Facebook : The Reminder

It recently struck a chord, the Facebook dilemma that is. It seems not so long ago that I was double minded on the entire issue arguing Religious sentimentality over economic and social logic and vice versa. Then I saw news of further pages such as the one that got Facebook banned in first place popping up, all claiming that "we do this to show Islamic extremists we are not scared" and "we honor the spirit of the first amendment" - such as the case for Americans - This, and here I emphasis the expression, changed my views altogether. Though I consider myself a more modern Pakistani and mind you let us not associate the term modern with overly secular values, I pray and I fast and devoutly believe in Islam and its message to be peaceful and to show compassion for people, even though they might be riding on your last nerve. But my message to anyone, honestly enough is enough (and this I say to both sides east and west), I mean sure most westerners have adopted this very nice vision of Muslims as a negative force in society (though I still sincerely believe that most still think better of us as a community), and also believe in the right of freedom of speech and/or expression either way you look at it, but that does not provide an excuse for charging the sentimentality and feeling of a community who have no association with extremist militancy. Let us look at this from the cartoonists perspective they might think and happily assume they are acting for a greater cause considering the environment of the world today; honestly I can't blame them, we have to look at our own failings as a people of the world. Most of us even the so called "modern elite" have never countered the west with proper dialog leaving it mostly to the illiterate masses to sort the issue out by the only way they know how. Which would be a show of force; violent rallies and the ilk. This behavior is broad casted in the media so aggressively it resembles a hypodermic syringe being used on the world and the syringe contains a supposed "representation" of us as we are. We as a society live in parallel dimensions so to say mostly resembling a Marxist's rant regarding economic and social disparity between two extremes of social classes this is according to media messages. Yet the western world has truly yet to see the middle class of all this, the Muslims who go out and earn a living, inculcate positive values into their offspring, practice tolerance and wouldn't mind in fact enjoy sharing a intellectual conversation with people of other faiths. The world in which we exist today has become a social war zone where people are being targeted because of their faith, and it comes as no surprise that we are an easy target for our reactions tend to only make matters worse. It was only a recently a Friend said that "Facebook was the best place for such a thing to happen" I was intrigued and asked how and his reply "Facebook is an international forum on which we the educated lot of Muslims exert dominance, it is through that forum we can argue and show who we really are on an extremely large scale, it would provide the perfect medium through which we can make a difference". That reply showed me perfectly the two sides of the whole controversy. The Facebook ban can be justified and I still agree to certain facts but then let us see the other end of the spectrum is it not about time we forgo emotionally charged sentimentality and think logically we cannot keep having bedroom discussions and think we are doing are part or burning tires for some, we have to start looking at situations in a new light and show the world how are Way of Life not religion really is. The solution I pose is a simple one let us change our way of thinking, our motto should be "Feel, Think and Act" not "Feel and go for the kill".