{"id":123413,"date":"2014-04-18T00:01:18","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T18:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=123413"},"modified":"2014-04-26T19:16:17","modified_gmt":"2014-04-26T13:46:17","slug":"what-next-a-ban-on-laughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/what-next-a-ban-on-laughter\/","title":{"rendered":"What Next, A Ban On Laughter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

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

President Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> knows how to smile.\u00a0 Everyone knows this, even those who erroneously think that his biggest strength is his affable nature and the ease with which can interact with people from all walks of life. He can make a joke and he can take a joke. As is the case of all leaders he has had his share of lampooning. Indeed, in the age of the internet, he\u2019s had it worse than his predecessors.\u00a0 He has smiled through it all.<\/p>\n

It is certainly a person of character who can take a hit and still stand tall.\u00a0 The stronger among us are endowed with both humility and a sense of humor.\u00a0 Most importantly they can laugh at themselves and laugh with others even when the joke is less tasteful and perhaps unfair. They know that political satire is an inevitable in political life and are not fazed by it.<\/p>\n

Now it is true that not everyone is blessed with a sense of humor that helps overcome adversity and rise above poison pens and such.\u00a0 Still, that\u2019s hardly an argument for outlawing humor including political satire.\u00a0 It is an inevitable and important part of a vibrant democracy.<\/p>\n

Take it out and it would be like Mahinda Rajapaksa without a smile.\u00a0 It would not make a difference if he had never smiled, but a smile-less president would not only look different, it would be \u2018news\u2019 and indicative of many things political.<\/p>\n

\"ayoma\"<\/a>We make these observations in light of something which is both laughable and also too serious to make jokes about.<\/p>\n

On April 7 (Monday), the Lakbima newspaper published a photo caption on Page 8 of Ayoma Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a>, the wife of the Secretary of the Defence Ministry<\/span><\/a> at an event organized by the Seva Vanitha of the Civil Defence Force. She was there as the chief guest.\u00a0 The photo shows her buying something from a stall and the caption read ‘Hora Salli Nemeine…’<\/i> (\u2018Not counterfeit notes, right?\u2019 or \u2018These are not counterfeit notes\u2019).\u00a0 The line makes sense only because of a recent discovery of a large cache of counterfeit currency indicating the existence of a sophisticated racket.<\/p>\n

It is clearly a witty line and would have elicited a laugh.\u00a0 It alerted the public, thereby, to the issue.\u00a0 All in all decent enough journalism, one would think. Few would conclude that it insinuated that either the lady or her husband was implicated in passing around counterfeit currency.\u00a0 The simple truth is that the line would not work if it were, for example, a housewife offering a 100 rupee note to a mallun<\/i> vendor at the pola. <\/i>President Rajapaksa, one feels, would have laughed it off.<\/p>\n

Lakbima, for whatever reason, carried an apology on its front page the following day.\u00a0 The sub editor who put the headline \u2018irresponsibly\u2019 was thereafter interdicted.\u00a0 Now we can conclude that the line had escaped the editor\u2019s eye.\u00a0 If that\u2019s the case and if the editor found it objectionable the apology can be called appropriate and the interdiction understandable. What happened thereafter, however, leads us to believe that someone outside that newspaper appears to have been hurt.<\/p>\n

Saman Wagarachchi, the Editor, was still summoned and questioned about the photo caption by the CID for several hours. According to Wagarachchi, the investigators had said they were questioning him due to the mentioning of forged notes. However, they refused to disclose who had made the complaint.\u00a0 Police Spokesperson SSP Ajith Rohana, likewise, refused to divulge the identity of the complainant.<\/p>\n

This is ridiculous. If this run-of-the-mill line of lightheartedness is objectionable then cartoons would be out of order, satirical columns would have to be stopped. Collette, Wijesoma, Yoonus and other greats would have been out of jobs if the powers that be at the time they drew had dispositions as tender as that of the offended in this case.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t have been thrilled and educated by columns such as \u2018King Barnett\u2019, \u2018Manige Theeruwa\u2019, \u2018Kasuruge Kolama\u2019 etc.\u00a0 \u2018The Nation\u2019 would have to drop its \u2018lighter\u2019 columns \u2018View from Ritigala\u2019, \u2018Yakonet\u2019 and \u2018Meanwhile in a parallel universe\u2019.\u00a0 Editors would have to ensure that the end product is humor-free.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s so not Sri Lanka, by the way.\u00a0 We are a nation that is resilient and our resilience comes in part by our general ability to laugh things off and laugh at ourselves.\u00a0 More seriously, though, this move by authorities to rap knuckles has to be roundly condemned on account of infringing upon media freedom.<\/p>\n

Saman Wagarachchi is a senior professional and is held in high esteem in the industry.\u00a0 The line in question is at worst mischievous but any journalist and indeed most readers would call it \u2018harmless\u2019 if questioned on the matter. Readers would laugh and forget about it. Now they will find it hard to dismiss.\u00a0 They will go \u2018Aha!\u2019 and ask themselves questions that are colored with suspicion.\u00a0 That\u2019s what over-zealous reaction does.<\/p>\n

Best for all concerned to drop it.\u00a0 This is Aluth Avurudda, the preeminent moment of national embrace.\u00a0 It is for smile and laughter.\u00a0 Let\u2019s keep it that way.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/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-123413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Next, A Ban On Laughter? - 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\/what-next-a-ban-on-laughter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Next, A Ban On Laughter? - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/what-next-a-ban-on-laughter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-17T18:31:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-26T13:46:17+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\/what-next-a-ban-on-laughter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/what-next-a-ban-on-laughter\/\",\"name\":\"What Next, A Ban On Laughter? 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