Academic

?EVERYBODY DRAW MOHAMMED DAY? IS BACK ONLINE AT FACEBOOK: Currently at the top of the page: This pa?

By Ed Driscoll

“EVERYBODY DRAW MOHAMMED DAY” IS BACK ONLINE AT FACEBOOK: Currently at the top of the page:

This page was removed two days ago, after one of our moderators had his email and skype hacked. His personal data was revealed. He then got scared and deleted the page, the blog and the emails. The rest of us, are now back without him after he backed out. This is another scare tactic from the Islamic extremists. We won’t fall.
Pictures you were unable to post on the 20th? Check the forums for interviews.

More details at Newsbusters. Meanwhile, in reporting on Pakistan’s apparently still ongoing ban on Facebook, AP quotes from the Seattle cartoonist who originally gave the day its name, who sounds like the real-life equivalent of Iowahawk’s parody this week:

The Facebook page encouraged users to post images of the prophet to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of the American TV series “South Park” for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris, whose satirical cartoon calling for an “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” inspired the Facebook page, said in a post on her website that she meant her work only to be a commentary on the “South Park” controversy.

“I made a cartoon about the television show South Park being censored,” she wrote. “I never started a Facebook page. I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this ‘day’ be called off.”

Other sites have also been affected in the country as officials scramble to block content related to the Facebook page. Wikipedia’s English-language site and the Flickr photo-sharing site were also sporadically unavailable Friday.

It was not the first time depictions of the prophet have angered Muslims. In 2005, cartoons of Muhammad appeared in a Danish newspaper, sparking protests and riots from Muslims around the world, including in Pakistan, where the protests turned violent.

There have been several rallies against Facebook in recent days.

Others ? mostly members of the more secular, educated elite ? accused the government of blocking freedom of expression and hurting small businesses that use Facebook for marketing. Many questioned need for the entire Facebook and YouTube sites to be blocked, instead of individual pages.

Note that that last paragraph — the last of  a 15-’graph report — can easily be deleted by those newspapers who’d rather not even whisper a little Truth to Power.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on May 22, 2010 (boomark / email).