Frankly, I am unsure how to feel about this situation. On one hand I’m not the kind of guy that supports the mocking of any religion, regardless if it is my own or not. Plus, do we really need to cause any more friction between the cultures of the West and those of the Middle East? On the other hand, YouTube is supposed to be about free speech and expression. While it isn’t good that the material was seen as offensive to Muslims, one can no doubt find content that is derogatory towards other religions on YouTube. Isn’t being equally offensive to everyone a form of equality, too? I really don’t have the answers but it certainly seems that YouTube has made up their mind on the issue.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Pakistan's ban on YouTube
On February 27th, 2008, the government of Pakistan removed its ban on YouTube after the website took down material many deem offensive to Muslims. The questionable videos contained cartoons drawings of the Prophet Mohammed. While I haven’t confirmed that these videos intentionally attacked the profit, any depiction of him is felt to be disrespectful in the Islamic faith. In fact, it was not too long ago that a very similar situation involving a cartoon featured in a Danish publication caused a wave of outrage throughout the world. Well it seems that Pakistan’s actions worked. The spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), Khurram Mehran, said, "We have issued instructions to all internet service providers that YouTube should be unblocked as the specific content has been removed by the website”.
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I do agree with you Kirby. I really don't know how to feel over this situation; I feel that it was good that they lifted the ban for youtube after removing offensive content of the Prophet but I also feel that by doing so Pakistan is violating freedom of expressing oneself.
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