{"id":64280,"date":"2012-12-12T05:41:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T05:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=64280"},"modified":"2012-12-15T13:42:03","modified_gmt":"2012-12-15T13:42:03","slug":"sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Basil+Fernando&amp;x=8&amp;y=8\">Basil Fernando<\/a><\/span> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_47652\" style=\"width: 152px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gota-goes-berserk-a-mirror-image-of-sri-lankas-political-culture\/basilfernando-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-47652\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47652\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-47652\" title=\"basilfernando\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1-142x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"142\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-47652\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Basil Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Mr. Thinking Citizen asked the ruler, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you make a law against forced disappearances? It is such a terrible and ugly thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ruler replied, \u201cYou Mr. Thinking Citizen, you make me laugh. You cannot understand what a great political laboratory our Sri Lanka has been and you try to undermine the greatest achievement that has come out of that laboratory?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Thinking Citizen asked, \u201cWhat is that achievement?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ruler replied, \u201cIt\u2019s our own utopia. Not the one you are educated about. In your utopia, reason is the king or queen. But what we have demonstrated to world is that there is a better way to rule. When every mother or father knows in their hearts that their child is not immune to be counted among the disappeared, we have the key to control the young. When we control the young, we can rule forever. See how we control insurgencies since 1972. Who else has been so successful? We have a lesson for the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is that lesson?\u201d asked Mr. Thinking Citizen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is that the body is all that there is. No soul, no sprit. See this UN and other pundits come and demand inquiries, prosecutions. When there is nothing to found by way of exhumation, what comes of their demands?\u201d The ruler laughed. \u201cThere are no souls to come and tell tales. Only the body tells tales. That is the lesson, you fool, that we have found from the experiments in our own laboratory. Fellows like you do not know how to be proud of our own great achievements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pointing his finger at Mr. Thinking Citizen, the ruler said, \u201cI want to be alive so that I can illustrate the contrast between your utopia and mine. So few of you are around. Others have been\u00a0 dispatched or fled to other worlds\u2026 Do not worry, I will let you live, so long as I need you\u2026 But don\u2019t take too much liberty, my guarantees are conditional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two previous parables can be found <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-the-ruler-and-the-thinking-citizen\/\">here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":47652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory - 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\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-12T05:41:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-15T13:42:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"142\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"202\" \/>\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=\"2 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\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/\",\"name\":\"Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-12T05:41:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-15T13:42:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg\",\"width\":\"142\",\"height\":\"202\",\"caption\":\"Basil Fernando\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2012-12-12T05:41:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-15T13:42:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":142,"height":202,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/","name":"Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg","datePublished":"2012-12-12T05:41:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-15T13:42:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg","width":"142","height":"202","caption":"Basil Fernando"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-parables-3-the-greatest-product-of-our-own-political-laboratory\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sri Lankan Parables: 3. The Greatest Product Of Our Own Political Laboratory"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64280"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64857,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64280\/revisions\/64857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}