Pakistan banned twitter as a reaction to draw muhammad day which is now an annual event on the 20th of may. However, Pakistan has now restored.



http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/robcrilly/100159298/twitter-row-reveals-the-trouble-with-pakistan/


The question of censorship arises whenever things like this happen;

a) Is censorship a good strategy of stopping dissent or blasphemy in this modern era of the internet and the digital world?

-The internet has become a global place where taboos can now be discussed with anonymity
-In Pakistan, the internet users quickly switched from twitter to other private networks to complain about the ban.
-Since the ban was a knee-jerk reaction, the ban was not even effective as people found ways to bypass it and still get on twitter
-A critic of Islam can say that it is unfortunate that Islam has to resort to desperate measures not to be insulted because censoring something can make that very thing even more popular if there is a backlash


b) Does draw Muhammad day deserve the right to exist or not? Should it be censored because of blasphemy?
-Blasphemy laws do not apply in countries that are not religious. Secular countries will only censor something if the government or courts deem it to be libelous/untrue or hate speech.
-However, in a theocracy, blasphemy laws are very active and functional.
-The issue then becomes, how do secular and theocratic countries reconcile this issue as citizens of both types of government meet on the internet?
-Furthermore, Islam has been receiving negative press on its attitude towards unbelievers and skeptics..




What do you think of all this as a muslim?