mediawatchwatch.org.uk

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has instructed all ISPs to block the “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” Facebook page.

The international Motoon-making day was inspired by death threats received by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone after they made fun of the fact that everyone was afraid to draw Mohammed.

The reason given for the Pakistan ban is that the event is

a plot to hurt the millions of Muslims around the world.

Aww!

UPDATE: (19 May) The Islamic Lawyers’ Forum of Pakistan is now pushing for a blanket ban on Facebook.

UPDATE: It appears the petition has succeeded, and Facebook will be blocked in Pakistan until the 31 May. The judge also urged the Foreign Ministry to “raise the issue at international level”.

Breaking news of an arson attempt on Modoggie artist Larks Vilks’ house. Document.no is our only source at the moment, and the translation is fuzzy, but it appears that Vilks not at home when a window was smashed and petrol poured into the room.

This comes in the same week as the assault on him at a lecture (see below).

Reuters has the English story.

From the homosexuality-obsessed Chrisitian Institute (Q for the CI: Do you really think Jesus thought about it as much as you do?), we have a hidden-camera video of the shameful moment when street preacher Dale McAlpine was arrested.

Coming in the wake of the prosecution of atheist cartoon-leaver Harry Taylor (about which, of course, there were no protests from the CI), this shows the other side of the coin. Yes, McAlpine’s sense of morality has been perverted by his superstitious beliefs, but he was not inciting violence or promoting hatred. He was merely expressing his irrational opinion that homosexual activity is “sinful”. That should be allowed.

Let the fool speak, that his folly may be revealed unto all who hearken unto him.

UPDATE: (15 May) Charges against McAlpine have been dropped.

The Swedish artist famous for his Modoggie drawings has been headbutted while giving a lecture on freedom of speech in Uppsala University.

A local newspaper reported rather prissily that “the atmosphere in the lecture theatre became rowdy after Vilks showed a film with sexual content.” In fact, if you watch the video of the event (now gone), it is clear that the flashpoint occurred when Vilks showed some pictures from Soora Hera’s “Allah-o-gaybar” series (blogged here), depicting two half naked men wearing Mo-masks.

The lecture was obviously attended by a few idiots waiting for the opportunity to kick off, which they duly did at the first opportunity. The video shows that man who attacked Vilks was not the only violent one.

Fortunately, the artist was not injured.

UPDATE: (12 May) According to The Washington Post Vilks now acknowledges that he was not headbutted by a protestor, but accidentally collided with a security officer who leapt to defend him from his would-be attacker. Three people were arrested over the incident.

Vilks remains commendably defiant:

What you get is a mob deciding what can be discussed at the university. [...] I’m ready to go up again. This must be carried through. You cannot allow it to be stopped.

Vivienne “Nanny” Pattison, the new leader of smut-busting TV monitors Mediawatch-UK, has been aroused by the latest Dr Who episode in which the timelord’s flame-haired assistant makes a pass at him.

Amy Pond’s overt sexual advances towards the innocent Doctor were made during the pre-watershed primetime screening of the popular show.

The enraged Nanny told The Sun:

The scene was slightly out of place in a children’s programme. I thought it sailed pretty close to the wind.

In other places, she went even further in her condemnation:

I think you would say it went quite near the knuckle.

Possibly some innuendo goes over the head of children and there had obviously been some care taken, but it went very close to the line.

Holy cow! If this what she’s like when the knuckle, line, and wind are approached in a family TV show, how is she going to react when things get close to the bone?

First they prosecuted Behemoth front-man ADAM “Nergal” Darski for tearing up a Bible on stage. Now the All-Polish Committee for the Defence Against Sects is going after his fiancée, the singer Dorota Rabczewska.

Better known as “Doda”, she gave a TV interview last year in which she said of the Bible:

it is hard to believe in something written by people who drank too much wine and smoked herbal cigarettes.

This was too much for the chairman of the whacky APCDAS, Ryszard Nowak:

It is clear that Doda thinks that the Bible was written by drunkards and junkies. [...]
I believe that she committed a crime and offended the religious feelings of both Christians and Jews.

If convicted, Doda faces up to two years in prison. Her fiancé Nargal is currently still on trial.

(Hat tip: The Freethinker)

The social bookmarking site Reddit.com, one of the most popular websites in the world, has made a symbolic stand for free expression by using South Park’s Mohammed cartoon as the logo for its “Atheism” branch:

This gesture from the Conde Nast Digital owned company is another example of the growing popular revolt against self-censorship.

If you still haven’t heard Tim Minchin’s subtle yet devastating critique of Pope Benedict the Whatever, here it is:

N, we should emphasise, SFW. Not without headphones, anyway.

I believe this makes The Daily Telegraph the first mainstream UK newspaper to publish an image of Mohammed, at least since the 2006 Motoon riots.

The comment article by Alex Spillius, America’s Disappointing reaction to South Park censorship, appears only on the Telegraph’s website. It is illustrated with this still from the 2001 “Super Best Friends” episode (he’s the one on the right.):

A small step, but a significant one for UK newspaper publishing.

The Swedish affiliate of Comedy Central has announced that it will no show episodes 200 and 201, citing “the safety of our employees” as the reason.

Comedy Central has decided not to air these two episodes of South Park. It is a decision we’ve made with great reluctance. Comedy Central believes strongly in creative freedom of expression; when unique and deeply insightful creative talents like those behind South Park are able to express themselves freely, we all benefit.

However, the safety of our employees is our unquestioned number one priority, and therefore we have decided to take these precautionary measures.

Episode 200 contained what was supposedly Mohammed in a bear suit. In episode 201, it turned out to be Santa Claus. This decision is preposterous.