The book of faces: Facebook uncovered in book form

'Facebook and Philosophy' is an entertaining, multi-faceted exploration of what Facebook means for us and for our relationships. With discussions ranging from the nature of friendship and its relationship to “friending,” to the (debatable) efficacy of “online activism,” this book is the most extensive and systematic attempt to understand Facebook yet.

Says Maysaloon,

This is the narrative that has now been produced in Syria for immediate reproduction and dissemination across the country and the world. It is a face-saving narrative for those who took part in, or supported, the protests that began in Deraa and spread to other Syrian cities.

"A foreign plot to destabilize the country and spread chaos across Syria has been foiled. Furthermore, the sinister plot aimed at succeeding by subverting the 'real and legitimate' grievances of the Syrian people. Whilst the plot has been foiled, the Syrian government will graciously acknowledge these grievances and will now begin implementing immediate change."

Watching this video by Aramram, which came out after the March 25th event, I thought it was interesting to see HM King Abdullah’s words sitting in contrast to those of stick-wielding protesters who, let’s just say, came to Friday’s protests with a special kind of zeal. What these youth say is fairly reflective of how many people in Jordan think and feel, and thus frame the concept of “reform” within the larger picture. Watch it first:

"Last Wednesday was the Kussa Day in Libya , Qaddafi’s FM and former spy chief Mussa Kussa has defected in London in the biggest slap to Qaddafi politically. This is a very big blow to Qaddafi with no doubt. No one can ignore that Qaddafi has former Nicaraguan FM and former UN general assembly president Miguel Brockaman to represent him at the UN !! Oh yes Nicaraguan !!"

"Eman Obeidy is still in the minds and hearts of many people of the world. Eman’s family is extremely proud of her and they even celebrated her engagement to her cousin in Benghazi in some sort of defiant move to Qaddafi. From their side I have seen last night Hala Misrati on national Libyan TV claiming boldly that Eman were a prostitute , a whore and that the Qaddafi regime was working on a website that would expose her in video and photos !!"

"OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The organizers of the third Palestinian intifada page on Facebook have gained over 27,000 fans in one day after the Facebook administration removed the page in response to official calls in Israel."

"As I expected, Bashar al-Assad’s speech today was completely reactionary and devoid of any bold conciliatory gestures…"

"Rather than inaugurating a substantial step in the direction of reform — as many Syrians had been hoping he would do — Bashar offered only a few vague promises sprinkled in a bland stew of boilerplate pronouncements on Syrian unity and foreign conspiracies."