Pakistan bans Facebook over Draw Muhammad Day, also ban Youtube

[SkinsHokieFan]

"Reasonably street smart"

Ill have to do some more research on this one, I did say outside of the European vacation spots. For instance I could go to random parts of S. Korea or Japan and I would just be another white boy walking around, no big deal.

Take it from someone who stands out when he travels over there, you'd be fine and nobody would care.

Seriously, you are in more danger of random street crime then some religiously motivated ass kicking. Even in Karachi and Islamabad

[Koala]

What about the mutlitude of death threats on the discussed Facebook page?

What about the Muslim challenging another Facebooker to try building a church in Saudi Arabia, as if to say, "go for it, we will blow it up"?

What about if I, a middle aged white male were to walk down pretty much any street in many of the middle east/Muslim countries without heavy protection, its pretty much gauranteed, I'm a dead man?

The threats are flying both ways on that facebook page. Its turned into a mosh-pit of idiocy.

Youve never actually been to the middle-east, have you?

You'd be fine. As a matter of fact, white people = money, in their minds, you might get hassled by some beggars, but thats about it.

I know this from experience. I lived in Saudi Arabia, as an ex-pat myself, though I am black, I had many white friends, and they never were uncomfortable. The white women are asked to wear head-coverings, but their dress-standards are laxer than for muslim women, and white men are asked not to attempt to approach muslim women. Thats about it, if they are respectful, no probs whatsoever.

Dubai has become like the 2nd home for white Europeans. They almost outnumber the emirate-natives in dubai. The only significant incident to happen there recently was a British couple got jailed for having sex on a public beach. Of course, they would get jailed even in America for that, so that was no over-reaction by the authorities. They let them go after a brief sentence, like a week, and then kicked them out of the country and told them not to come back. Fair enough, IMO.

Syrians are basically white.

Lebanese and other magrabis (moroccans, tunisians) so desperately want to be white that they treat whites like royalty over there. There's a reason Beirut was a favorite destination spot for vacationing Frenchies, until it got bombed into oblivion by the IDF.

Egyptians, until that unfortunate bus incident in the late 90's, relied waay too much on tourism to dream of hassling whites. They still make a good chunk of money from tourism, and there have been so significant acts of violence against westerners in almost a decade.

In Sudan, you would draw some stares, as whites are just not seen much there, but Ive never heard of any violence against visiting westerners.

For the most part, in fact, the whites in the middle-east are treated WAAAAy better than say the Pakistani (fellow muslim) workers they import, and probably get away with more than the native muslims, so long as they are respectful enough to keep their lifestyle out of the public eye. Of course if you walk around drunk in public, you will ahve problems, but religious police are banned from entering western compounds, so as long as its kept behind closed doors...

The only countries where westerners are not really safe are Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Of course, then again, Iraqis, Afghanis, and Somalis arent safe in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

[Koala]

Take it from someone who stands out when he travels over there, you'd be fine and nobody would care.

Seriously, you are in more danger of random street crime then some religiously motivated ass kicking. Even in Karachi and Islamabad

SHF, you're Pakistani, they were probably more taken aback by the fact you talked/dressed like an American than by your ethnicity. Pakistanis, are unfortunately the Mexicans of the arab world, their presence surprises nobody.

[Predicto]

I fully support free speech, including the right of anyone to draw a picture of the Prophet Mohammed anywhere they want.

I also think that the people who are doing so in this case are, in large part, pathetic children who just want to stick their self-righteous finger into someone else's eye. They are being disrepectful for no good purpose, offending people they don't know just because they can, and hurting our goodwill in the world for absolutely no good reason.

It's their right to do so, and I support their absolute right (to continue to act like petulant little jerkweeds). Congrats.

[Sebowski]

its a show that terrorism will not get them what they want. They murder people over a few cartoons to make people stop drawing him? **** that, we're not gonna be slaves to terrorism. This is to show them that we value our freedom and we will not give in to terrorism and that they will only "suffer" greater for what they have done.

Agreed. I think this was a great idea. Didn't even hear about it until now. Maybe some of them will realize how absurd it is to be so upset by a drawing anyway. What exactly is a drawing of Muhammad anyway? Just because I label a drawing i did Muhammad does that make it Muhammad? I'd say I'm not qualified to draw him, so whatever I drew isn't him anyway.

Like in the South Park episode. They were upset that they showed him in a bear outfit, then it turned out that it was Santa Clause in the bear costume the whole time. They need to know that they can't impose their beliefs on the rest of the world. That not only includes freedom of speech, but woman's rights as well.

They can control the punishments in their own countries, but they cannot try to enforce anything anywhere in the free world.

I don't mind taking the offensive here. After they killed the cartoontist they got everyone running scared. Drawing Muhammad wasn't a big deal before. South Park did it season 5. The episode still airs with Muhammad in full view on reruns. No one cares. It is long past taking that freedom back.

:soapbox:

/rant

[GoSkins561]

I appreciate all of the information on traveling to the Middle East. . You guys have obviously been there and know a lot more than I do. My sister went to Lebanon with her husband, and didn't have any problems.

With that said, ill stick to my local islands and the Rastafarians for now. :joint:

[Madison Redskin]

I have no problem with Facebook. I do, however, have a problem with the people who were posting drawings of Mohammed. Yes, they have the right to say and draw what they want. But these dumb ***** are going to piss off a hell of a lot of Muslims who have NOTHING to do with Muslim extremists and terrorists. It's like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly; you're going to kill the fly, but your going to do a lot of unnecessary damage in the process.

[The Brave Little Toaster Oven]

all I know is that I'm going to Lebanon when I graduate strictly because of the women.

[SkinsHokieFan]

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/patheos/2010/05/what_would_muhammad_do.html?hpid=talkbox1

What would Muhammad draw?

By Arsalan Iftikhar

attorney, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com

In light of the recent South Park cartoon controversy surrounding 'depictions' of the Prophet Muhammad, some brainiac cartoonists around the world have decided to declare May 20 to be 'Everybody Draw Muhammad' day.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Seattle artist Molly Norris started the day rolling when she created a poster-like cartoon showing many objects -- from a cup of coffee to a box of pasta to a tomato -- all claiming to be the likeness of Muhammad.

"I am Mohammed and I taste good," said the pasta box in the cartoon. On top of the cartoon images (but no longer on her Web site) was an announcement explaining the rationale behind the event. Norris denies">Norris now denies that 'draw Muhammad day' was her idea.

As I wrote in a recent CNN column on the South Park controversy, as an American Muslim civil rights lawyer and proud First Amendment freak, I can honestly say that I love both my Prophet Mohammed and cartoons like South Park. In any free democratic society, the concept of free speech can only be combated with more free speech, not censorship. If the creators of "South Park" choose to depict the Prophet Mohammed, that is their First Amendment right, and they should be able to do so freely without any threats of physical violence and retribution.

As we all know, the free speech clause of the First Amendment of our beloved U.S. Constitution legally allows for racist, xenophobic and bigoted attitudes to be held that could easily be deemed Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, homophobic or anti-black.

As proud millennial Muslims, we should think about how our Prophet Muhammad would respond to such silly faux controversies.

We should all be reminded of a well-known Islamic parable which tells the story of the Prophet Mohammed and his daily interactions with an unruly female neighbor who used to curse him violently and then proceed to dump garbage onto him every day from her perchtop window each time he would ever walk by her house.

One day, the Prophet noticed that the woman was not present to throw garbage outside of her window. In true prophetic kindness, he actually went out of his way to inquire about her well-being and then proceeded to visit this unfriendly neighbor at her bedside inside of her own home when he had found out that she had fallen sick.

This genteel act of prophetic kindness toward unfriendly (and overtly hostile) neighbors is the Muslim 'Ubuntu' standard that we should all use within our collective lives -- not threats of violence aimed at the silliness of some sophomoric cartoons aimed at inciting a provocative response around the world.

As people get in a huffy over a bunch of stupid cartoons, every Muslim around the world should take a very deep breath and simply ask themselves one basic question:

"What Would Muhammad Do?"

When it comes to a bunch of silly and sophomoric cartoons, the answer would be two very simple words: Absolutely nothing.

NOTE: A few readers have asked about the source of the parable. It's not in the Qur'an or the hadith, but it is a common story in the Prophet's biography. Here it can be found in "Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters" by Omid Safi.

Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer, global media commentator and founder of TheMuslimGuy.com in Washington.

[mistertim]

all I know is that I'm going to Lebanon when I graduate strictly because of the women.

I second this. There are some incredibly hot lebanese women. Actually there are some incredibly hot arabic and persian women in general (of course I suppose that depends on your taste).

[Tweedr01]

My wife is from Pakistan and I just spoke with her, as a white dude you do NOT just walk the cities or towns by yourself. Places like Dubai are like freakin New York, they are fine and cash cows, some of the nicest places on earth, but they are not your normal Middle Eastern cities and towns. In a normal Middle Eastern town you can rest assured people do not want you there, they will kidnap you. It isn't uncommon for a local to 'befriend' someone who looks different, tries to show them around town, takes them into a building, and poof, gone. I know its just a movie but Slum Dog Millionaire has a lot of truth in it, there are religious zealots who attack towns and they do not care if you are a woman, or a child they will kill you.

Like I said, Dubai and the like are fine, very similar to big cities in the US, but anywhere outside of there you are just looking for trouble period....and I know a little off topic but just addressing some who believe that the Middle East is some great vacation spot, it's not.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Like I said, Dubai and the like are fine, very similar to big cities in the US, but anywhere outside of there you are just looking for trouble period....and I know a little off topic but just addressing some who believe that the Middle East is some great vacation spot, it's not.

I wouldn't consider the ME a great vacation spot either.

But I was in Islamabad and Karachi in December 2007. You had your white people walking around.

But no, I would never reccomend a visit for the hell of it to Karachi for a non Pakistani. Islamabad, you'd be ok

[Tweedr01]

I wouldn't consider the ME a great vacation spot either.

But I was in Islamabad and Karachi in December 2007. You had your white people walking around.

But no, I would never reccomend a visit for the hell of it to Karachi for a non Pakistani. Islamabad, you'd be ok

Yeah my wife is from Karachi, as you can tell by my previous post she was pretty excited about getting out of there. Her mothers family is from Pakistan and fathers family is from Iran, both of her familys are very close and keep in touch, but they all had issues with the area. Her father was Zorastran (sp?), and her mothers family are Christian. Some people literally came to him on his way out of work and told him to get his dogs and servants out of the house because they were gunning for his family.

Needless to say he played stupid and got them the heck outta there and has since converted to Christianity (about 20 years ago). The reality is if you are a resident they may or may not know if you are a Christian, but if you are white, stereotypically they believe you to be. This is not to say that all Muslims are aggressive in that manner, heck not all the aggressors are Muslim seeing as it was a Zorastran (sp?) group that tried to go after my wife's family, but there are a good enough amount to make it pretty dangerous.

[The Brave Little Toaster Oven]

I second this. There are some incredibly hot lebanese women. Actually there are some incredibly hot arabic and persian women in general (of course I suppose that depends on your taste).

go check my 'I love Indian/ME chicks' thread then...you will enjoy it :pfft:

[Predicto]

My wife is from Pakistan and I just spoke with her, as a white dude you do NOT just walk the cities or towns by yourself. Places like Dubai are like freakin New York, they are fine and cash cows, some of the nicest places on earth, but they are not your normal Middle Eastern cities and towns. In a normal Middle Eastern town you can rest assured people do not want you there, they will kidnap you. It isn't uncommon for a local to 'befriend' someone who looks different, tries to show them around town, takes them into a building, and poof, gone. I know its just a movie but Slum Dog Millionaire has a lot of truth in it, there are religious zealots who attack towns and they do not care if you are a woman, or a child they will kill you.

Like I said, Dubai and the like are fine, very similar to big cities in the US, but anywhere outside of there you are just looking for trouble period....and I know a little off topic but just addressing some who believe that the Middle East is some great vacation spot, it's not.

I'm not sure that you can say that Karachi is a "normal Middle Eastern town."

[Seabee1973]

If a picture of Muhammed is illegal how would they know what he looks like?