Saturday, April 2, 2011

Facebook and the battle of good vs. evil


A facebook page calling for the third Palestinian Intifada was recently taken down by facebook. The page encouraged Palestinian’s to take to the streets after Friday prayers on may 15th and use violence against Jews. “Judgment day will be brought upon us only once the Muslims have killed all of the Jews” was the rallying call of the page. The page had 350,000 “likes” before it was finally removed. This shows us the pros and cons of new social media tools like facebook. Clearly, Facebook is something that can be used for tremendous good, but when a page like this is created and actually gains so much support it is really quite frightening. Since the removal of this page, others just like it have popped up. It is important that we recognize that facebook is a tool that can be used not only for good but for horrible, evil things as well.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/29/palestinian.facebook/index.html

4 comments:

  1. How scary is that? I was shocked that facebook was refusing to take down the page earlier. It is truly very important, especially today when everything is online, that we realize how dangerous the web and social media can be. The web reminds me of that old Jewish story about lashon hara, its like trying to collect all the feathers from a pillow. One website triggers another, and we really have to be cautios and conscious.

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are many things that can be used for good or evil. Facebook and other internet tools are definitely one of those things. Yes, this is frightening, but we should all keep in mind that such things are too be expected. Social networking sites, along with the internet in general, are useful (perhaps some day necessary) tools, but like any tool they are only useful to a certain point. Hatred is easily spread through such mediums, a result of the nature of the internet itself, which is why we must constantly be on the lookout for such attacks, despite the near impossibility of finding them all (similarly to the impossibility of finding all of the feathers in that story about lashon hara).

    ReplyDelete
  3. I didn't know what to make of this removal. On the one hand, as Americans, we are proud and privileged to have the freedom of speech. Censorship is truly a slippery slope as many of us have witnessed here at Yeshiva University. I'm not saying this was not a good move by Facebook, I believe it was. However, at the same token, let us not forget that every voice is allowed to be heard.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Of course every voice is allowed to be heard, up to a point. Once Freedom of Speech is taken to a point where it threatens the well-being of individuals and groups, then there must be an immediate and proactive response. Facebook and other social media users must be aware that with these new tools which connect the entire world, comes a huge responsibility. We're given a privilege here - don't forget that.

    ReplyDelete