News Report #2
“How 'Innocence of Muslims' Spread Around the Globe and Killed
a US Diplomat”
Elizabeth
Flock, US News (usnews.com)
9/12/12
“White House ‘Innocence of Muslims’ Request
Denied: Google will not Remove Film from YouTube”
Gerry Shih
9/14/12
The anti-Muslim
film “Innocence of Muslims” triggered violent protests in the Middle East after
clips were posted on YouTube. The film depicted an image of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad and represented him as a pedophile. The film was uploaded onto YouTube with Arabic
dubbing some two months after the original English-language post. According to
US News writer Elizabeth Flock, an anti-Muslim individual by the name of Morris
Sadek posted “Innocence of Muslims” on his blog and later “promoted the film on
Egyptian television stations.” One influential station is Al-Nas, whose
broadcast of the film ultimately led to the anti-American protests. During
these protests, four Americans were killed. One of the people murdered was the U.S.
Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.
The fact
that a video like this was allowed to post to YouTube is shocking, considering
how extremely racist and controversial. I had read in another article that
Google refused to take down the video at the White House’s demand despite the
damage it is causing. They argue that the video is in not in violation of
YouTube’s terms of service. Personally, I think the removal of the video should
have been the obvious next step after the outbreaks of protests in Egypt and
Libya. The fact that a video initially posted on YouTube could cause
international debate is not new, but it shows just how dominant the Internet is
on us as a global society. In my opinion, the broadcast of “Innocence of
Muslims” has set back our relations with the Middle East. The Internet provides
us with an innumerous amount of information, much of it not always positive.
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