Darren Maule: Hands off our social media!
If there is one petition you sign this year it is this one!
There are several reasons why our open, free and uncensored media (including social media) should be off limits to any and all governing bodies, but I will briefly give you my top three reasons.
1. Freedom of speech: This a cornerstone of any free society. A free flow of thoughts and ideas is essential to a healthy democracy. Sure, many of those ideas are radical and sometimes uncomfortable but our responsibility is to each other to hold these some less than savoury individuals to account and to choose (for ourselves) what sources of news, entertainment and commentary we consume.
2. Avoid Draconian Rule at all costs: A clear sign that censoring social media is a bad idea is that countries with the worst record of human rights abuses seem to favour this decision. (N. Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Myanmar.)
3. Who watches the watchmen? Who gets to choose what we see and hear and by what criteria? When the censors get involved they seem to be made of the pseudo pious and fundamentalists who's agenda is myopic at best.
Remember we, South Africa, banned Nadine Gordimer's 'Burger's Daughter' because it told the truth about apartheid. Some countries today still ban works like 'Midnights Children' and 'The Bible' and '50 Shades of Grey.' Even the movie 'Doctor Zhivago' was banned in The Soviet Union for 33 years!
No! The risk of losing even ONE of our human rights is too great a risk to me. To paraphrase Voltaire: "I might not agree with what you say or might even be repulsed by it, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!"
This argument is true for any country in the world right now but when it comes to the prospect of this present government in South Africa - they having even a semblance of control over what we see or say is frightening with respect to both their motivation and competence.
#HandsOffOurSocialMedia
1. Freedom of speech: This a cornerstone of any free society. A free flow of thoughts and ideas is essential to a healthy democracy. Sure, many of those ideas are radical and sometimes uncomfortable but our responsibility is to each other to hold these some less than savoury individuals to account and to choose (for ourselves) what sources of news, entertainment and commentary we consume.
2. Avoid Draconian Rule at all costs: A clear sign that censoring social media is a bad idea is that countries with the worst record of human rights abuses seem to favour this decision. (N. Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Myanmar.)
3. Who watches the watchmen? Who gets to choose what we see and hear and by what criteria? When the censors get involved they seem to be made of the pseudo pious and fundamentalists who's agenda is myopic at best.
Remember we, South Africa, banned Nadine Gordimer's 'Burger's Daughter' because it told the truth about apartheid. Some countries today still ban works like 'Midnights Children' and 'The Bible' and '50 Shades of Grey.' Even the movie 'Doctor Zhivago' was banned in The Soviet Union for 33 years!
No! The risk of losing even ONE of our human rights is too great a risk to me. To paraphrase Voltaire: "I might not agree with what you say or might even be repulsed by it, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!"
This argument is true for any country in the world right now but when it comes to the prospect of this present government in South Africa - they having even a semblance of control over what we see or say is frightening with respect to both their motivation and competence.
#HandsOffOurSocialMedia