Friday, February 23, 2007

Blogospheric Response To Egypt's Action

Amazing speed of supportive action for the blogger arrested by the Egyptian Government!

He's being nominated for the 2007 Index Awards Ceremony.

Plus, the folks who created FreeKareem.org had this to say:

"This campaign is our way of fighting to further the cause of brave people who continue to practice their right to freedom of expression even when such rights are not recognized.

"Kareem is a writer who always found the courage within him to keep speaking his mind freely in the name of not only freedom of speech, but the freedom to think in an otherwise sheltered society. Because of that, he was interrogated and arrested this morning, but apparently not for the first time. We stand by and fully support Kareem through these difficult times and will continue working on this campaign until he is freed."

They also created a Forum to discuss his case.

Independent Investigation of Truth is sorely lacking in our world-at-large. Without this important principle in place, censorship and blind imitation of the past can unleash rank oppression:

"One of the main sources of conflict in the world today is the fact that many people blindly and uncritically follow various traditions, movements, and opinions. God has given each human being a mind and the capacity to differentiate truth from falsehood. If individuals fail to use their reasoning capacities and choose instead to accept without question certain opinions and ideas, either out of admiration for or fear of those who hold them, then they are neglecting their basic moral responsibility as human beings. Moreover, when people act in this way, they often become attached to some particular opinion or tradition and thus intolerant of those who do not share it. Such attachments can, in turn, lead to conflict. History has witnessed conflict and even bloodshed over slight alterations in religious practice, or a minor change in the interpretation of doctrine. Personal search for truth enables the individual to know why he or she adheres to a given ideology or doctrine."