So I went off to grab a drink and some fresh air before heading back to my desk for all the work that the rest of the day holds and landed up reading one of the free daily papers outside. One article really jumped out at me and after reading it I seriously felt shamed...
Headline: "Arrest risk to bloggers is growing"
64 people have been arrested for their words online since 2003. Half of those were in China where they are being arrested for being outspoken against the government. The one example is a man that was running a blog exposing human rights issues! *
So this just made me realise how can we be ranting and raving about what we write on these insignificant blogs (mine included) when there are people out there not blogging about their lives and work but about the injustices in this world in an attempt to correct them. And for this they are being arrested.
We have the freedom of speech to write the useless things on the Internet that we do so why get so wrapped up and upset over insignificant comments and opinions on subjects that overly simplified and narrow minded. There are much bigger battles to fight out there.
Just my little thought for the day
*I do also realise that not all are arrested for those reasons and may actually be commiting the crimes against humankind themselves and therefore deserve the arrest.
4 comments:
Yeah.. China has some serious strict laws when it comes to the internet. They monitor all that is posted, which is unfortunate. It's a disappointment that the Chinese government do not allow their citizens freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and other types of freedoms.
Hopefully, someday...
I guess that's the beauty of free speech for us in democracies - if we want to write all about our little bubbles of life, we can.
I suppose if you felt bad enough, you could always start a blog about a cause? It's nice that we're in a position to be able to choose to do that, or not.
Good food for thought :-)
Woah!! That's hectic!!
well said Lopz...Def happy i live in a democracy (cept I dont feel that I would feel that great about it if living in USA - sorry to anyone from there reading this - i have my own issues for that)
I guess I dont feel bad enough...or should i say strongly enough about one single thing to make a whole blog about.
Plus i would like to think that i'm a more hands on person and would like to get off my ass and do some volenteering rather. Low key, grass roots and small bits of change.
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