Alaa: Bloggers Should Support Karim's Release
Blogger Alaa wrote a very important message on Monday. The full text is here. Alaa says his post is coming late. I say it can never be late and we all know that while the rest of us are busy blogging, his efforts are not limited to the net; he is actually doing something in the real world. I’ll post a few more comments from him soon; here is a bridged version of this message, don't miss the bullet points!:
... when I got to read his article which (probably) got him arrested, I felt disgusted and I almost puked before finishing it off. ... Karim's article about Moharem Bek protests was a childish anger outburst that lacked both civility and meaning, just like the incident itself. Which makes me wonder how it qualified as a civic dialogue, which is the name of the website that posted this article. Also Karim paid the price of being bravely stupid by posting his picture, address, cellular number on the same website. ...
... the Freedom of speech is a non-compromiseable and undisputed right. Everybody is allowed to say whatever he wants and at the same time he/she should take full responsibility for his words. For example, if the speech was found hate inciting, people or organizations have the right to react and sue his ass or just refute it in another article. But this kind of "Moral Panics" that hits the government every time something out of the usual happens in this country is unacceptable. This Gestapo style of the government enforcers held in the name of the "Emergency Laws" should stop right now.
... Bottom-line, this guy disrespects Muslims by generalizing them in this way. He cussed Islam and the Prophet and he also described us as "cattle". Thus Muslims have every right to feel angry and despised. But there are civilized ways ... through refuting his posts or by civil suits and for the religious ones by privately praying for either his "salvation" or his burning in hell.
BUT no one deserves what happened to this guy, although we are not sure what really happened to him but anything that involves amn el-dawla is far away from good. And you can trust me on that, judging from my own personal experience with these thugs at a very young age. They are merciless even with kids.
So, leaving our emotions behind, let me sum up to you why we should support Karim in his ordeal, in the following points:
* Freedom of Speech right is non-compromiseable... it's all or nothing but all.
* Only civic ways should be used to hold him liable to his words, if it was categorized as a hate speech. Also if he really pissed you off by his words, you have the choice to tell him that through comments and emails or simply click the X in the top right corner of your browser like I did!
* National Security methods of arresting and interrogations are barbaric. Karim's next 15 days (the interrogation detention period which is renewable) are going to be intolerable to any human.
* This angry guy is only 21 years old.
* Don't create an anti-Islamic martyr out of him, just like our stupid government did. The Islamophobes just love this kind of stuff and they are just waiting for such an opportunity.
[Edits and bolds are my responsibility - original, full text is here.]
... when I got to read his article which (probably) got him arrested, I felt disgusted and I almost puked before finishing it off. ... Karim's article about Moharem Bek protests was a childish anger outburst that lacked both civility and meaning, just like the incident itself. Which makes me wonder how it qualified as a civic dialogue, which is the name of the website that posted this article. Also Karim paid the price of being bravely stupid by posting his picture, address, cellular number on the same website. ...
... the Freedom of speech is a non-compromiseable and undisputed right. Everybody is allowed to say whatever he wants and at the same time he/she should take full responsibility for his words. For example, if the speech was found hate inciting, people or organizations have the right to react and sue his ass or just refute it in another article. But this kind of "Moral Panics" that hits the government every time something out of the usual happens in this country is unacceptable. This Gestapo style of the government enforcers held in the name of the "Emergency Laws" should stop right now.
... Bottom-line, this guy disrespects Muslims by generalizing them in this way. He cussed Islam and the Prophet and he also described us as "cattle". Thus Muslims have every right to feel angry and despised. But there are civilized ways ... through refuting his posts or by civil suits and for the religious ones by privately praying for either his "salvation" or his burning in hell.
BUT no one deserves what happened to this guy, although we are not sure what really happened to him but anything that involves amn el-dawla is far away from good. And you can trust me on that, judging from my own personal experience with these thugs at a very young age. They are merciless even with kids.
So, leaving our emotions behind, let me sum up to you why we should support Karim in his ordeal, in the following points:
* Freedom of Speech right is non-compromiseable... it's all or nothing but all.
* Only civic ways should be used to hold him liable to his words, if it was categorized as a hate speech. Also if he really pissed you off by his words, you have the choice to tell him that through comments and emails or simply click the X in the top right corner of your browser like I did!
* National Security methods of arresting and interrogations are barbaric. Karim's next 15 days (the interrogation detention period which is renewable) are going to be intolerable to any human.
* This angry guy is only 21 years old.
* Don't create an anti-Islamic martyr out of him, just like our stupid government did. The Islamophobes just love this kind of stuff and they are just waiting for such an opportunity.
[Edits and bolds are my responsibility - original, full text is here.]
posted by ritzy @ 12:34 am
<< Home