Slashdot Mirror
Indian Nationalists Forcibly Censor Orkut
starkravingmad writes "The Economic Times is running a story on Hindu nationalists in India threatening to wreck internet cafes that don't block parts of Orkut that the vigilantes find offensive. From the article: '"Orkut is used by many destructive elements to spread canards about India, Hindus, our gods and cultural heritage," said Abhijit Phanse, president of Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, the student group. "We are gently telling Internet cafe owners that it is their responsibility to see that surfers do not use their facility to carry out such hate campaigns ... Or else, we will have to do that job for them." Last week, dozens of Shiv Sena workers vandalised some Internet centres, saying they were not stopping their customers from accessing Orkut groups involved in sending hate messages.'"
hindus upset at orkut, muslims upset at muhammed cartoons, christians upset at crosses in pee, etc:
i believe that your religion is strong and powerful and moving
apparently, you don't
for if you did, you would not be so threatened by such random fluff
or, alternately, if these stupid offenses affect you, your religious faith is shallow
you do not honor god/ allah/ shiva/ whomever by being moved by the most contrived of offenses that even a child could shrug off and roll his eyes at
when you do, you make a mockery of what they stand for, by showing that some of your religions followers (you) are of small easily swayed faith
you're a shame to your own religion, and your cheap outrage cheapens your religion
signed,
people with faith and maturity
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I hope that the RIAA doesn't change tactics after hearing about this
...I thank god that I'm an Atheist.
This has got absolutely nothing to do with religion.
This is just another vote bank tactic to gain the votes of the poor and middle-class by using these "campaigns".
The internet penetration is so low that nobody in India really cares about Orkut or any other site for that matter. This just a show to the larger middle-class population that they are taking steps to "preserve the culture".
This is pure, filthy politics - the Shiv Sena and their ilk are just trying to fight their own growing irrelevance - this is just to remind the UPA government that they still have the power to make life difficult - an attempt to gain leverage on some obscure internal negotiations, perhaps.
You and I are not the intended audience for this charade - the current administration is. The poor Internet cafes are merely caught in the crossfire.
And finally to all those who lament censorship in India, please don't worry on our behalf. We Indians have seen off graver challenges to our freedoms. We maintain a level of openness unmatched in the third world, and it will take more than a few assholes like these guys to change that. We're far from perfect in this regard, of course, but we'll get by just fine.
India may be a democracy, but it is not a Western nation. Being a democracy does not mean that a nation is a democracy. Look at Singapore.
The first sign that the AC is out of his league. Yes, India is not a perfect democracy ( who is anyway? ) but comparing it to Singapore - a small island nation whose citizens themselves consider the polls to be a sham (wiki link here ) - is a complete joke. Come on, at least India does not have a one-party government that tries to sue the opposition into oblivion.
India, as any other democracy, has its share of nutjobs. The BVS and Shiv Sena, as has been pointed out by other posters, are essentially groups of uneducated riff-raff that try to present themselves as nationalists to distinguish themselves from common thugs ( which they are in reality ). They have little influence beyond Mumbai.
In the India of today, honor killings are so widespread that it is a national pasttime. An honor killing is murdering a wife because her family has not provided sufficient dowry to the husband.
No my dear AC. Honor killings are not what you presented (link). They are women that are killed if they are suspected to have brought dishonor to the family (unwanted pregnancy, etc.). They are extremely rare in India and are more a part of life of our friends across the border in Pakistan ( and other such Islamic societies) than ours.
What you did state about dowry killings(link) is exaggerated. While it is true that bride burning is still present in India, due to many high-profile convictions in the recent past, it is abhorred widely and the burden of proof is on the suspected in-laws. However, unfortunately, dowry as a social phenomenon still exists in India.:(
Finally, the Indians are aggressively building nuclear weapons.
Having been attacked by 2 totalitarian neighbours (who are allied strongly with each other) 4 times in the last 50 years is not a good enough excuse ? Then, pray, why do the United States and Russia, which are far removed from their enemies, have the largest nuclear arsenals in the world ? Anyway, having nuclear devices without a proper delivery system can hardly be considered aggressive.
So, India is a democracy, but it is not a Western nation.
So, you took all this effort to point out the obvious. As we say in north India, shabaash mere puttar ! ( well done, my son !)
Coming back to the topic, as I said before, this is a very local event. The Economic Times is HQ-ed in Mumbai which is why it has received more prominence than necessary. From my personal experience, I can speak of places with worse kinds of restrictions in India. There are hamlets controlled by some political party/ religious group/ communists where information from the outside world, in any form, is not allowed unless they are filtered by the party thugs. But, I would be more worried by the fact that most of rural India, if they ever cared, would not be able to connect to orkut because of the pathetic infrastructure in those parts, rather than being banned from doing so by a collection of retards.
My INR 10