Shooting the carrier pigeons
“Why are you criticising the government now? You are disrespecting our troops!”
Malaysians seem to have a knack for self-censorship. The last couple of weeks have seen plenty of that in both the mainstream news and social media.
A chorus of self-appointed Twitter watchdogs have been saying things like the following:
“You do not know anything about (insert subject here) so you should just shut up!”
“Why are you criticising the government now? You are disrespecting our troops!”
The current Sabah situation is certainly drawing both the armchair activists and the anti-armchair activists, resulting in a whole lot of noise.
Here is the thing about Twitter noise: You can choose to ignore most of it.
At the same time, just because someone is saying something, you can choose whether or not to believe it.
You do not get to gag people just because you do not agree with nor want to listen to them.
I admit I got really annoyed when people made the silliest statements about our defence tactics, saying things like we should send our submarines to engage the Sulu militants.
That is like saying we should use BB guns to ward off mosquitoes.
Here is the thing, though. I respect your right to an opinion. But you also need to respect other people’s rights to tell you when you get your facts wrong or offer a counter-opinion. But you are also within your rights to stick your fingers in your ears and yodel very loudly in response.
Some things like hate speech have no place in the public sphere. Yet trying to clamp down on social media, as suggested by a deputy minister, is a violation of freedom of expression.
My own approach is that I support your right to say whatever you want so long as it does not harm others. “Others”, of course, does not apply to the government.
Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/shooting-the-carrier-pigeons/
