A few years ago, when I was criticising the Congress Party, my Russian teacher gently reminded me that it was because of the very Congress that I loathe, that I have the freedom to criticize them. We have a vibrant democracy, of which freedom of speech is a pillar.
Yet, despite the existence of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, the government has taken "big brother" initiatives. They banned Stanley Wopert's "Nine Hours to Rama," a fictional account of Nathuram Godse and the assasination of Mahatma Gandhi. Another government banned Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses.'
Media censorship existed during the Emergency in the 1970s. Films and books are also censored. You can't watch a foreign film on Indian television these days, without the curse words being censored. This goes for French or Italian films with subtitles as well!!
So where is this uproar over Kapil Sibal wanting Facebook and Twitter to screen content coming from? This is nothing new in India. The same people who slam the Congress on Twitter and Facebook will either not vote in the 2014 elections or will vote the Congress back into power.
I am all for Freedom of Speech and I am most certainly against calls for content to be screened on social networking sites. But just paraphrasing Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, why do some members of the twitter brigade protest when Hurriyat supporters slam India on social networking sites? Why don't they let people who have a different opinion have an opinion? If Sibal is a Fascist, so are many of those people who are abusing him on social networking sites.
Yet, despite the existence of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, the government has taken "big brother" initiatives. They banned Stanley Wopert's "Nine Hours to Rama," a fictional account of Nathuram Godse and the assasination of Mahatma Gandhi. Another government banned Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses.'
Media censorship existed during the Emergency in the 1970s. Films and books are also censored. You can't watch a foreign film on Indian television these days, without the curse words being censored. This goes for French or Italian films with subtitles as well!!
So where is this uproar over Kapil Sibal wanting Facebook and Twitter to screen content coming from? This is nothing new in India. The same people who slam the Congress on Twitter and Facebook will either not vote in the 2014 elections or will vote the Congress back into power.
I am all for Freedom of Speech and I am most certainly against calls for content to be screened on social networking sites. But just paraphrasing Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, why do some members of the twitter brigade protest when Hurriyat supporters slam India on social networking sites? Why don't they let people who have a different opinion have an opinion? If Sibal is a Fascist, so are many of those people who are abusing him on social networking sites.
These guys are encouraging biased views! Well you cannot tell google to screen content every single time they index it..
ReplyDeleteWhat will they do with Twitter? I still wonder!
They already have the Indian tv channels in their pockets.
ReplyDelete