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Muslim Group Condemns LittleBigPlanet Qur'an Censorship
by Blake Ellison, Oct 20, 2008 4:15pm PDTM. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., president of the non-profit American Islamic Forum for Democracy, has joined the controversy surrounding the recall and delay of Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet (PS3) based on a song containing two lines from the Qur'an.
"Muslims cannot benefit from freedom of expression and religion and then turn around and ask that anytime their sensibilities are offended that the freedom of others be restricted," Jasser said to Edge.
Living up to his organization's name, Jasser put the issue in terms of the quintessentially American free market and freedoms of expression and religion. "To demand that it be withdrawn is predicated on a society which gives theocrats who wish to control speech far more value than the central principle of freedom of expression upon which the very practice and freedom of religion is based," he stated.
"We personally do not endorse the mixing of Koranic verses felt by Muslims to be the words of God with non-educational videogames," continued Jasser. "The fact that the music writer is a devout Muslim should highlight that at the core of this issue is not about offending 'all Muslims,' but only about freedom of expression and the free market."
"The free market allows for expression of disfavor by simply not purchasing a game that may be offensive," he concluded.
Comments
god/allah/whatever forbid, but this guy makes even more sense than our politicians.
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Nobody is forcing Sony or MM to change their product. Nobody is watering down what they intended to create.
Unless the whole thing is a very expensive (what with the recall) marketing ploy to get the game mentioned in places it wouldn't normally be mentioned (which I cannot imagine to be the case), there was no intend to offend anyone. The song was used without realising it might offend people. When they found out that it might offend some people they changed it because they want to avoid doing that. This is a game about knitted dolls jumping around in cardboard worlds, not a vehicle for criticising religion. (Not that a game couldn't be both. Look at South Park. But this game isn't aiming to do anything like that.)
If you think about it, forcing them not to change the song when they want to change it would be censorship. Censorship is preventing someone from saying what they want to say. In this case they want to release the version of the game without those verses in it.
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Besides, the gaming industry is already the whipping boy for anybody looking for some quick media coverage. Hey, even Mr. Jasser is getting in on that action.
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Using games for a positive message is alright with me.
In Denmark a newspaper printed a comic with the moslim profit in it, or something like that. And as you can guys it caused a shit storm, including terrorist bombing threats.
So I can understandthem recalling the game. But I agree with Mr. Jasser that it's bullshit and shouldn't be a problem.
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And thus, Sony recalls the game, because, at the end of the day, it's simply a product and they want to sell as many copies as possible.
This is about capitalism, not freedom of speech.
P.S. I wrote my comment without reading any of yours because I'm gangsta like that.
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Oh wait, he's right. Carry on!
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It's unfortunate that a few people with the loudest voices can cause so many problems in this country. If the people responsible for these decisions would start listening to the majority, instead of the ones making the most noise, we'd be a lot better off.
Yes, I'm being stereotypically naughty, but that doesn't mean it was never a consideration for them.