Slashdot Mirror
YouTube Refuses To Remove Anti-Islamic Film Clip
Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that Google officials have rejected the notion of removing a video that depicts the prophet as a fraud and philanderer and has been blamed for sparking violence at U.S. embassies in Cairo and Benghazi. Google says the video does not violate YouTube's policies, but they did restrict viewers in Egypt and Libya from loading it due to the special circumstances in the country. Google's response to the crisis highlighted the struggle faced by the company, and others like it, to balance free speech with legal and ethical concerns in an age when social media can impact world events. 'This video – which is widely available on the Web – is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube,' Google said in a statement. 'However, given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt, we have temporarily restricted access in both countries.' Underscoring Google's quandary, some digital free expression groups have criticized YouTube for censoring the video. Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation says given Google' s strong track record of protecting free speech, she was surprised the company gave in to pressure to selectively block the video. 'It is extremely unusual for YouTube to block a video in any country without it being a violation of their terms of service or in response to a valid legal complaint,' says Galperin. 'I'm not sure they did the right thing.'"
It doesn't matter whether Google takes it down or leaves it up. The movie isn't the main cause. Every single day somewhere in the West there are dozens of insults to the Prophet. Muslims don't need the movie to hate us. It's just something the media have latched onto and they won't turn lose of it because it's an easy excuse.
We warned about this while the "Arab Spring" was happening last year, but nobody in the Administration listened. Well, the chickens are coming home to roost now, aren't they?
When you are making up stuff, you can make up whatever you want. If enough people believe it, viola! A religion is born.
Of course, when there is no objective Truth, after a while people will start making up their own stuff, so you'd better make blasphemy a serious crime or you will soon have competition on your hands, or worse yet, non-believers!
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Oh there are those in this country who would be more than happy to do so. But since our country is not (yet) brainwashed into an ignorant mass of fundamentalists who follow 2000 year old religious dogma, we see fewer instances of this.
Don't kid yourself. The Judaic religions are just as nasty if not nastier. The difference here is not the religions themselves, it's the people. Developed nations generally have an educated population who don't just blindly follow their religious faith (indeed, when was the last time someone in this country was stoned to death for adultery?). We've "adapted" the religion to fit the times. We've made it more G rated (though there are fundamentalists out there who don't like that). Religion has it's place, but that place should be as far away from politics and power as possible.
As a counterpoint to these demonstrations, there a plenty of places outside of these countries that have a populations of muslims, even here in the US. Yet I don't hear them bombing churches or anything in response. Now why is that, if they are all supposed to be fundamentally evil?
It's not the religion. It's the people. It's always the people.
~X~