Facing the Facebook
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Shamsher Chowdhury
THERE is an expression amongst the Americans which says, "Give him the longest rope to hang himself". There is yet another one that says, "If some one is on way to suicide, do not kill him". In my earlier columns I had said that Bangladesh is a "suicide" nation. I guess I was not far from the truth. This is a wonderful country; majority of its people living in the villages and the rural areas are as good as they come anywhere in the world. We however believe that problems of this country lies with people in the higher echelon of the society, particularly those entrusted to administer and govern us.
Admittedly politics is a complex game. Even then there are some basic ground rules. If one does not abide by those, one is bound to land into troubles. Political thinkers have painstakingly propounded a number of forms of government and governance like monarchy, dictatorship, communism, democracy so on and so forth. Of all these, the one that stood the test of time most successfully to this day is democracy. Although that too did come under considerable criticism, yet it has been universally accepted as the most popular form of government capable of delivering the maximum of welfare for the maximum number of people. The rights of the people and their welfare are the sacred trust of a democratic government.
Bangladesh is a democratic state. Its war of independence and continued struggle against all forms of oppression and injustices bear testimony to that fact. Today democracy is not functioning in its natural flow. We must simply stay the course on the road to democracy, no matter how elusive it may appear from time to time.
A careful study of a successful democratic nation will tell us that one of the principal causes of its success is its capacity to withstand self-criticism and tolerance to opposing views. Here in Bangladesh today we find that particularly those at the helm of affairs in the establishment have become increasingly intolerant of opposing views. Incidentally Bangladeshis have never been in the frame of self-criticism. One of the classic examples of tolerance to opposing view that I have ever come across is a cartoon that was displayed in the print media all over the world depicting George Bush leading a poodle by the collar. The poodle here was animated as Tony Blair, the then Prime Minster of Great Britain. Even that did not give rise to bitterness or animosity between the two countries.
At the backdrop of the above, we would like to question the government's move in blocking the path of Facebook in Bangladesh. Surely this has been a grossly wrong move, irrespective of whatever might have been written or displayed in the particular version of it. Besides by denying the access, the government and concerned individuals have done a serious disservice to their cause. People will now get unduly curious, suspicious and embark upon all kinds of speculative conjectures. The worst still now is that request messages have been sent to the Facebook International for deleting the cartoons or messages whatever they might have been. No matter what the Facebook does in response to this, it is here to stay. Whether we acknowledge or not, the impact and after-effects of this episode involving Bangladesh have already caused a serious dent in our image, more so, of the present administration. For God's sake, let us face it: this is neither the 17th nor 18th century, this is the 21st century. High time we began thinking globally. We simply must come out from this phobia of senseless ego. We must broaden the horizon of our vision.
People who are entrusted with the sacred responsibility of governing this country at all times must consider them to be fortunate for all kinds of privileges that accrue to them, besides access to power and authority.
Of relevance to the context is also the fact that people are now hauled up on all sorts of flimsy grounds. Right now we are passing our days, to say the least, in dire stress and anxiety. We see no apparent sign of the administration being rational and logical driven by common sense in foreseeable future.
Epilogue: Day by day the onslaught on our media is mounting. Yet the media gurus do not seem to be that concerned. The very media that is often so high on free speech and freedom of press is mysteriously lying low on the present onslaught on its own kind. Today we are badly missing the likes of Late Manik Mia, Abdus Salam, S.M. Ali and Abul Mansur Ahmed, A. L. Khatib and a host of others. This is indeed a strange country where once the good departs the void is never filled. Arrogance, greed and anger seem to be the order of the day.
The writer can be reached at
e-mail:
chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com
THERE is an expression amongst the Americans which says, "Give him the longest rope to hang himself". There is yet another one that says, "If some one is on way to suicide, do not kill him". In my earlier columns I had said that Bangladesh is a "suicide" nation. I guess I was not far from the truth. This is a wonderful country; majority of its people living in the villages and the rural areas are as good as they come anywhere in the world. We however believe that problems of this country lies with people in the higher echelon of the society, particularly those entrusted to administer and govern us.
Admittedly politics is a complex game. Even then there are some basic ground rules. If one does not abide by those, one is bound to land into troubles. Political thinkers have painstakingly propounded a number of forms of government and governance like monarchy, dictatorship, communism, democracy so on and so forth. Of all these, the one that stood the test of time most successfully to this day is democracy. Although that too did come under considerable criticism, yet it has been universally accepted as the most popular form of government capable of delivering the maximum of welfare for the maximum number of people. The rights of the people and their welfare are the sacred trust of a democratic government.
Bangladesh is a democratic state. Its war of independence and continued struggle against all forms of oppression and injustices bear testimony to that fact. Today democracy is not functioning in its natural flow. We must simply stay the course on the road to democracy, no matter how elusive it may appear from time to time.
A careful study of a successful democratic nation will tell us that one of the principal causes of its success is its capacity to withstand self-criticism and tolerance to opposing views. Here in Bangladesh today we find that particularly those at the helm of affairs in the establishment have become increasingly intolerant of opposing views. Incidentally Bangladeshis have never been in the frame of self-criticism. One of the classic examples of tolerance to opposing view that I have ever come across is a cartoon that was displayed in the print media all over the world depicting George Bush leading a poodle by the collar. The poodle here was animated as Tony Blair, the then Prime Minster of Great Britain. Even that did not give rise to bitterness or animosity between the two countries.
At the backdrop of the above, we would like to question the government's move in blocking the path of Facebook in Bangladesh. Surely this has been a grossly wrong move, irrespective of whatever might have been written or displayed in the particular version of it. Besides by denying the access, the government and concerned individuals have done a serious disservice to their cause. People will now get unduly curious, suspicious and embark upon all kinds of speculative conjectures. The worst still now is that request messages have been sent to the Facebook International for deleting the cartoons or messages whatever they might have been. No matter what the Facebook does in response to this, it is here to stay. Whether we acknowledge or not, the impact and after-effects of this episode involving Bangladesh have already caused a serious dent in our image, more so, of the present administration. For God's sake, let us face it: this is neither the 17th nor 18th century, this is the 21st century. High time we began thinking globally. We simply must come out from this phobia of senseless ego. We must broaden the horizon of our vision.
People who are entrusted with the sacred responsibility of governing this country at all times must consider them to be fortunate for all kinds of privileges that accrue to them, besides access to power and authority.
Of relevance to the context is also the fact that people are now hauled up on all sorts of flimsy grounds. Right now we are passing our days, to say the least, in dire stress and anxiety. We see no apparent sign of the administration being rational and logical driven by common sense in foreseeable future.
Epilogue: Day by day the onslaught on our media is mounting. Yet the media gurus do not seem to be that concerned. The very media that is often so high on free speech and freedom of press is mysteriously lying low on the present onslaught on its own kind. Today we are badly missing the likes of Late Manik Mia, Abdus Salam, S.M. Ali and Abul Mansur Ahmed, A. L. Khatib and a host of others. This is indeed a strange country where once the good departs the void is never filled. Arrogance, greed and anger seem to be the order of the day.
The writer can be reached at
e-mail:
chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com