to protect you? Hint: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37907132/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/ [msn.com]
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No, it is the experience of someone who learned long, long ago not to talk all tough unless you're able and willing to back it up. Because eventually someone will call you on it.
And to not count on your big friends, because they will not always be there to protect you.
Lessons learned in high school are quite often apropos to real life, and quite often scale up to the nation state level.
Imagine the uproar if it was the other way round (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine if these companies sought to block Pakistan or any other Islamic country. There would be uproar and claims of racism, anti-religious behaviour etc. etc. Yet when these same governments block sites for religious purposes it's considered some sort of right to choose (nevermind that it's on behalf of so many whose rights are stomped). I don't have an issue with people blocking their own access out of stupidity, but this idea that they can choose on behalf of others is a reminder of why religious rather than rational reasoning is so dangerous and has no place in politics.
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That would be hilarious, not offensive. I'd buy swag from whatever company vengefully blocked them back.
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Yet when these same governments block sites for religious purposes it's considered some sort of right to choose
Bullshit. The entire reason it is a big news story is because it is so bogus.
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Not quite: People who are strongly nationalistic believe that it's not OK for Pakistan to do it. After all, how are they supposed to see that such blatant religious control of a country is so wrong.
But they do think that blocking al-jazeera is appropriate, but first they need to get back to making sure there's a reference to God in our pledges, money, and any government document they can put it on [wikipedia.org].
Ah My (Score:5, Interesting)
It must be sad to so terrified that your religion will collapse if you don't control what the adherents read. Any religion that can only survive by censorship is a religion deserving of nothing but absolute scorn and the sincerest wish that it end up in the trash heap of worthless ideas.
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This is basically the Pakistani version of the Fairness Doctrine--a government deciding what is fair and what should be read by its citizens. Situations like this are exactly why people oppose this stuff.
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I think it's more about the Pakistani government trying to appease the hardliners. They tend to kowtow to the religious factions in the country, because without them they cannot maintain power.
I agree about the aspect though - if your beliefs require faith, how can you ever force it on someone? Faith by nature comes from within. No external force can change that.
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Re:Ah My (Score:4, Funny)
The only thing the Da Vinci Code and that awful sequel challenged in me was my ability to suspend disbelief. What gawdawful dreck.
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Angels and Demons is also notable for the nastiest "don't try this at home" moment ever. Now boys and girls, if you ever stumble across an antimatter bomb that's about to go off, do not rush it to the nearest helicopter.
Re:Ah My (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a comparison in here somewhere between what Pakistan is doing and the Texas school book stuff.
In both cases, we have religion so terrified of concepts that they actively seek to block the dissemination of said concepts.
Terrified? (Score:3, Interesting)
If refusing to consider ideas or facts that conflict with your preconceptions means you're terrified, than most people on Slashdot must be constantly wetting their pants!
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There's a comparison in here somewhere between what Pakistan is doing and the Texas school book stuff.
In both cases, we have religion so terrified of concepts that they actively seek to block the dissemination of said concepts.
Yup, you know your ideology is in trouble when you have to censor the ENTIRE world to defend it.
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Any religion <snip> is a religion deserving of nothing but absolute scorn and the sincerest wish that it end up in the trash heap of worthless ideas.
FTFY
Re:Ah My (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not about Islam. It's just their version of "Think of the Children!". It's about politicians trying to distract the general public from failings in their government. Trying to pretend that they are actually doing something about something. "We are seriously concerned about family and religious values in our country . . . blah, blah, blah . . . "
Pakistani Press Conference Reporter: "What is the government doing about youth unemployment?"
Government Spokesman: "By the way, have you taken a look at our new Internet Sacrilegious Content Campaign?"
Pakistani Press Conference Reporter: "Um, eh . . I was asking about unemployment . . ."
So it is nothing more than a "Think of the sacrilegious content!" cry.
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Similarly, arguments that project motives onto those you wish to disagree with (such as stating that Muslm laws are based on fear) are worthy of nothing but absolute scorn.
The most serious failures in western relations with the Muslim world are based on failure of each to understand the motives of the other, typically because one side is trying to figure out what would drive itself to act the way the other is acting. You may think that people are all the same, but cultures are not.
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Precisely the reason why I think the government of Palistan is doing a disservice to its people by censoring information that even if shocking to them, will make them think.
Maybe the will outsource it (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder if they will ship this out to a call center in Mumbai. Now that would be funny.
"Thank you for calling the blasphemy hotline, this is Steve, how may I direct your call?"
Re:Maybe the will outsource it (Score:5, Funny)
Caller: I would like to report a picture of Mohammed with a man's penis in his mouth.
Steve: I see from your caller id that you are calling from the United States.
Caller: Yes, what does that have to do with it?
Steve: I'm afraid kind sir that it is not illegal to show pictures of your prophet performing fellatio on another man.
Caller: This is an outrage! If I was in Pakistan, already six suicide bombers would be dispatched to deal with this blasphemy.
Steve: If you like, I could transfer you to our Public Relations department. Just last week it forced the retirement of a cartoonist and the editing of a South Park cartoon.
Caller: Will there be a fatwah? Or at least the severing of some body part?
Steve: No, I am afraid that is illegal in the United States. But you can be assured the headline on tomorrow's New York Times.
Caller: So this is what has become of jihad. Very well, but want at least one simpering liberal to defend my outrage, and perhaps an Evangelical Christian to call for the banning of homosexuality.
Steve: That will be no problem, sir. Transferring you now...
Re:Maybe they will outsource it (Score:2)
Ha, that is full of win!
Monitoring Google? (Score:2)
Like this? [google.com]
hey religious nuts! (Score:5, Funny)
0 <- Mohammed
-|-
/ \
Come censor slashdot!
P.S. I secretly rub bacon in all the other ingredients at Subway.
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_
\Q/
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/ \
Jesus Christ!
This is an OUTRAGE!
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hats off !
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Wait, for free!?! Free bacon flavor, that is so excellent. Seems I'll have to try out subway again.
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P.S. I secretly rub bacon in all the other ingredients at Subway.
Pro tip: No self respecting Jew or Muslim who gave a damn about bacon would eat at Subway.
Anyone know what the arabic phrase for "epic fail" is?
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Anyone know what the arabic phrase for "epic fail" is?
I believe it goes something like, "Welcome to college, miss. I hope you continue to receive a good education."
PS: This was also considered failure in the Old South.
To paraphrase xkcd (Score:3, Insightful)
Somewhere, someone on the internet is blaspheming. Duty calls.
Muhammad (Score:4, Insightful)
Come block Slashdot!
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They ripped all that stuff off the Jews.
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some of the things seems reasonnable:
(from memory) "If some water is colored, do not drink it".
That sounds like a good advice to me. :)
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Muhammad was just another drugged out nut in the desert.
While I'm not a Muslim and I'm rather hostile towards Islam, the guy - with but a tiny band of devout followers - managed to conquer huge swaths of land in his lifetime, and forge an empire out of the quarreling tribes of those lands that rapidly expanded further under the following rulers, and its legacy is still extremely prominent in this world today, 14 centuries after his death.
"Just another drugged out nut" doesn't do him justice. Like him or not, he was definitely not your average man.
Re:Muhammad (Score:5, Insightful)
Except for one thing: religion is not someone's identity. It is a set of ideas you can be persuaded of or reject, as shown by the capability of conversion from one to another. Disagreeing or mocking such a set is not hate, because it is not directed at the humans, nor are those humans forbidden to practice their faith if they so choose.
Unfortunately it seems you have fallen for the argument that religion deserves extra respect from criticism or mockery. There is no reason why we should mock it any less than anything we already do.
This is what happens (Score:5, Insightful)
When you bend over backwards to accommodate radicals. Facebook caved in so easily, now Islam wants to police the entire internet...
There's an old saying: Give them an inch and they will take a mile.
I feel sorry for non radical muslims living in Pakistan because you will soon lose access to slashdot? Why? Because of the following comment:
Mohammed was not the prophet of god, he was a homosexual violence crazed pedophile who enjoyed sneaking pork sandwiches between cock-sucking sessions.
To Pakistan, with love from yours truly and probably quite few of us here on slashdot.
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Hiding from the radicals (Score:2, Interesting)
You think that the radicals have it in for Americans/Europeans who "insult islam?" That's nothing. Find somebody who is of an islamic background and opposes the idiocy of the radicals, and they might as well have a target on their head. At least the others have the excuse of being ignorant infidels... so only doing something fairly big/obvious gets them targeted.
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Even if they're not hiding, the voices of moderates usually get drowned out by the voices of extremists.
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Curious... (Score:3, Interesting)
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I wonder if this will spark Anonymous into trolling them? I mean more than they are already.
An dhow long before some poor confused old mullah declares a fatwah agains the ENTIRE western world?
why bother (Score:3, Insightful)
People who insist on living in the past will be buried with it.
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Isn't that the same as they are doing?
I, for one, am not threatened by their speech or ideals, even though I don't agree with them.
Yoo hoo, boys, look at THIS (Score:3, Informative)
To make sure Slashdot is banned from Pakistan, it isn't enough to point out that Mohammed was a pedophile, although he was. It will be necessary to also insult the terrorist loving spokesman for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Khurram Mehran, and secretly homosexual Ministry of Information Technology Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa.
From the Koran: "The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old"
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From the Koran: "The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old"
Or, possibly 16 and 19, depending on the translation. Just sayin.
slipping through.. (Score:2)
The more you tighten your grip, Pakistan, the more web sites will slip through your fingers.
Necron69
ps. Apologies to Princess Leia
Is there a way to block Pakistan? (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're running a website, is there a way to detect visitors who are (probably) in Pakistan (like, is there a specific block of IPs that is assigned to Pakistan), to redirect them to a page explaining that you'd rather not risk getting a death sentence from Pakistan, so you are not willing to serve content in that jurisdiction?
I say everyone should just create an Internet Embargo against Pakistan if they're going to be like that. Cut em off.
Google will be easy... (Score:2, Informative)
What will they call it? (Score:2)
Great Firewall of China.
Great Fatwahl of Pakistan?
pakistan might as well pull the plug (Score:2)
Gonna be pissed when they find my stick Muhammad (Score:4, Funny)
0-|-=
Shhhh . . .Stick Muhammad is sleeping. Don't wake him up with your freaky religious intolerance. He'd be disappointed by your unwillingness to be happy to just conquer and tax people you don't agree with.
How to blaspheme: a demonstration (Score:5, Insightful)
So, this should be equally offensive to Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Those of y’all who consider yourselves believers in a variation of one of those themes, pay attention:
If I were to tell you a story about a talking unicorn who gave a pep talk to the reluctant hero before instructing the hero in how to wield his magic wand, you’d know instantly that I was telling you a make-believe faery tale that has no bearing on reality whatsoever.
If I were to swap out the unicorn with talking shrubbery, you’d still come to the same conclusion, but you’d think it’s a particularly weird story taking even stranger liberties with reality.
But if I were to light the shrubbery on fire, name the hero, “Moses,” and call the wand “The Staff of Aaron,” you’d know that this is the absolute truth, the Word of YHWH, to be accepted uncritically as historical fact. (Exodus chapters 3 and 4, to be specific.) Or, at the very least, it’s some sort of utterly profound morality play from which deep meaning can and should be drawn.
And you’d be a complete and total blithering fucking idiot for doing so.
Cheers,
b&
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"The only real question is whether you believe in the legend of Davy Crockett or not. If you do, then there should be no doubt in your mind that he died a hero's death. If you do not believe in the legend, then he was just a man, and it does not matter how he died."--Lt Worf
Reason #3 Your Nation Will Stay A Backwater (Score:3, Insightful)
Intense concern over matters of religious adherence, blasphemy or other measures of religious adherence, practice or devotion. Focusing this concern on people outside your nation with substantial cultural and/or religious differences from you and/or the Internet intensifies this effect.
The overall impact of this is to make your nation appear filled with superstitious, power-hungry and intolerant zealots. People will not fear or respect you, they will dislike you for this and believe you are petty, small-minded and foolish.
You will be mocked and laughed at and your nation will remain an ignorant backwater, its people suffering from disease and maladies long since cured by more flexible and rational thinking.
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Intense concern over matters of religious adherence, blasphemy or other measures of religious adherence, practice or devotion.
Like Texas?
Blasphemy! (Score:2)
http://www.artadox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/jackson-pollock-mural.jpg [artadox.com]
Proof positive that Jackson Pollock was killed by Muslim extremists.
Common between religious fanatics (Score:3, Insightful)
I really wonder how they console the idea there are different gods and theirs' the best yet he needs their feeble human help to save his face.
Basically they are ass-wipes and now they have a government working for them.
That's the problem with Islam (Score:4, Insightful)
Muslims read and recite the whole Qu'ran with great interest and study. Say what you want about Evangelicals, but at least they have the good sense to ignore the bible and sing meaningless pop songs about prosperity instead. It makes America a much nicer place to live.
Religious people (Score:2)
I wish religious people would just knock it off. I'm sick of the whole silly thing. Yes I know that the majority of relgiious people are private about it and don't try to force it on everyone else, but they're still part of the problem because they allow the nutters/leaders to get away with all the crazy things that they do.
If parents/schools stopped teaching religion to children, religious beliefs would die out within three generations. They're just hand-me-down myths and superstitions, orginally concocted
Inoffensive websites (Score:4, Funny)
Here is a list of inoffensive websites. This is a comprehensive list which will encompass every single website that is not insulting to Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Shintoism, Republicans, Democrats, Randroids, Scientists, Fantasy Writers, Raisin Smugglers, Budgie Smugglers, and Serial Murderers:
http://127.0.0.1/ [127.0.0.1]
There. You will never be offended.
Pakistan: We are laughing at you.
--
BMO
Moral relativism is a plague (Score:3, Insightful)
It makes me despair that so many people here somehow find a means to feel sympathetic to these guys' opinion (either explicitly or, which is more common, by taking it from their own religious point of view). As soon as you start walking down that path, you're bound to obey every randomly idiotic law some religious nut, somewhere, at some point in time, had the good idea to utter... and at this point, you know where to stick your freedom of speech. And sadly, that holds true for *all* religions.
So... (Score:3, Informative)
There is a fundamental flaw with your operations sir.
Backwards (Score:3, Insightful)
To quote Robert Heinlein (Score:4, Interesting)
- Robert Heinlein, Notebooks of Lazarus Long
"Scour"? (Score:3, Funny)
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Apparently it's quite hard, as you spelt "Blasphemy" wrong... :-p
Islamic Paridise (Score:3, Funny)
Great idea Pakistan. I think the only practical and effect way to do that would be to just block the entire Internet. Reminds me of Weird Al's song...
There's no phone, no lights, no motorcar
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Caruso
It's as primitive as can be