Sunday, 27 April 2008

You have to be kidding me!

I was surfing online and this popped up.


In case the text above is not clear enough, here is the whole message.

"Surf Safely

This website is not accessible in the UAE.

The internet is a powerful medium of communication, sharing and serving our daily learning requirements. However, the page you are trying to access may contain content that is not consistent with the moral, cultural and social values of the UAE.

If the website you are trying to visit does not contain any such content we request you to immediately inform us by sending an email to safesurf@du.ae for an evaluation of the inaccessible site.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation."


Unbelievable. Am I a 12 year old kid who needs parental supervision and guidance before getting access to information? Do I need to seek for someone else's approval before reading uncensored material? This is totally unacceptable.

I am an adult and am fully responsible for my own actions. I have the right to read whatever I desire. I have the right to access any information I want to know. I have the right to see whatever I want to see; I don't give a damn if the information is consistent with MY moral, cultural and social values. And I certainly do not care if it is consistent with the UAE's.

I was not even reading internet porn to begin with. (And in my humble opinion if one desires to watch internet porn, one should have the right to do so, it is nothing to be ashamed of.) It is neither gamble sites, game sites nor any sites that sell illegal stuff. Of course I do not know for sure what the site shows now because it is BLOCKED in the UAE. But I believe it should be harmless. Anyway, that's not the point. The point here is: Who should be calling the shots on what needs to be censored. What makes the censorship board's decision superior to mine? They are better educated? (Even uneducated adults deserve to read what they want to read.) They are more morally upright? If such materials can corrupt the general public's mind so easily, what is done to "uncorrupt" the censors who have viewed these websites and considered them worth censoring? Send them into exile? (I am aware of using keywords to block certain sites but I have come across other censored materials in printed materials in the UAE)

The same applies to those idiots who used BLACK MARKER pens to mark ALL OVER MY copy of Marie Claire. It is an innocent, harmless fashion magazine for goodness sake. Stay away from my websites and mags, you brainless morons!

2 comments:

Ani said...

Huh? Who defaced your Marie Claire magazines?? Colleagues? Customs officers? Or magazine retailers? It's a ladies' magazine ah, men can just ignore it if they cannot handle the beautiful women inside! Good grief... sigh, what to do, you are in the UAE.

Now you can surf all you want while you are out of UAE :P Enjoy the freedom!

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