Good morning! And what better way to start your day than with a little censorship of the Interwebs? It’s better than coffee and easier to digest than a breakfast pattie.
Pakistan, notable for its longstanding love-affair with military dictatorship and blowing up opposition leaders, has barred its citizens from accessing YouTube, aka the most efficient time-waster in the history of human communications. Apparently, the site hosts several videos ‘offensive to Islam’. Pakistan joins Brazil, China, Iran, Morocco, Myanmar (also known as Burma), Syria and Thailand as nations who hate video sharing.
Look, I’m sure YouTube has dozens of videos that offend Islam. It also has millions of videos offensive to just about everything else on Earth. Offending people is the spiritual genius of YouTube, and its nothing if not an equal opportunity offender. And if we start blocking access and removing content on the basis of offensiveness, then YouTube will be NoTube in about 43 seconds.
Also funny: the Pakistani attempt to block YouTube also made the site inaccessible for millions of users around the world. I’m sorry you have no sense of humor, Pakistan, but please don’t ruin it for the rest of us.
UPDATE [02/26/08] YouTube takes down one video, and now they’re friends again.
