Katy McKenna Raymond  
Personal blog of christian writer Katy McKenna Raymond in Kansas City, Missouri

Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri


Katy is represented by
Greg Johnson at
WordServe Literary

Read more Katy at
LateBoomer.net

Follow Katy on Twitter

Follow Katy on Facebook

The World-Wide Web, Minus—-Apparently—-The Kingdom Of Bahrain

imageTell me the truth, dear fallible readers. Do you find me and my writings ban-worthy? Because, according to a long-time reader in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Ministry of Culture and Information is (in the words of the old Pace Picante Sauce advert) “gonna have to shut me down.”

Honestly, I think I’m the most uncontroversial girl in the known universe. I only rarely speak of my strongly-held political views, and in case you’re wondering right this second what those might be, let me just say I heart Ron Paul. A lot. In fact, the more I read and hear the stuff he wrote and said a year ago, or two years ago, the more I realize how RIGHT he is about the condition in which this country finds itself (the United States of America, not the Kingdom of Bahrain. I barely knew what body of water Bahrain found itself in, until today, never mind which STATE).

In addition to only linking to t-shirts with goofy politicians’ quotes (and NO, I did not mean to write “politicians’ goofy quotes”) for a measly few weeks out of a very long election cycle, I also have refrained from publicly either rejoicing or regretting the election of President Barack Obama. What’s done is done, and I am far too classy a blogger to air the dirty laundry of my negative attitude here.

You deserve better, as does the Kingdom of Bahrain! And while it’s true that a wikipedia article about the nation refers to its law against the line-hanging of ladies’ underwear in public and the display of a shop mannequin clad in lingerie, I truly had NO IDEA that I might have offended the sensibilities of the Minister of Culture (and Information!) by mentioning my unmentionables with, I guess, one too many mentions. Sigh.

I also try not to fallibly dwell on the vast variety of religions out there, though I do sometimes refer to my own Christianity and the person of Jesus Christ, who’s saved me from sins far more grievous than those which have caused my writings to be blocked from the eyes of readers in at least one ENTIRE COUNTRY. The Kingdom of Bahrain, I believe, is largely Muslim, and I understand that one reason websites are banned is if the nation’s religion is disrespected. Have I somehow attacked the fair people of Bahrain by saying I am a Christian, and that they, quite probably, are not? (By the way, it should be noted that I never said this until just this moment….)

It seems difficult to imagine that Islam could be the blog-ban bullet, but right now, a good old-fashioned Catholic examination of conscience might be in order on my part, just in case.

Praise, politics, and panties aside, there remains my most recent faux-pas. That pesky word S-E-X, clearly positioned for all the world except Bahrainians to see in the title of a recent post. But didn’t the Minister of Culture notice the question mark at the end of the title? Isn’t the CLEAR implication that NO sex, either real or imagined, was actually engaged in by the two parties having the very extremely non-sexy conversation detailed in the post?

“Excuse me, Mr. Minister of Culture and Information, but I do not think that question mark means what you think it means….”

Take a peek at the message that popped up when my friend in Bahrain tried to do a little fallible reading this morning. At the bottom of that page, my friend linked to an article about the websites that have been banned. There are supposedly only 68 banned sites IN THE WORLD, but it looks like the list is growing.

As for me, I think I’ll just go ahead and proclaim this The Fallible Year Of Blogging Dangerously. Why not just say EVERYthing I want to say, and let the bans fall where they may?

Do you think the Minister of Culture has banned fallible from his own personal computer? If not, perhaps there’s still hope of me making at least one more friend in Bahrain.

And while it’s too late for any Bahrainians besides the Minister of Culture to read this message, I apologize for offending you. It was never my intent.

 

Posted by Katy on 01/24/09 at 09:51 AM
Fallible Comments...
  1. Seriously, Katy, this--while "highly unfortunate," as my dear mother would say--is truly hilarious! I mean, I knew you were pretty spicy, but banned in an entire country? That's pretty impressive.
    Posted by Becky  on  01/24/09  at  11:53 AM
  2. Wow Katy. I'm truly impressed. :-)
    Posted by Suzan  on  01/24/09  at  01:42 PM
  3. Okay, Katy...you know you're THAT good when you get banned! :) After all, the most banned book is the Bible. You're in good company. (For the record, I would love to be banned. How cool!)
    Posted by Bridget  on  01/24/09  at  02:08 PM
  4. Congratulations, Katy. I mean really . . . How cool is it to be banned. Keep blogging. Let the narrow minded be narrow minded. We like you the way you are. (Maybe you being a woman didn't help you.)
    Posted by Sandi Thompson  on  01/24/09  at  02:32 PM
  5. I think this is wonderful news! All publicity, including the negative, is for the good!
    Posted by Terri  on  01/24/09  at  08:45 PM
  6. Take heart and consider yourself in good company; I just discovered the website deviantART (with over 3.5 million members) has also been banned.
    Posted by Dan  on  01/25/09  at  12:55 PM
  7. Wow. Banned. Wow.

    I guess that's what you get for being interesting! :)

    I heart Ron Paul too! :)
    Posted by Lawanda  on  01/25/09  at  04:16 PM
  8. i concur with all your other commenteers... HOW COOL! (at the same time, however, i do feel sorry for those in bahrain, unable to enjoy the stories and humor on this site.) and that message... how bureaucratic and officious!
    Posted by joshua  on  01/26/09  at  09:34 PM
  9. That's funny! I have friends who just moved to Bahrain. (It's a kingdom island just off the coast of Saudi Arabia in case you can't find it.) I think it's probably just a firewall and all kinds of words can trigger it. But you know that.
    Posted by Alison  on  01/28/09  at  09:09 AM
  10. completely agree with the above comment, the internet is with a doubt growing into the most important medium of communication across the globe and its due to sites like this that ideas are spreading so quickly.
    Posted by erlyn  on  02/04/09  at  04:19 AM
  11. You're unbanned! Sorry to burst the bubble on the cool-factor, but I'm pretty excited that I can read your blog again.
    Posted by PattyT  on  02/17/09  at  11:38 AM
  12. I agree, not everything you read is what you want to hear...
    Posted by Mannequin  on  05/02/09  at  04:23 AM
  13. It's strange enough. Your website doesn't have any posts that can hurt.
    Posted by Peter  on  05/06/09  at  01:37 AM
  14. It is great that you managed to get this cleared up!
    Posted by Long Island Computer Repair  on  01/18/10  at  10:47 AM
  15. Thanks for helpful information you catch up us with your instructional explanation.
    Posted by izmir web tasarım  on  02/18/10  at  05:38 PM
  16. thaks you
    Posted by hurdaci  on  08/20/10  at  06:36 AM
  17. thanks you
    Posted by Hurda  on  08/20/10  at  09:35 AM
  18. Everything was very nice great wonderful color matching shares
    Posted by web tasarim istanbul  on  02/08/12  at  08:48 AM
    19. Page 1 of 1 pages
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Next entry: Nor Do I Play One On TV!

Previous entry: Not That This Has Anything To Do With The State Of Affairs In The World, But.....

<< Back to main