“Caution: There is Another anti-Islamic Site” Why issuing an alert
letter is precisely the wrong thing to do“The most anti-Islamic site will die if it faces a frozen counter.
That
would happen if you just leave it alone. But if you are out there
telling everyone about it and asking them to do the same, you are in
effect volunteering as their publicity department.”By Khalid Baig, 7 December 2001
The alert letters keep coming. Beware here is the latest anti-Islamic
site. Then a URL so you can verify that it is indeed as described.
Then
a passionate request to tell all the Muslims in the world about it.Sincere. Misguided. Counter-productive.
Little do the senders realize that they are actually helping the very
sites they are trying to fight.The failure is in realizing that the Internet is a very different
medium
and the rules that applied to the previous media do not always apply
here. If there is a bad magazine or book out there, you can tell
others
about it. We can be sure that nobody will rush to the closest
bookseller
to buy it. The warning may be useful, if there was a chance that some
people could have bought the book out of ignorance.In the click-click world of the Internet, the first thing most people
will do is to click on the URL, thereby increasing the hit counts and
boasting the morale of the site owners. Second, it will help it with
search engine placement, as some of them will use the increased
curiosity traffic as a sign of popularity. You just helped create the
monster you wanted to fight!It is common sense. If you don’t want people to visit a site, just
don’t
tell them about it.It is very easy to setup a page on the Internet. It is very difficult
to
draw traffic to it. The most anti-Islamic site will die if it faces a
frozen counter. That would happen if you just leave it alone. But if
you
are out there telling everyone about it and asking them to do the
same,
you are in effect volunteering as their publicity department. That is
exactly what they need.If there is a well-established site (like CNN) it makes sense to
launch
a protest campaign. But for most of the sites the prudent course is
just
the opposite. Leave it alone. Let it die of neglect. A natural death.
The greater the lack of attention, the faster will be the death of
this
would be monster.So the next time you receive an alert letter about an anti-Islamic
site,
just delete it. If you respond to the sender, do not include the
original text of his alert email, because even that may help some
search
engine ranking.There were dozens of anti-Islamic sites that sprang up recently but
died
soon after because, luckily, our enthusiasts had not noticed them and
had not publicized them through their alert letters. The ones that
receive the alert letter mention will, unfortunately, survive and may
thrive.On the Internet, the best use of your energies is to promote the good
Islamic sites. Let the good drive out the evil.Now, may we request that you send this article to all your friends?
I disagree. The above article has been written based on two ASSUMPTIONS that:
(1): we cannot do anything about the websites
(2): If we dont do anything, chances are they will stop on their own.
The second is a debatable issue. These websites lure new people who are interested in Islam and are seeking answers. Its our duty to save these people from being mislead by creating awareness & the only way its possible is by issuing alerts & warnings and having these sites closed down. If we keep on ignoring such false websites & hope that they will stop functioning on their own then that is risky my friend. If we go on pretending like this then it could lead to uncontrolled growth of more such websites and they'll become so common that in future it might be difficult to tell a phony one from real.
Coming to the first assumption, and i have mentioned this in my other post as well. My question is, WHY CAN'T WE DO ANYTHING ABOUT THESE WEBSITES?? Surely its possible if only we are able to put our act together and work through this problem in an organised and unified manner! Muslims should make a notifying center on the web where people can report such sites. It should be independent and recognised by Internet regulatory authorities. Perhaps it will require many Governments to work together. It may be difficult but it IS possible. No?
If such a facility came into being then nobody will have to rely on public forums and mass mails to issue alerts. (This addresses the unintentional advertising issue) One quiet e-mail to the notification center will set the wheels rolling and effective action could be taken against the website in question.
Perhaps someone could tell me where to find help in this regard. Also, we shouldn't try to re invent the wheel. If such a facility already exists then let us KNOW about it. Thank you
*WHY CAN'T WE DO ANYTHING ABOUT THESE WEBSITES?? *
Because they are not against the law.
^ and who makes the law??
Whatever country hosts the website.
I think you will find the anti muslim countries promoting the anti islamic websites
Go for root of the problem it best instead of tackling just the symptoms
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Saif1924: *
I think you will find the anti muslim countries promoting the anti islamic websites
Go for root of the problem it best instead of tackling just the symptoms
[/QUOTE]
How does one do that?
here are the options:
pray that they be gone
ban internet access
go to war
ignore and let the website go out of business
IMHO anyone who brings publicity to such websites is doing so wantonly and to harm islam and islam's god. why else would you make it even more popular?
Seminole
A strong state that actually cares for the muslim affairs would ask the country hosting such websites you stop such filth or we will take action be it to inflict damage on there intrests.
This is similar to situation at time of last islamic state when sulatn abdul hameed II asked britain to stop a play whcih was insulting the prophet muhammad(saw) britian being the arrogant colonial state that is was said no we sold the tickets and we have freedom etc.
Islamic state issued ultimatum to britian if it does'nt cease this play immediatly it will declare military jihad against britian including on the indian sub continent. Britian immediatlky stopped the play no questions asked. And this was at a time when the islamic state was on its last legs and weak!
So it obvious what is needed today in our time of need!
also without islamic state today giving this filthy website publicity is uneccessary because there maybe hundreds of similar sites on internet right now.
US fought and won independence over 200 years ago to establish self rule. They are not going to let "a strong state" or anyone else nullify the Bill of Rights. This "strong state" would have to be prepared to defeat the US militarily to stop freedom of speech. Then they would have to occupy the United States (and probably Europe) to maintain their repressive rule. Sultans issuing ultimatums just wouldn't work today, so your Colonial-era analogy is apples and oranges.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by balram: *
here are the options:
IMHO anyone who brings publicity to such websites is doing so wantonly and to harm islam and islam's god. why else would you make it even more popular?
[/QUOTE]
.. Islam and God cannot be harmed! Secondly its not Islam's God but God.. Islam never claim it have specific God entitled to itself! We believe that there is only one omnipotent God who created this earth, Universe and all matter ..May be u have such a large no. of Gods that u can allocate them to different purposes and functions.. u need a thorough study of monothist religionms like Islam, Christianity and jewish to understand..they are very different than Hinduism.. we can compile ur out of context and silly comments in joke section.. some times it good to listen and understand than give comments at everything without knowing whats going on !
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Degas: *
.. Islam and God cannot be harmed!
[/QUOTE]
this is factually wrong. islam and islam's god have been irrepairably damaged by the suicide bombers, al qaeda terrorism, cross border terrorism, bali bombing etc. because these dastardly and heinous crimes against innocents were done in the name of the religion and god. if you are going to sit there and argue that these attackers do not represent islam and so islam is not harmed by such action, just ask the muslims living in the west - ask them how difficult their life has become. they are are all suffering from guilt, worry that some westerner is going to try and get even with them etc.
so stop the futile bravado.
Ur using again Islam's God.. I told u to learn more about Islam..there is no Islam's God but one and only God for whole humanity.. if someone make God for sun, rain and other natural things its their prob!
I live in USA and even after Sep 11 debacle Islam is flourishing rapidly and in all mosques thousands of new convertions have occured.. even in our mosque a white man embraced Islam last Friday.. I have found most Americans understanding and more knowledgeable than people of sub-continent who could easily be incted to burn people of other faiths.. check shameful acts in Gujrat or attackers at temples in Kashmir.. Though there are some bigots and idiots in all countries and few are in USA too.. Check again from any source which religion is expanding today in USA in terms of conversion..
Seminole
the brother is making point that without a state who cares for islamic affairs this kind of hatred will spread, without anyone giving a damn.
also you mentioned 200 years to fight for independence i think that is really nonsense america does everything based on benefit if there intrests are in danger without a doubt it wil work to stop there intrests being affected then there freedom of speech will takestep back behind intrests.
If they belive in freedom of speech so much they why when this canadian minister called George Bush a Moron she was asked to resign and also german minister who called Bush ignornant was also forced to resign and i belive also a japanese minister also suffered same fate.
So it clear when they americans attacked in media or wherever they clamp down and can't take it but when muslim and specially muhammad(saw) attacked it no problem freedom of speech.
This is problem with capitalistism they are hypocrites and apply double standards and this obviously will happen when man made laws applied because bias will always be there!
As if your khalifa would not apply double standards. There is more bias in Muslim countries than in any Western country. Somehow I doubt a magical turnaround to tolerance upon creation of your Islamic state.
This is the type of website Muslims should really be worried about:
Al-Qaida website calls for destruction of Israel
Advocating violence in the name of religion is what causes the fear that motivates people to post anti-Islamic websites.
BTW, I bet here is ten-fold anti-Christian websites compared to anti-Islamic websites, so stop getting your panties in a wad. It’s not a Capitalist conspiracy.