I avoid blogging politics or religion like the plague. I like friends. BUT, I read the news today. Oh boy. This is an excerpt of what I saw:
"Blogger Gets 4 Years for Insulting Islam
"By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD Associated Press Writer © 2007 The Associated Press
"ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — An Egyptian blogger was convicted Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and Egypt's president, sending a chill through fellow Internet writers who fear a government crackdown. * * * *"
The full story is here. The offending blog is here.
Now, I'm not a huge civil libertarian, and no one has ever confused me for liberal; BUT, how can you possibly think you can join the family of nations in the 21st century if you have to imprison electronic keyboard peckers who insult your president and your dominant religion. Pretty secure in yourselves, aren't you? If you want the western world to treat you like a big, grown up country, well then . . . .
GROW.UP.
I'm thinking about starting a new blog for reposting and linking to the writings of jailed bloggers. Sorry. Just had to get that off my chest. I'm finished now.
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8 comments:
No apologies needed. I read about that case.
Picture Alice of Dilbert fame. "Must. Put. Down. Keyboard. Must. Not. Respond."
I saw the headline and figured it was caught off guard when I saw it was Egypt. I, too, lost just a bit more respect for them as a country.
I would assume this means that Egypt, like many middle eastern countries (Afghanistan and Iraq in particular), is taking a giant step backward under pressure from Islamic fundamentalist. It would be nice if you could fight that sort of thing with the military but you can't. We need a better strategy and fast. The cancer is clearly growing.
Wow. That's scary.
"I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it..." --Voltaire
I can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to say what you want. I hope I never have to know.
Islamic Extremist Reality Check.
if you do reposts those blogs, see if you can have them translated to english...
Makes you really appreciate our freedom of speech.
But did he get to keep his fingernails...? This is a little surprising for Eqypt though.
Just another reminder how we soooo have it made here. Life is good in America... I feel very very lucky to have these freedoms just by the luck of the draw that I was born here.
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