Censorship

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Everyone is entitled to my opinion. / funny stuff - Juxtapost

I read that two WordPress blogs were taken down because someone in Pakistan complained.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/05/17/wordpress-com-blacklists-blogs-critical-of-islam/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=daily&utm_content=links&utm_campaign=20190517

EXCERPT:  “A few weeks ago Twitter Legal notified us that this tweet violated Pakistan’s (sharia) laws. @WordPress notified us too…”

In the United States of America, why do we have to worry about someone from Pakistan complaining about our blog?

If I complain about a blog in Pakistan for touting Sharia law, should WordPress take it down?

The answer is NO on both counts.

During my blogging infancy, I found a site that was quite entertaining.  I thought it was sarcasm; after all, the blog belonged to a woman who believed she was destined to rule the world.  She wrote to one of my replies that when she finally ascended to her worldly throne, I would be one of the first to die.

What did I do?  

I never visited the blog again, but it taught me a lesson:  If she could find 1000 followers, anyone could.  In fact, I might find a few thousand followers who liked to read my swill.

Did I ever complain about another blogger?

Yes.

During my blogging toddler years, I started liking and replying to every blog I could find.  One of the bloggers was either a child, or a child-like entity.  He took a perfectly good reply and mangled it by throwing in a few curse words I would only say if a piano was about to land on me and…and… “I like to touch myself.”

That’s when I learned 2 important lessons:

  1.  Whoever owns the blog can change your replies any way they want.
  2.  Be very careful about the maturity of the bloggers you reply to.

Changing my words to make it look like something I said is a lot different than someone expressing an opinion on his/her own blog. 

Here’s an example:  If I took an Islamic woman’s reply “I listen to my Imam,” and changed it to  “I hate my Imam and my boyfriend worships Satan,” she would have an extremely good reason to complain.

If I say that the US Constitution and Sharia law are incompatible, that’s my opinion,  I’m not putting words into anyone else’s mouth, and no one should have the right to tell me that I can’t say that on my blog. 

All of us have blogs for different reasons.  I like to look at the world through sarcastic eyes, and make fun of it.  To some people, that could be considered “hate speech.”  I consider it laughter therapy, and so do many of my readers.

Other people write poetry, have cat, dog, bird, writing, cooking, gardening, sewing, various religious beliefs, or write blogs not otherwise specified.  I’m not going to complain about a bird blog just because I believe the D@#%ed things are the spawn of hell.  I simply visit blogs that interest me.

You might ask, “Where do you draw the line?”  Child pornography and animal or human abuse presented in a way that is meant for people who like that sort of thing. 

Many people would say that those kinds of people need to be rounded up and D!$p0$ed of, but that might be considered “hate speech.”  This blog is about sarcasm, not about rabid raccoons pretending to be human.

So, WordPress, we appreciate having a platform on which to blog.  But we have to wonder…if you start taking down blogs that report facts and numbers someone doesn’t like, or because someone in Pakistan, Italy, China, Russia, Africa, Antarctica, or Patagonia complains that it doesn’t fit their lifestyle…

…who is going to be next on the list?

 

© Joelle (Don’t go there) LeGendre

 

Category : Rant
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