When YouTube blinked

YouTube, the Copts and the Egyptian army

In February this year, shortly after the fall of Mubarak, an Egyptian army unit conducted an armed attack on a Coptic Christian desert monastery. The army claimed that a wall around the monastery, built by the monks to protect themselves from incursions by criminals, was illegal. 

The attack that followed was captured on video and posted on YouTube, where it remains. The video shows the launch of an army assault using tanks, armoured personnel carriers and troops in battle fatigues firing live ammunition. According to the Egyptian Coptic Church, six monks or civilians associated with the monastery were injured.

But now, the people at YouTube have seen fit to post the following warning on a message page that precedes the video: 

The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as being potentially offensive or inappropriate. Viewer discretion is advised.

The monks seen in this video certainly found the experience of being under military attack, by an army that is supposed to protect them, ‘offensive and inappropriate’. But you can be quite sure that they’re not the members of the ‘YouTube community’ who have complained about this attack being recorded and documented.

The identity of the people who want the video documentation of this event suppressed is one issue. Another, of greater concern, is what the pathetic little notice from YouTube says about the current state of mind of the people who run that organisation.

See also:

Peter Day audio interview “Crimes against Christians” here…

Peter Day on “Extremism in power: The return of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt” here…

Subscribe to Quadrant magazine here…