[DANNY WOOL, SV411]
People have been saying a lot of bad things about Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, so “blasphemers” is hardly a blip on their radar screen … or is it?
At the center of the controversy is the Facebook group, “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” which mocks the Islamic restriction of depicting any prophet (not just Muhammad, but not including L. Ron Hubbard). Muslims want the group shut down, and they mean business.
A Swedish cartoonist, Lars Vilks, was recently attacked by angry Muslims during a lecture and his home was set on fire, while South Park has come under more fire and even death threats for depicting Muhammad (but it was really Santa Claus) as a teddy bear.
Now the Lahore High Court has ordered the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to block Facebook until the end of the month, which coincides with Quit Facebook Day. While Quit Facebook Day has a few thousand followers, the Pakistan imbroglio could lose the social networking site as many as 45 million users.
At that time, the High Court plans to hear from the country’s Islamic Lawyers’ Movement about why Facebook should be banned for good … and it’s not because it’s a complete waste of time.