Thin Skin: SMS Political Jokes In Pakistan Can Get You 14 Years In Jail

from the can't-take-a-joke? dept

Tue, Jul 21st 2009 2:41pm — Mike Masnick

It would appear that the typical late-night TV comedian in the US would face serious jailtime in Pakistan, were he based there. MK alerts us that President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan is so annoyed by people passing around jokes about him via SMS that the gov't has started threatening to charge people for passing around such jokes, as "slandering the political leadership of the country" under a vaguely worded Cyber Crimes law, that could lead to 14 years in jail. It seems that should only lead to more jokes. How does one get to be a political leader with such a thin skin?

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Filed Under: criminal, jokes, pakistan, sms

19 Comments

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Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 3:14pm

Explanation:
"How does one get to be a political leader with such a thin skin?"

Step 1: Marry a oft-investigated politician, Bhutto.

Step 2: Get arrested and thrown in jail twice for what commonly considered to be purely political reasons.

Step 3: Get politician wife blown the hell up. For extra assurance of thin skinnedness, make sure this explosion is shown in creepy cell phone camera phone to a bunch of white people across the globe half a million times, where they watch it like a snuff film.

Step 4: Be diagnosed with memory impairment due to torture while imprisoned

Step 5: Pledge friendship and your first official relationship with crazy ass China, reigning champs of the "no one can say anything bad about us because it reewy, reewy hurts our feelings" governmental league.

Ta-daaa! Thin Skin!
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2009 @ 3:16pm

Not thin skin
It has nothing to do with thin skin. It's about power and control over other people. To some, that's the entire point of becoming a political leader.
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TW Burger (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 3:24pm

entire point of becoming a political leader
I thought entire point of becoming a political leader is the drugs and sex. Oh yeah, that's just Silvio Berlusconi.
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Petréa Mitchell, 21 Jul 2009 @ 4:09pm

Not that shocking in context
In many parts of the world, there are already laws on the books about insulting the state, its major figures, the state religion, etc. which result in serious jail time for words or actions that would seem like perfectly normal political discourse in the US. This just looks like an attempt to extend them to the latest technology.

I'm not in any way defending this law, just saying that it deserves a more serious analysis than "Pakistan is made of doofuses."
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2009 @ 4:14pm

How does one get to be a political leader with such a thin skin?

By killing all your opposition.
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TPBer, 21 Jul 2009 @ 4:15pm

Re: Explanation:
You reewy klacky me up!
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Anonymous Poster, 21 Jul 2009 @ 4:29pm

Somebody should make a lot of jokes about this guy on American TV just to see his reaction.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2009 @ 6:40pm

Re:
Somebody should find a list of widely read twitter hash tags in Pakistan and post lots of jokes to them.
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Spaceman Spiff (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 6:49pm

Re. posting to Pakistani twitters
One thing AC, make sure you keep your bullet-proof longjohns on after you do that. If they can send teams of assassins to India to blow the heck out of Mumbai, they can send a couple to Podunk, Iowa to get you too... They may be thin skinned, but they also have plenty of firepower, including nukes!
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NullOp, 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:29pm

A joke...
When I was coming up the word was "Screw 'em if they can't take a joke!"
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Matt Tate (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:44pm

Re: Explanation:
Step 6: ???

Step 7: Profit!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.
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CrazyA, 21 Jul 2009 @ 7:51pm

Re: Re: Explanation:
Classic!
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Dark Helmet (profile), 21 Jul 2009 @ 8:02pm

Re: Re: Explanation:
"Step 6: ???

Step 7: Profit!"

.....Bravo
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Jul 2009 @ 1:56am

Re: Explanation:
Ummm.... No.
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jlo, 22 Jul 2009 @ 6:29am

"How does one get to be a political leader with such a thin skin?"

Ask Sarah Palin. She apparently figured it out.
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Your Mother, 22 Jul 2009 @ 7:02am

Dedicate a website
We can build a website dedicated to making fun of him, and only him, until, well even after, he's violently overthrown by all the followers of the very website...In a funny way that's what he thinks will happen.
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skin care, 15 Oct 2009 @ 3:02am

its not applicable.
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