Evening all,
It was all of six days ago that I was praising Facebook for their awareness in terms of their social responsibility by releasing tools to assist those thinking of suicide or self harm internationally. Well, six days later it seems I have a bone to pick with Mr Zuckerburg, to those who have not seen what's been happening, Facebook seems to be deleting Facebook groups dedicated to Atheism in Northern Africa and the middle east.
Now to clarify, Facebook aren't simply going around deleting these pages on a whim, the pages have had complaints laid against them by various users in the region. The basis for their complaint? Apparently the pages violate so-called "community standards". The Atheist Alliance - Middle East and North Africa (AA-MENA) have been rallying atheist worldwide to bring attention to the violence and censorship that atheists are subjected to in Muslim communities under the hashtag #FacebookVSFreeSpeech.
Obviously this is not something that Facebook is at fault for, current policy in the company says that community standards are violated when enough of a particular demographic lays the complaint against a page or person, so all that needs to happen is that Facebook needs to change it's policy and stop strangling free speech in Africa.
In local news, two reporters have laid charges against members of the SAPS for assault and intimidation following an incident earlier today where the police tried to stop the reporters from filming them using rubber bullets to disperse crowds of protestors in Pretoria. Having lived in London for five years, I remember the furor when members of the London police tried to stop people filming them and I happen to agreed, if the police are doing as they should, why would the be afraid of public scrutiny?
Last but by no means least is the tale of a very courageous woman named Nadia Murad. Nadia is a 23 year old Yazidi woman who was taken as a slave by members of ISIS when they took control of parts of northern Iraq in 2015. She was beaten and raped but in a supreme display of human courage and tenacity managed to escape and has had a few words for the rest of us. "ISIS will not give up their weapons unless we force them to".
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm by no stretch of the imagination a pacifist, my personal opinion is that if ISIS wants a war, the world as a whole should set everything else to one side and give them one. Every nation should band together to wipe this stain from the face of the earth. To those who point to freedom of speech, please remember that ISIS is not a big fan of talking, they are and always have been all about action against anything that they feel is anti-islamic and the free people of the world need to respond in kind. We will not be terrorized, we will not be cowed, we will fight you and we will win.
Anyway, that's my rant for the night over, tonights clip comes from Jimmy Carr regarding the most offensive joke in the world:
As always, I don't own any of the content, please do check out Jimmy's website here though a word of warning, the man has a very dark sense of humour.
Please remember to comment and subscribe and as usual, please like the Facebook page, there is a button at the top of the page that links to it.
Ta,
G
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Tuesday, 21 June 2016
#Fuckyouiwontdowhatyoutellme!
Evening all,
First and foremost I feel I have to honor a hero, Mthetho Sandla, an SAPS officer in Cape Town was brutally murdered in the early hours of the 13th of June while he and his partner are believed to have thwarted an ATM robbery as there were explosives found at the scene. To ntate Sandla's family from the people of South Africa, our heart felt thanks to you for giving us your son's life in serving his country and it's people. We can offer little by way of comfort but hope that knowing he died to protect the people of South Africa gives some sense of pride and solace. One can only hope that the bastards who killed him are caught and have the full weight of the law thrown at them. It's stories like these that make me want capital punishment to be reinstated.
In other infuriating, though hardly surprising, news, the SABC is censoring any and all coverage of protests around the country in the run up to the local elections in August. Clearly an apartheid-like ploy to censor what news the majority of South Africans have access to. Thankfully though, the SOS Coalition have created an online petition with over 4000 signatures to hand over to ICASA tomorrow when the regulator will hear arguments from the SABC as to why it has made the decision. For those wishing to sign the petition (I have just done so) please go here.
To put a positive spin on this story, the fact that this has been caught by ICASA is one of the reasons I still have faith in this country, as well as our democracy. Sure, we have corruption, and the current government is trying every trick in the book to try and stop word of their misdeeds getting to the majority of South Africans, but thankfully we live in a country where even the mighty are held accountable. (Unless their name is Jacob Zuma of course) :P.
To end on a more positive note, scientists in Australia have discovered a drug to help combat breast cancer in women. Not to get into the sciencey jargon, the drug essentially helps prevent breast cells with a high likelihood of mutating into cancerous cells from doing so. The previous recommended solution was a mastectomy, though this will hopefully allow this life altering surgery to become a last resort. It will be a good few years before it will be available to patients outside of clinical trials but initial research looks very promising.
For tonight's entertainment I've chosen the music video for Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name. Please remember I don't own the media, if you are into something heavy with a bit of hip-hop thrown in, give them a look up.
Well, that's all folks, please remember to follow and comment, also remember to like the Facebook page :)
Ta,
G
First and foremost I feel I have to honor a hero, Mthetho Sandla, an SAPS officer in Cape Town was brutally murdered in the early hours of the 13th of June while he and his partner are believed to have thwarted an ATM robbery as there were explosives found at the scene. To ntate Sandla's family from the people of South Africa, our heart felt thanks to you for giving us your son's life in serving his country and it's people. We can offer little by way of comfort but hope that knowing he died to protect the people of South Africa gives some sense of pride and solace. One can only hope that the bastards who killed him are caught and have the full weight of the law thrown at them. It's stories like these that make me want capital punishment to be reinstated.
In other infuriating, though hardly surprising, news, the SABC is censoring any and all coverage of protests around the country in the run up to the local elections in August. Clearly an apartheid-like ploy to censor what news the majority of South Africans have access to. Thankfully though, the SOS Coalition have created an online petition with over 4000 signatures to hand over to ICASA tomorrow when the regulator will hear arguments from the SABC as to why it has made the decision. For those wishing to sign the petition (I have just done so) please go here.
To put a positive spin on this story, the fact that this has been caught by ICASA is one of the reasons I still have faith in this country, as well as our democracy. Sure, we have corruption, and the current government is trying every trick in the book to try and stop word of their misdeeds getting to the majority of South Africans, but thankfully we live in a country where even the mighty are held accountable. (Unless their name is Jacob Zuma of course) :P.
To end on a more positive note, scientists in Australia have discovered a drug to help combat breast cancer in women. Not to get into the sciencey jargon, the drug essentially helps prevent breast cells with a high likelihood of mutating into cancerous cells from doing so. The previous recommended solution was a mastectomy, though this will hopefully allow this life altering surgery to become a last resort. It will be a good few years before it will be available to patients outside of clinical trials but initial research looks very promising.
For tonight's entertainment I've chosen the music video for Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name. Please remember I don't own the media, if you are into something heavy with a bit of hip-hop thrown in, give them a look up.
Well, that's all folks, please remember to follow and comment, also remember to like the Facebook page :)
Ta,
G
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