{"id":121711,"date":"2014-03-16T00:20:10","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T18:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=121711"},"modified":"2014-03-24T13:57:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-24T08:27:59","slug":"who-is-scared-of-colombo-telegraph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/who-is-scared-of-colombo-telegraph\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Is Scared Of Colombo Telegraph?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0– The Nation editorial today –\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

We live in a world where the Bible and Quran are used to justify anything and everything, a world where the teachings of the Buddha are (mis)interpreted to buttress political projects quite antithetical to the teachings of Siddhartha Gauthama and a world where the works of Karl Marx are mined for \u2018appropriate\u2019 quotes to support preferred political position.\u00a0 In such a world, selectivity, deliberate downplaying and happy inflation abound.\u00a0 The internet, for all its promise, is made as much of information as misinformation.\u00a0 It can empower and it can also lead astray.<\/p>\n

So this is a world of (mis)information overload where effective regulatory laws really don\u2019t exist.\u00a0 It is a world made for slander and lying where those with bucks and guns can mine selectively, conjure up files upon files of fantasies and, let\u2019s face it, vilify with impunity.\u00a0 And there are enough takers too, enough people who revel in garbage production and enough demand to lap up the produce with glee.\u00a0 The discerning would have a good sense of true weight of \u2018story\u2019 and by and by figure out which sources are reliable and which are not.<\/p>\n

The most important point is that you can\u2019t really shut people from going where they want to go.\u00a0 Those who want pornography will visit such sites. Those who want gossip will find it.\u00a0 It all depends on what people want and how serious they are about getting reliable information.\u00a0 For example, if you want information about the ills of smoking, it won\u2019t be enough to look for anti-smoking websites.\u00a0 What appear as anti-smoking sites in the first several pages of Google, for instance, are operated by various sections of the tobacco industry.\u00a0 Even the \u2018opposition\u2019, thus, is regulated.\u00a0 If you have bucks, it can be done. \u00a0On the other hand, the truth, as they say, is \u2018out there\u2019 and it is virtually impossible to block all roads leading to it.<\/p>\n

This is why site-blocking is a puerile exercise.\u00a0 Anyone can say \u2018any old thing\u2019 slander included.\u00a0 What is blocked can be accessed through proxy servers; works for pornography and works for mischievous or slanderous sites that paint themselves as neutral, political commentators.<\/p>\n

Colombo Telegraph<\/span><\/a> (CT) is not a porn site.\u00a0 It is a political news\/commentary site.\u00a0 Those who run it have their political slant.\u00a0 They do allow the \u2018other side\u2019 (shall we say?) some space, but for the most part privilege columnists with undisguised antipathy towards the current regime.\u00a0 They indulge in what could be called gutter journalism, hitting below the belt in ways that do themselves much disservice, for example the recent tasteless attacks on Rajpal Abeynayake<\/span><\/a>, the Editor of the Daily News.\u00a0 The management of comments is equally unprofessional.\u00a0 And yet, there is enough good-sense stuff in CT to attract a good cross section of people interested in Sri Lanka\u2019s political firmament.\u00a0 Indeed, it is a convenient place to visit if you want to know what those who are opposed to the regime think.\u00a0 That entire club meets there, so to speak.<\/p>\n

But CT is not just platform for regime-haters.\u00a0 CT also puts out information that is of absolutely import in defending Sri Lanka against various machinations from rogue-players in the international community.\u00a0 CT has \u2018broken stories\u2019 that have been used extensively by those opposed to \u2018imposed regime-change\u2019.\u00a0 This should also be recognized.<\/p>\n

CT has been blocked on many occasions by various internet service providers in Sri Lanka, both state-run and private entities<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 It has to be consequent to orders from somewhere close to the top of the regime, obviously.\u00a0 Only the blockers and those who order blocking will know the \u2018why\u2019 of it all; we can only comment on the meaninglessness.<\/p>\n

The United States of America doesn\u2019t block in this crude manner.\u00a0 It purchases dissent for the most part or regulates\/manages it.\u00a0 That\u2019s being smart.\u00a0 Cost-effective.\u00a0 The US knows that what cannot be stopped should be managed.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we get \u2018conflict management\u2019 as opposed to \u2018conflict resolution\u2019.\u00a0 Washington probably knows that it is better to have the opposition visible than have it go underground.\u00a0 It should not be forgotten that avenues to vent anger and opposition are an important part not only of a vibrant democracy but in consolidating power, especially since virtual space is the preferred battleground of slothful critics.\u00a0 Keyboard warriors show where the fault lines are and thereby serve regimes that are terrified of even the slightest threat to perceived invincibility.<\/p>\n

The internet, for all its liberating appearances, is a tool more effectively used by the powerful.\u00a0 In Sri Lanka\u2019s case, since \u2018threat\u2019 is more from outside and since real power is also resident elsewhere, there\u2019s little that can be gained by blocking CT, either domestically or internationally.\u00a0 It only betrays regime-jitteriness.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWho Is Scared Of Colombo Telegraph? - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/who-is-scared-of-colombo-telegraph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Is Scared Of Colombo Telegraph? - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/who-is-scared-of-colombo-telegraph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-15T18:50:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-03-24T08:27:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/who-is-scared-of-colombo-telegraph\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/who-is-scared-of-colombo-telegraph\/\",\"name\":\"Who Is Scared Of Colombo Telegraph? 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