I know we have a love-hate relationship. And I know things have been hard recently for both of us. I sometimes find it hard to acknowledge it, but I do realize it is not your fault that your government is controlled by the Taliban. I understand it is your job to keep a tab on critics of your Wahhabi Ministry. So believe me. I absolutely, totally understand your need to snoop on my blog.
Having said that, there are some lines that should never be crossed, and today you crossed it.
I got a comment in my inbox today from a certain 'msathyh@hotmail.com'.
""It is my right as a citizen to demand a secular state" go brother go! so finally the words are coming out from you. the real reason why you are back is clear. you write everything openly but you deny to your family saying that you're not against religion but against politicians. huh!! must salute your humanitarian.. you never raised concerns for victims of rapists or in fact no any other issue beyond the beard and sheiks. what a pity!"
Now, that's a perfectly valid comment. I am charged with not raising concern for victims of rapists.
(Unfortunately, this allegation is not true at all because I consider all sexual activities with children as rape of the worst kind - a rape of innocence. I have strongly condemned all pedophiles / pedophilia-promoting sheikhs in the past. One Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips comes strongly to my mind)
I also understand that msathyh is probably not the most technically competent person alive. Being a police media official, however, she should ideally be familiar with the concept of a Google search. I understand that the Police Service has better things to do with its funds (like snooping on bloggers, for instance) than to train its officials in basic life skills.
So, me being the kindly nice person I am, let me present a Free Tutorial for msathyh, and any other police official denied such basic training.
1) First, direct your browser to www.google.com, thusly:
Now press Enter.
2) Then, in the search box in the middle of the page. Type 'secular Muslims':
Press return.
3) Iqra! Get Educated!
That's it! You're done!
Repeat the above steps for any similar topic that you know jackshit about, before going on people's blogs and sounding like a moron.
Futhermore, msathyh should realize that under the seemingly innocent black pages of this blog, there are scripts running that tell me exactly who she is. Even when she tries to hide.
For instance, she left me this gem last June under a pseudonym.
"hello Mr.RESIST, whats wrong with you. you think you and HILATH are the only BRAVE people in this country and we all are nuts. what do you think of yourself. c'mon wake up we know the freedom you want to have in this country. Your friend Hilath is already caught-up with narcotics. Is that what you mean by freedom. whenever you feel like you can do drugs. what a shame?? and if I'm not wrong he was the guy who promoted gay sex ...right? what more to expect from you guys. so please keep your frree thinking to yourself. instead of asking others to fuck why dnt you do gay with Hilath."
But of course, msathyh, it is very easy to be brave when you're hiding behind a fake, anonymous identity and shooting off your mouth into the darkness of the internet.
Also.. why don't I "do gay with hilath"? WTF is with you people and gay sex? It can't be normal or healthy to keep thinking about gay sex between males - especially when you're a woman wearing a buruqa (I always presumed the garment instantly made you morally superior to us lowly secular people, maybe I was wrong.).
Thankfully, we have a registered support group for people who are obsessed with gays.(I even have the membership form here.)
But msathyh's already seen this. How do I know? Because - unlike say, me and Hilath - she is BRAVE enough to post another cowardly anonymous comment on that article:
"Xray
So in a sarcastic tone you wanna tell us that its only atheists like you, who got big brains. and all the others are nuts. there are reasons to strike against the so called "good Jewish doctors" not because they are not qualified or not because they steal our organs. but simply because they are Jews. simply to strike against their brutality and cruelty on our Muslim brothers and sisters in Palatine."
Ah. Good ole' anti-Semitic hatred from a wannabe pious, devout, modest "Muslim" woman.
Let it be known that there's at least one official in the Maldives Police force that is openly anti-Semitic - and writes about this on the internet, albeit anonymously. This is, at best, a security risk for the visiting doctors and if anybody reading this post is responsible for providing security for the visiting doctors, you might want to keep the Police media officials at a distance.
But msathyh is right. I do consider tolerance and the ability to respect others as a sign of intelligence and maturity. On that scale, I do rate a lot of secular Maldivians way higher than self-righteous pricks who think worshiping mullahs and hating Jews comprises a religion.
During my days of blogging, I've seen plenty of filthy comments and threats. I've also patiently accepted the invasion of my privacy by the "intelligence" agencies. It is after all, your job to listen to the Taliban that runs the government.
But it crosses a very sacred line when a Police media official goes beyond her call of duty and starts to harass citizen bloggers - during her work hours.
msathyh@hotmail.com has send me the abusive, derogatory messages from the above IP, which I have traced to the Maldives Police Service.
When did "To Protect and Serve" become "To Harass and Intimidate"? I severely condemn this kind of harassment from the people sworn to protect and serve me.
I usually welcome criticism - and I have published comments that are far more threatening, slanderous and abusive from equally anonymous people. But I want to make a point here that I hope msathyh would understand. It is very easy to criticize and abuse people while hiding in the shadows, but very difficult to actually be at the receiving end of it all. She must try and realize that I do not particularly enjoy having to deal with her sort of people - and that blogging using one's real identity in a Taliban-state like the Maldives takes just a little more courage than she imagines.
Also, it is extremely unprofessional of her.
I'm a quiet introvert in real life, and I'm usually very protective of my privacy. That has been torn to shreds thanks to this blog and the racist, intolerant nitwits that sometimes visit it. And it's not a good feeling.
I do not expect an apology. But I do expect the Police service to take steps to keep their personnel in check. You see, I do not mind you snooping on me, or reading my emails. But when you start harassing me anonymously, you have another thing coming.
I hope the Police Service takes some time - maybe a cheerful get together on a Thursday afternoon - to educate its personnel that the electronic pages of my blog are stored on a Google server somewhere on the Internet - in a whole other country.
They actually have to open a web browser, type in the URL, click on the post thumbnail, and take the trouble of actually reading through the whole post.. before their tiny, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic minds could get 'offended'.
Here's an idea, dear lady. Don't go through all that trouble when you already know your morally superior self is going to be "offended".
And if you've already gone through the trouble of opening my website, how about when you read something disagreeable on my blog, just press ALT+F4. I hear that works. You could also click on the tiny 'x' mark on the top right corner of your tab/browser window. Problem solved.
Over and out.
~Peace!
