There are people who say freedom of speech and expression should be absolute. Freedom with restrictions is not freedom. Some talk of tolerance of differing opinions. Some talk of limits on freedom or self-censorship. Some claim to be liberals open to all ideas and tolerant of contrary views.
Tolerance is an illusion. Tolerance is a myth. Journalists who claim to be modern and liberal on English news channels are as intolerant as Al Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban, VHP, Bajrang Dal and so on.
Sakshi Maharaj came under attack for saying every Hindu woman should have four children. He wanted one to fight on the border and one to join sadhus. There are many countries where women are encouraged to have many children. In Australia a woman gets 4,000 dollars when a child is born. Germany has incentives for women to have children. In 61 countries/territories governments are worried about declining population and want more children. Japan’s population has declined over the years. In 2014 it declined by more than a million.
Ramesh Tawadkar, Sports Minister of Goa, came under attack for his statement on LGBT. He talked of setting up treatment centres similar to Alcoholics Anonymous to make LGBT youth normal. One anchor said his statement is shocking. One newspaper demanded his apology. Ramesh Tawadkar has freedom of speech and expression like every citizen of India. If his statement is shocking to bigoted journalists who consider themselves modern and liberal but are antiquated and illiberal so be it. Journalists and others who oppose him are intolerant. India is a sovereign country. IPC 377 is the law of the land. UN Secretary General has no business to tell what should be the law of India.
Who decides what hate speech is? It is subjective. David Brooks has written that what is legal in France would have been opposed as hate speech in USA.
Some anchors are hostile to people in favour of death penalty. Once Nidhi Razdan was hostile to Yashodhara Raje Scindia because her BJP colleague Sushma Swaraj had favoured death penalty for rape.
Charlie Hebdo had sacked a cartoonist Sine. He had drawn a cartoon of Jean Sarkozy who married a rich Jewess Jessica Seaboun-Darty. Charlie Hebdo succumbed to pressure from Jews.
Every country has limits on free speech. In France denial of Holocaust or Armenian Genocide of 1915 is a crime. In some countries denial of Holocaust is a crime.
There are two aspects of free speech. First is what is allowed by law. Second is reaction of people. Many times what is allowed by law is opposed by many people. The protests may be peaceful or violent. When protests turn violent what is legal is banned. Those who attack people and destroy property are not punished.
Many discussions on TV channels are fixed. Surjit Bhalla has written about his bad experience with NDTV Dialogues. He was called for a discussion to counter Jairam Ramesh. Before 15 minutes of discussion time he was told Jairam Ramesh is not coming and he can go home. After he went home he came to know that Jairam Ramesh and other panellists were there and discussion was held.
Dear Vincent,
From your commentary on the mass media it is clear that you do see that they can be biased, they may act criminally, they may be grossly unfair and may be involved in deception, brainwashing and more. You refer to possible political affiliations and secret agendas as being part of the problem but I wonder if you realise that, as William Colby, ex CIA director, admitted “The CIA (and it’s associates) controls everyone of any significance in the major media”. This, along with syndicate / NWO ownership of media outlets is the main source of the problem.
The agencies not only plant people in the ranks of editors, writers, presenters, researchers and so on, they tell them what to say, how to say it, what to edit and so on. They also use the media for insidious practices such as the crime of surveillance feedback where surveillance results from the covert monitoring of political targets is fed to the media for incorporation into their on air material (with no mention of names or sources) so that the targets realise they have no privacy. Add to this their lies of omission (often covered by a National Security banner), their social engineering and pressure on public opinion (which they manipulate rather than mirror) and you should see that to control the minds and hearts of the mushroomed masses the powers that be must control the mainstream media and they do.
In such an environment there is no true democracy, no real freedom …only illusion and betrayal. If you want to know more of the hidden truth read my web site ,www.surveillanceissues.com.
ALL mainstream media employees share a degree of guilt in this area. Many belong behind bars for considerable periods of time for their treacherous roles. Few are without any guilt at all. As someone who smells a rat but isn’t sure of it’s size, colour or intention a read of that aforementioned web site will help you come to grips with the extremely ugly truth.
Regards,
Paul Baird,
Privacy and Human Rights Advocate.