40,000 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men plan to rally against the internet tomorrow at Citi Field

GlobalPost

An anti-internet rally for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men scheduled tomorrow has sold out, with all 40,000 seats at the Citi Field stadium to be filled with religious protesters. But it's still a little unclear what the point of the whole rally really is.  

Eytan Kobre, a lawyer who is the spokesman for the event’s organizers, told the Associated Press Friday that organizers aren't trying to ban the internet. Rather, they're just worried that people are getting too distracted by it. Kobre pointed out to the AP that pornography, online gambling and social media undermines “our ability to pray uninterruptedly, to focus and to concentrate.”

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The rally will be more focused on telling Jews what websites are kosher, according to Kobre. “It’s going to be inspiration and education about using technology responsibly in accordance with Jewish values,” he told the AP.

However, the rally seems to be sending some mixed messages. For starters, the rally has a promotional Twitter account, the Jewish Daily Forward reported. In addition, speeches at the event will be live streamed. And one of the event's organizers owns a Web marketing company, according to the Forward. 

In fact, event organizers have been fighting with each other about what the event's actual mission should be, Tablet Magazine reported

The planned rally has previously been criticized for excluding women. 

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