Thursday May 20 was unofficially “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” on Facebook. On a page with the same name, a number of cartoons and pictures supposedly of the prophet of Islam were posted. Some were simple pictures, others were of a more humorous or mocking nature.The page and event began as a protest. When Comedy Central censored a show due to a death threat against it’s creators, people complained that the network had surrendered to intimidation. A cartoonist then posted a drawing on April 20th, suggesting everyone draw a cartoon of Mohammed on May 20th as a form of protests against those who would try to limit freedom of speech by threats of violence.“In light of the recent veiled (ha!) threats aimed at the creators of the television show South Park ... by bloggers on Revolution Muslim's website, we hereby deem May 20, 2010 as the first annual 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!' Do your part to both water down the pool of targets and, oh yeah, defend a little something our country is famous for (but maybe not for long? Comedy Central cooperated with terrorists and pulled the episode) the first amendment.—Molly Norris (April 20, 2010)”Word of Norris’ protest quickly spread, and within a week had been taken up by numerous bloggers. It was around this time the “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” page was created on Facebook. It quickly had thousands of guests. At this time, Norris began to have second thoughts about her protest, saying she had never intended for it to grow so big so fast, saying she had “struck a gigantic nerve, something I was totally unprepared for.” And she soon began to distance herself from it. The creator of the Facebook page soon withdrew as well, citing some were posting clearly insulting images aimed at Islam in general rather than the fanatics. Others helped lead the protest, “If we cannot or will not defend that principle ... then we deserve to choke on whatever jihadists of all stripes can force down our throats."The protest did not go unchallenged. An “AGAINST Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” page sprung up on Facebook, plus other pages protesting the protest. In Pakistan, the government ordered Facebook blocked from access by it’s public for May 20th, as well as Youtube.Late in the evening of May 20th, the “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” page on Facebook was unavailable. Someone then created another, “Facebook seems to have deleted the original,” and accused them of censoring his cause while leaving the counter-protest site “filled with anti-semitism, Jesus bashing, gay-bashing, atheist bashing.”“Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” has come to an end, but the debate over censorship, as well as a number of cartoons on the Internet, remain.Bixyl ShuftanSource: WikipediaCartoons from michellemalkin.com and www.examiner.com
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