Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/09/01/pakistan-blocks-5-dating-se.html
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But these are only 5 apps. I wonder if there are others that have slipped under the radar.
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“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” – H.L. Mencken
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This is worse. It is not mere societal/cultural puritanism with a lower case P, that hates others having fun. It is full-blown religious Puritanism with a side–order of violent hate for anyone who does not literally follow the local religious book’s ancient sand-people rules. Have you SEEN the blasphemy laws in Pakistan? (Rhetorical - I’m sure you have.)
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Yes. You can substitute in “religious fundamentalism” for Mencken’s “puritanism” and the meaning and intent remains the same.
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I’m honestly surprised.
Not because I thought better of Pakistan or anything; but because dating apps are (sometimes by design, sometimes by necessity, sometimes by subpoena or electronic intrusion) a veritable goldmine of user data.
Why block them, and reduce the quality and juiciness of local data, when you can just do whatever the state-force equivalent of catfishing is?
Well, I don’t want us to get into an argument about this (or angels on the head of a pin) but religious fundamentalism, to my mind, goes way beyond merely objecting to others being happy or having fun.
It damns others for not adhering to an entire set of arbitrary rules and for not honouring their particular shibboleths, prophets or gods and seeks to prevent others from even questioning them. That was my point and that is why it goes beyond Mencken’s definition of puritanism. Puritanism can sometimes be relatively mild in comparison.
Maybe we (you and I and Mencken) are not aligned about what sort of puritanism we are referring to, but nevertheless I’m sure all three of us would be on the same page regarding these sentiments.
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