Children, get off the internet! The fundamentalists have arrived!
For as long as these mental midgets roam around freely, we’ll never have true freedom, and even if freedom of expression was ever achieved we’ll always have a constant fear from it. People always claim that it’s the government, but it’s not just our corrupt political systems, it has a lot to do with our political cultures as well where the blame should be placed on the nation. There’s a big problem within our own nations, within our religion, and much of it can be blamed on the lack of formal education.
This article published recently on the JPost not only disgusts me, but scares me:
Unidentified gunmen attacked several Internet cafes in the Gaza Strip with hand grenades and bombs before dawn on Wednesday. The simultaneous attacks caused heavy physical damage, but no one was injured.
There were no claims of responsibility, but some cafe owners accused Muslim fundamentalists who have been campaigning against Internet cafes and surfers.
“Some fanatics are unhappy with the fact that many young people have access to the Internet,” one owner told The Jerusalem Post. “They claim that the Internet is corrupting young people because it exposes them to Western values and culture and pornographic sites.”
Ha! I heard that one before from an Islamic studies teacher in high school. “When you write your research papers, remember, all sources are alright, except the internet. It’s a propaganda machine.” Yeah it is, just like music is, and film, and art, and TV, and radio, and your socks. Everything is a Western invention, an anti-Islamic conspiracy. We need to lock ourselves in our own homes, away from the evil Western rapists! And by “Western,” we mean everybody, even the Chinese!
What exactly are these people trying to preserve by doing this? Do they enjoy shoving our future back into the dark ages?
In Rafah, arsonists set fire to a shop selling cassettes and CDs. The owner, Farid Awad, said masked gunmen had warned him in the past not to sell modern music.
Yes, what a great message. Kids, stop shaking your booties to Western tunes and start listening to the drums and the hateful chants of bearded men! Joy! I must add that Arab singers probably get banned as well for being “Westernized” enough to make music. Serves them right for being sinners.
“Those behind these attacks are trying to turn Palestine into a Taliban-style country, where people were executed for watching TV,” said a Fatah official. “What will the next move be? Are they going to confiscate satellite dishes and radios from our homes?”
Islamists everywhere still try to do this. Look at Somalia.
A commenter writes:
They are right and have a right to be against pornography and Western acceptance of extra-marital affairs however there are proper ways to promote the idea and then there are violent, immoral ways to promote the idea. As usual the Muslims choose violence. Imagine they think they represent G-d? What an insult to G-d!
That last line is just perfect – they think they represent God, but they don’t, and they are not representative of Islam. A faction of modern Islamic culture, yes, but not Islam.
Personally I think these vultures attacked the internet mostly because it’s a “Western” invention, otherwise they wouldn’t attack music stores as well. Sure, porn is an issue, can’t you just tell kids that in schools? They’re going to be exposed to sex at some point in their lives, you may as well familiarize them with it by letting them know it exists, and educating them on the consequences of pre-marital sex, rape, etc.
Unfortunately these people are not contained within any specific country or area. They’re not just in Gaza. They’re everywhere, you’ll even find them in places like Bahrain and the UAE, and they LOVE harassing youngsters. They really know who and where to target in order to increase in number. You’ll see lots of young people promoting these anti-Western values. Even I used to be one of them.
We need to keep our youth safe from these loons. Sadly we can hardly keep up with such fundamentalists, they spread around like a venereal disease. It doesn’t hurt to try, but this is just an indication of the fact that we better start trying and working even harder than we already are.
There’s one good news in all of this … these people know how to PARTY! Woo, throw your hands in the air for some Hamas love.
God, be with us, and protect us from your supposed followers.
Join the Conversation
In all fairness…this is not just an Islamic thing…that is…Internet fear. There are some of the way out Jewish Orthodox groups that forbid it, but at least to THEIR constituency. But tearing this right from just Joe Anybody is utterly unforgiveable.
By the way…the Iranians here I think can attest to the fact that their government has had several episodes of satilite dish confiscation. Don’t know where they stand on Internet stuff.
If you can’t win people over with the power of your ideas…then a pox on your house. This is a terrible thing. Even on a localized vigilante basis…bad.
The Muslim world does not have the market cornered in Taliban wannabe’s. Currently, they have more power in the Muslim world…but folks that would enjoy lashing, torturing, beheading, controlling etc. exist everywhere…look at the USA just as recently as the 1960′s in the South and they did it in the name of God also. And it continues, albeit on a much smaller scale.
There was the Spanish Inquistion, the Crusades…these Taliban are there…frustrated, angry and decent people need to point them out and not allow a foothold.
Esra’a
I am surprised to see very little response to this article on blogs since it is symbolic of all the Taliban wannabe’s, from ANY religion or political extremism, that would shut you and others like you down in a minute…and maybe much worse.
I agree with you! I think people won’t know how serious this is until it’s too late.
The thing that worries me the most is that there is more of THEM than there is of US, and their numbers increase with such ease. Young people need to be more vocal about these issues, this is one of the goals for us here at Mideast Youth, to encourage youth activism or at least involvement.
If you think this is scary you should see what those Taliban wannabes do to schools in Muslim countries.
Esra’a-
I truly feel for folks like you. In your part of the world…activism and involvement can have very severe consequences. Lack of activism and involvement will have very severe consequences.
Have you read Reading Lolita in Iran and/or Perisoplis (sp.???).
If you have not…I PROMISE you quite a read.
Thanks for the Happy Chanukah. Acutally, at least in the USA, Christmas is much more colorful. Lights and decorations and some neighborshoods are amazing.
Chanukah…now days, typically means one main thing, very political….about 6-8 pounds added to your belly from eating all kinds of fried crap, albeit TASTY fried crap.
These guys are a bunch of perverts who externalize their own internal perversions through their actions.
Repression turns normal life, normal desire into perversion.
Wait… I am so tired of hearing that Westerners accept pre-marital affairs and that others have a right to be against them. Do you know what temporary marriage is all about? It’s all about the right of the man to have affairs. Sexual mores and adultery laws and the so-called intolerance of extra-marital affairs is simply a denial of the rights of women. I may sound like a raving feminist right now, well so be it. I just refuse to accept that the West has a monopoly on loose morals.
There will never be equity for men and women in this part of the world (Islamic), until there is a bit more honesty about sexuality.