We asked five writers from around the globe to reflect on World Press Freedom Day. Their essays appear here unaltered and contain things we might personally disagree with. But that, after all, is the point.
You chose the very worst person in India to comment about India! Asking Rana Ayyub about India is like asking Ilhan Omar about America. You have lost my following.
I am just tired of educating the highly educated people in America about India! It seems like they need someone to hate, and since now the Chinese have become rich, they have decided to turn all hate towards India. Both the conservatives and liberals in America have decided that the Hindus are the next Nazis and listen only to utterly hateful mesaages from Muslim and Christian zealots in India who write for NYT and WaPo and just spew hateful lies about Hindus.
America needs to rise up from this ‘Indiana Jones’ level of scholarship about India. There are many lessons for America in India about affirmative action, illegal immigration and Islamic (and Christian) zealotry.
But all that is beyond my ability! Thank you for asking.
Vasan, I hear your pain. I have it here too with the abject levels of corruption at so many levels. I can tell you the majority of Americans do not have enough knowledge of India to have any feelings one way or another, let alone the issues with Muslim, Christian and Hindu relations. Our major media is incredibly compromised and many of us no longer pay any attention to them. I am always suspicious of zealotry for any cause. As a CPA I just say follow the money and the roots of corruption are parallel. Thank you for your comment. I would enjoy learning more about what you are saying and will look into it. Our world has enough problems with unnecessary ignorance.
India from what I have seen on You Tube video's is an amazing people. A shop takes a part the West would scrap and rebuilds to new. So much ingenuity seemly wasted because it allows corruption, religion and scammers to keep in within the third world. If India could find true leadership it would be a powerhouse of the world.
It is India that should be where China stands today. China steals technology, and enslaves (steals) labor, India has a creative culture. From an American perspective it seems India is it's own worst enemy.
Vasan, I was born and raised in the U.S.. I travel extensively between states. I meet and speak with a wide variety of people here. I do not feel this way, and I am not aware of any that do. Thank you for sharing this, though, It broadens my perspective, and I, like Tiredofit, will specifically ask about this.
Sure, I hear you. I love all things inclusive of the expansion of thought. I spend a lot of time in observation before I transition to output. Understanding how to adapt and keenly for the written word in the proper context of the author is something that widely varies, based on customs, culture, idioms etc.. my reviews on each contributer was mixed and with the understanding these are professionals with existing mainstream platforms rather accepted or rejected they have an undeniable base of followers. In a greater scheme, yesterday's very defined seperate parallels are now merging and creating a new intersected community absent of modern day hallmarks.
Now let's not leave Hindu zealotry out of the mix, great sport for Hindus to kill Christians and Muslims. One group will fight back while the other turns the other cheek.
Please tell me how many Muslims have been killed by Hindus? How many Christians have been killed? When and where? And why - If you know, also include the preceding events.
After the attack on the World Trade Center in NY (911) all manner of Muslim attacks in all Countries flooded American media. I can understand these attacks no matter how vicious if during war. If you are Muslim open you eyes, a hundred years after Muhammad die Islam struck out against the world when they were done half the worlds population were killed. This is a historical fact, in Morocco alone most the city's population was killed.
Religions of all kinds exist to perpetuate a cast system including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hindu, etc. The will of the religious elites enslaves the congregants. One who thinks differently is killed, shunned, or economically destroyed. Religious people congregate together, they read the same, believe the same, none is able to weigh evidence and reason and make a rational decision. It is so difficult to think differently few ever do so.
For example Isalm, Chrstianity, and Judaism all claim the same God is their God. How is it the God of Abraham speaks in opposition to each of these religions? The Christian Jesus states Towrah of Yahowah is eternal and unchanging and directed to those who love His personal name, using it, while listening to His words and acting as instructed? Christians claim Towrah was annulled while Jesus say not. Muhammad claimed Quran fulfilled Towrah and yet how is this possible when the first is eternal and unchanging? Judaism claims the rabbis take precedence over God id the two disagree, how is this possible if they clam the God of Abraham when again His words are eternal and unchanging, how can all be in disagreement with the God they claim is their God? Because they have all created a new god in their own image who bends and changes for their religions.
Yes - I can give you a few which I am sure you have never heard of.
1. When Obama visited India, the Christians cooked up a totally bogus story about a church being vandalized by Hindus. This was done to disrupt his visit. The NYT and thier cohorts in India like Rana Ayub ran with and declared it an action of Hindu bigotry. It turned out that it was some boys who had hit a ball into one of the windows in a church. But that was never reported. Obama got a chance to lecture us on religious hate and the NYT and WaPo ran with the headlines.
2. Just before the last major elections Christians in Calcutta raised huge stink about an old nun being raped - as you can guess - by Hindus. It turned out to be Rohingya Muslims. But as usual the western press relished the coverage of Hindu bigotry as long as they could and quietly dropped the story when the truth came out.
3. Countless instances of Muslims and Christians vandalizing temples - in the present time) not centuries ago!
4. The enormous amounts of money being flown into India for conversions. Both by Muslims and Christians. The Muslims also run an active scam to trick Hindu girls into marrying them by lying about thier religion and then forcing the girls to convert. The goal is to convert India. If they succeed it will end up like many African countries where Christians and Muslims fight endless civil wars. The only reason India is a democracy is because of the Hindu majority.
5. The myth of caste is exploited by Christians and Muslims to convert. The Brahmins are the most oppressed minority in India since a thousand years! Even before that the Brahmins were never what you think they were. That too was an invention of the Muslims and British to divide India. The truth is the Dalits are far better off as Dalits in India today because they get huge incentives which they will lose if they convert. But the Muslims and Christians are cunning. Most of the the Christian missionaries convert them secretly and tell them to work against the Hindus but dupe the Indian government system by saying they are Dalits -for getting jobs and money. To make you understand this I will use a black-white analogy in America. It is like the MSNBC anchors who are black who make millions from white audiences but work to destroy white society.
6. Some major historical truths: Muslims conducted a 1000 year genocide against Hindus. Too long a story for me to type it here. The Catholic church actually conducted inquisitions on Hindus and killed thousands in Goa just like the Spanish inquisitions. Thousands converted out of fear. Hindus are a forgiving people - If it had been any other religion, both the Muslims and Christians would have been killed by the millions for the atrocities they have committed in India.
I hope this helps, doesn't just cause more questions that don't really help.
Do you remember Gandi's I think famous statement?
He said 'I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians much.'
A Christian is a high calling, not some simple, easy task.
You've likely read or heard about the disciples who suffered,
and died horrible deaths. To the end, every one of them
strongly held their belief, never wavering. Why? Why go through
all that? Only ONE reason. ONE. It was and is true.
Btw? I have no secret agenda, no wish for you except you'd
see that the term CHRISTIANS like almost everything else is a lie.
A Christian OBEYS or seeks to do what Jesus said to do.
A Christian doesn't TRY to convert anyone.
A Christian is COMMANDED, ordered to 'love', 'love your enemy',
...HATE your unbelieving family, ie. get away from them, DON'T
listen to them, reject invitations and explain why.
Tell me? How many Christians do you seemor know who do this?
NonChristians get along or pretend to get along with their family.
I don't want to bore you. But just see that names aren't truth.
No Christian is militant except spiritually. We know the world is run
by evil, dark forces. We see it everywhere. Christians will pray
against those: a spiritual WAR because it is.
Islam is almost founded on 'jihad' or killing as 'holy'.
Their god, Allah is said to favor killing.
About India? Is it true that it's PM Modi's goal to also make
India 'only Hindu'? Are Christians killed there for BEING Christian?
I believe we SHOULD be able to talk, express, get people thinking,
do you?
For example, only in Christianity are you NOT BORN into the family religion. So, I ask you? How is it freedom to be born Hindu without your agreement? How do your parents being Hindu mean YOU
are AUTOMATICALLY Hindu?
This is force.
Only Christianity does not force. AND, if they do force,
then this is not Christian at all, but a LIE.
AS I said, Christianity is a high calling.
Will PM Modi allow peaceful Christians to live in India, talk to
Hindus who want to do this? Or, is this about numbers, territory?
Your questions are incredibly uninformed! Killed for being a Christian?! Try and find out how Christian population has prospered and multiplied in India in the last few decades. As for your question about Modi wanting India to be Hindu only, it is absurd beyond belief. Short answer is no.
You DON’T how Muslims treat Hindus in India. What you think you know about how Hindus treat muslims, is wrong. But don’t bother replying. I am not intereyin any debates.
Exactly! The point everyone misses is that Rana Ayub is obsessed with religious hate but claims victimhood by saying hindus accuse her of being anti-hindu! I guarantee you this: the people in Substack who asked her to write about press freedom only have read her version of the Gujrat riots. They have no idea how the Muslims started it by torching a trainload of Hindu pilgrims! I thought Substack might be different but it is as woke as the rest. I think it also has an Indian guy in its founders team, as usual sold out to wokeness.
We need a free press because so much untruth and inflammatory stuff is printed by the free press.
Sounds ironic doesn't it? Actually, I think, the thought is used as an excuse to not have a free press. It is the reasoning behind 'fact checker' censorship.
But it is not some comedic irony is it? It is a fact. The free burbling and mouthing off of all and sundry in the chaotic world gives rise to much untruth and cunningly deceptive and manipulative talk.
But the cure lies within the disease. Only by allowing it all can we find the 'cures' within. Once we start 'cutting down' on what's said there's the immediate danger of cutting out the 'cures' instead of the diseases.
I think today that has been indisputably shown in the covid debate.
I just thought of an analogy: in a waste land we often find those hardy stinging nettles growing. But in my experience it is true that where they grow the antidote - the dock leaf - grows nearby.
Attempts to regulate the growth of that wasteland simply to remove the nettles are expensive time consuming and overall deleterious to the 'riches' that grew there before. The same with speech I think.
We have perhaps a wrong idea of 'listening' or 'what we should be hearing'. We seem to have gotten the idea we should be hearing pure tones, so to speak.
But the natural 'background noise' of a community is more like the 'white sound' of the ocean and we should expect that.
And our innate job and skill should be to listen to that 'white sound' and pick out of it what is good and right and useful to us and reject that which is not.
When we try and control that 'white sound' we are trying to stop the sound of the sea and we are at once losing the wealth of the sea, so to speak, and a natural skill of our own. We weaken ourselves. We cheat ourselves.
It is not really a question of what they should be allowed to say - it is a question of how well are going to school ourselves to listen.
Alleged "Press freedom" is absolutely meaningless the world over. The billionaire-owned press and media are the ongoing authors of their own destruction. See their years-long deafening S I L E N C E on Julian #Assange. They are aligned to empire building, neoliberalism, arms deals, far flung invasions, the watering down of democracy, Saudi incurred famine, and the on the record slaughter of civilians and journalists from Apache helicopters. The word "disgusting" doesn't do this justice.
Yep. The Assange thing is an astounding crime. To add it on top of all that's been shown about Australia is probably enough to finish entirely any respect for the country at all.
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may be sought through constitution or other legal protection and security.
In some countries, reporting on certain topics is prevented or restricted by governments.
Without respect to governmental information, any government may distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public. State materials are protected due to either one of two reasons: the classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret, or the relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. Many governments are also subject to "sunshine laws" or freedom of information legislation that are used to define the ambit of national interest and enable citizens to request access to government-held information.
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may be sought through constitution or other legal protection and security.
In some countries, reporting on certain topics is prevented or restricted by governments.
Without respect to governmental information, any government may distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public. State materials are protected due to either one of two reasons: the classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret, or the relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. Many governments are also subject to "sunshine laws" or freedom of information legislation that are used to define the ambit of national interest and enable citizens to request access to government-held information.
Wow, this is a powerful piece. Freedom of the press is very important, and we are fortunate to have that in the US.
I do worry about Nikita’s “two narrative system” though. In countries like the US where we have freedom of the press, that freedom is used to hold power accountable as often as it is used to spread completely false information.
As a reader, it can be very difficult to know whether something is fact or fiction and that is as dangerous as not having freedom of the press. Misinformation has led to widespread hate and even violent action!
I know the debate is often framed as freedom of the press vs. censorship but I kind of think we need both and I wonder if there is a way to fact check the media without removing our freedom to it. Can we hold press accountable (without harm to the journalists), even as the press continues to hold power accountable?
With all due respect the change in law allowing media and press to have common ownership has destroyed accurate reporting and accountability. I have encountered extraordinary corruption at all levels of business, church and government including local through top levels of government. The judicial system is also massively corrupt making accountability meaningless. Agencies align themselves with unfortunate political dogma that has destroyed the higher purpose of government to doing what they can to get away with as much as then can. The Intelligence Agency was established in 1947 using the OSS, Nazi intelligence network amd the Mafia as partners. What could go wrong when drugs are used to generate off the books revenue?
There is difference on freedom and fake news . Rana Ayyub is one the person who propagate hate among communities for money. She have used money collected in the name of victim of covid -19 ,victims of flood and use that money for person use. She plays victim hood of being minority muslim but fact is muslim are one the most progressive muslim in the world . Many Bollywood star like Shahruk , Salman ,Amir all of them are muslim . We need to separate out fake news spreader and oppose this kind of victim hood publically . I would encourage this platform should not be used by these fake news creator otherwise this will also die like twitter.
It is very clear that freedom of thinking, speeech and communication are under treath also in Belgium and certainly on digital media. I was banned from facebook when opening an AVAAZ community where we shared all information we could find additional to what was provided in mean stream media... Keep on doing the right work and support independent investigative journalism!
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Essential to a free stable society which cannot flourish in a fettered atmosphere All people should be able to express genuine feelings of good will & sense to encompass all with honesty and god will Sadly for me these new ideas dont sit will with me I dont understand them or like them probably never will so my writing will be nil value and I.m too old to be brought up to date
I like picking up a lot of useful knowledge. Any form of freedom no longer exists. People stop exercising their freedom because they are too afraid. Only dictatorships and bullies value freedom.
All of these authors come from liberal, and if I may add, strongly left-leaning, media.
I have no confidence in their authors or media in general. Media outlets and reporters need to be able to express themselves freely and not only talk about
You're simply sidestepping the main point of my post. All three religions claiming Abraham are false. How can I prove this? All three religions claim Abraham as their father. God gave Moesh 2 tablets. The first tablet reads as follows;
Exodus 20:1-7
1-3
And God conveyed all of these words, providing perspective in our presence, saying: "I am Yahowah, your God, Who relationally brought you out and delivered you from the realm of the crucible of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You will not exist with other gods in proximity of My presence.
4 "You are not to prepare or produce for yourself a carved image, or idol, or any visual representation of something which is in the heavens above, or which is on the earth below, or which is in the waters beneath the land. You are not to bow down and worship them or speak for them, and you are not to serve them or minister on their behalf.
5 For indeed, I, Yahowah, your God, am a zealous and jealous God, Who is desirous of exclusivity in our relationship, reckoning the perversity and sin of twisting and distorting, of perverting and manipulating the way, by the fathers upon the children concerning the third and the fourth generations of those who are hostile to Me.
6 But I will prepare, perform, and deliver unmerited and unfailing mercy, unearned favor, and undeserved kindness to thousands who love Me, and who closely observe, carefully examine, revere, and keep My teachings, instructions, and prescriptions for living.
7 "You are not to lift up, support, or advance, forgive or dignify, respect or tolerate, through the Name or reputation of Yahowah, your God, lifeless and worthless deceptions or devastating and destructive falsehoods. For indeed, Yahowah will not forgive or leave unpunished those who deceive, beguile, or delude, using clever trickery to mislead in association with His Name, to promote vain and ineffectual lies which lead to lifelessness and destruction, or devastating deceptions which nullify our existence, leading to emptiness."
Read the above and compare these words of God to your religion. If they differ God is not in error your religion is in error. God does not change.
God told Moesh when he asked, Who should I tell the people has sent me. What is your name?
I am, I exist, call me Yahowah. Yahowah is clear in verse 7 anyone teaching His name is not to be used, or cannot be known will not be left unpunished.
And yet all three religions neither know or use the personal name of Yahowah. The Roman church has banned mentioning the name of Yahowah. Judaism teaches the name cannot be pronounced and yet every other Hebrew word using the very same letters can be pronounced.
Islam sadly if a religion created for those who are comatose. Don't take this as a personal attack I mean you no ill will. Simply you've and most all religious people have been indoctrinated into believe the impossible is true. Islam believes Allah lives in hell where he torturous mostly women who did not please their husbands. Where Yahowah states only demons and humans like the Popes, priests, Rabbis, Imams, and Muhammad, Paul, Akiba, and their like will be imprisoned for all eternity.
Muhammad spent a great deal of time contradicting himself while claiming to speak for a black piece of volcanic glass, now encased in silver at the Cabaha. 6 differing accounts of creation, etc. The Roman church authored the Christian new testament and the early history of the church dating back to their fictional Jesus character.
Judaism claims to observe Torah of Yahowah, while ignoring it in favor of the Talmud.
All religions including social secular humanism were created by men for one purpose; To control and fleece their adherents. Yahowah hates all religions, the only men He approaches are those who have left religion, politics, and militarism. Only men like this are able to think rationally and without straining all information through their faith, politics or military mindset.
You chose the very worst person in India to comment about India! Asking Rana Ayyub about India is like asking Ilhan Omar about America. You have lost my following.
Please don't go away...! Stay around and share your words and knowledge!
I am just tired of educating the highly educated people in America about India! It seems like they need someone to hate, and since now the Chinese have become rich, they have decided to turn all hate towards India. Both the conservatives and liberals in America have decided that the Hindus are the next Nazis and listen only to utterly hateful mesaages from Muslim and Christian zealots in India who write for NYT and WaPo and just spew hateful lies about Hindus.
America needs to rise up from this ‘Indiana Jones’ level of scholarship about India. There are many lessons for America in India about affirmative action, illegal immigration and Islamic (and Christian) zealotry.
But all that is beyond my ability! Thank you for asking.
Vasan, I hear your pain. I have it here too with the abject levels of corruption at so many levels. I can tell you the majority of Americans do not have enough knowledge of India to have any feelings one way or another, let alone the issues with Muslim, Christian and Hindu relations. Our major media is incredibly compromised and many of us no longer pay any attention to them. I am always suspicious of zealotry for any cause. As a CPA I just say follow the money and the roots of corruption are parallel. Thank you for your comment. I would enjoy learning more about what you are saying and will look into it. Our world has enough problems with unnecessary ignorance.
India from what I have seen on You Tube video's is an amazing people. A shop takes a part the West would scrap and rebuilds to new. So much ingenuity seemly wasted because it allows corruption, religion and scammers to keep in within the third world. If India could find true leadership it would be a powerhouse of the world.
It is India that should be where China stands today. China steals technology, and enslaves (steals) labor, India has a creative culture. From an American perspective it seems India is it's own worst enemy.
Vasan, I was born and raised in the U.S.. I travel extensively between states. I meet and speak with a wide variety of people here. I do not feel this way, and I am not aware of any that do. Thank you for sharing this, though, It broadens my perspective, and I, like Tiredofit, will specifically ask about this.
Thanks for your insight.
We ALL think things, usually have views, don't agree often.
Maybe partially. Certainly we don't understand.
I don't always understand MYSELF. How can I hope to understand someone else? How much do we ASSUME?
It seems as if I get what leaders are doing better than individuals?
Even though they're hiding lot, don't we see it?
Even though individuals aren't trying to hide things, a lot just IS hidden.
On YouTube, there's a Swedish man: he's transparent, I like the content.
I leave too much out, and then I'm too hard to follow.
Sure, I hear you. I love all things inclusive of the expansion of thought. I spend a lot of time in observation before I transition to output. Understanding how to adapt and keenly for the written word in the proper context of the author is something that widely varies, based on customs, culture, idioms etc.. my reviews on each contributer was mixed and with the understanding these are professionals with existing mainstream platforms rather accepted or rejected they have an undeniable base of followers. In a greater scheme, yesterday's very defined seperate parallels are now merging and creating a new intersected community absent of modern day hallmarks.
Now let's not leave Hindu zealotry out of the mix, great sport for Hindus to kill Christians and Muslims. One group will fight back while the other turns the other cheek.
Please tell me how many Muslims have been killed by Hindus? How many Christians have been killed? When and where? And why - If you know, also include the preceding events.
After the attack on the World Trade Center in NY (911) all manner of Muslim attacks in all Countries flooded American media. I can understand these attacks no matter how vicious if during war. If you are Muslim open you eyes, a hundred years after Muhammad die Islam struck out against the world when they were done half the worlds population were killed. This is a historical fact, in Morocco alone most the city's population was killed.
Religions of all kinds exist to perpetuate a cast system including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hindu, etc. The will of the religious elites enslaves the congregants. One who thinks differently is killed, shunned, or economically destroyed. Religious people congregate together, they read the same, believe the same, none is able to weigh evidence and reason and make a rational decision. It is so difficult to think differently few ever do so.
For example Isalm, Chrstianity, and Judaism all claim the same God is their God. How is it the God of Abraham speaks in opposition to each of these religions? The Christian Jesus states Towrah of Yahowah is eternal and unchanging and directed to those who love His personal name, using it, while listening to His words and acting as instructed? Christians claim Towrah was annulled while Jesus say not. Muhammad claimed Quran fulfilled Towrah and yet how is this possible when the first is eternal and unchanging? Judaism claims the rabbis take precedence over God id the two disagree, how is this possible if they clam the God of Abraham when again His words are eternal and unchanging, how can all be in disagreement with the God they claim is their God? Because they have all created a new god in their own image who bends and changes for their religions.
Please a) give me 2 'hateful lies' about Hindus followed by 'the truth'. Can you tell me a bit about the meaning of
'Christian Zealots'? In India? I know a bit about
'Biblical Christianity' but little about Hindus. Add to that
some sadly negative experiences, and I want to stay away from negative bias. If you're up to this. Thanks.
Yes - I can give you a few which I am sure you have never heard of.
1. When Obama visited India, the Christians cooked up a totally bogus story about a church being vandalized by Hindus. This was done to disrupt his visit. The NYT and thier cohorts in India like Rana Ayub ran with and declared it an action of Hindu bigotry. It turned out that it was some boys who had hit a ball into one of the windows in a church. But that was never reported. Obama got a chance to lecture us on religious hate and the NYT and WaPo ran with the headlines.
2. Just before the last major elections Christians in Calcutta raised huge stink about an old nun being raped - as you can guess - by Hindus. It turned out to be Rohingya Muslims. But as usual the western press relished the coverage of Hindu bigotry as long as they could and quietly dropped the story when the truth came out.
3. Countless instances of Muslims and Christians vandalizing temples - in the present time) not centuries ago!
4. The enormous amounts of money being flown into India for conversions. Both by Muslims and Christians. The Muslims also run an active scam to trick Hindu girls into marrying them by lying about thier religion and then forcing the girls to convert. The goal is to convert India. If they succeed it will end up like many African countries where Christians and Muslims fight endless civil wars. The only reason India is a democracy is because of the Hindu majority.
5. The myth of caste is exploited by Christians and Muslims to convert. The Brahmins are the most oppressed minority in India since a thousand years! Even before that the Brahmins were never what you think they were. That too was an invention of the Muslims and British to divide India. The truth is the Dalits are far better off as Dalits in India today because they get huge incentives which they will lose if they convert. But the Muslims and Christians are cunning. Most of the the Christian missionaries convert them secretly and tell them to work against the Hindus but dupe the Indian government system by saying they are Dalits -for getting jobs and money. To make you understand this I will use a black-white analogy in America. It is like the MSNBC anchors who are black who make millions from white audiences but work to destroy white society.
6. Some major historical truths: Muslims conducted a 1000 year genocide against Hindus. Too long a story for me to type it here. The Catholic church actually conducted inquisitions on Hindus and killed thousands in Goa just like the Spanish inquisitions. Thousands converted out of fear. Hindus are a forgiving people - If it had been any other religion, both the Muslims and Christians would have been killed by the millions for the atrocities they have committed in India.
I hope this helps, doesn't just cause more questions that don't really help.
Do you remember Gandi's I think famous statement?
He said 'I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians much.'
A Christian is a high calling, not some simple, easy task.
You've likely read or heard about the disciples who suffered,
and died horrible deaths. To the end, every one of them
strongly held their belief, never wavering. Why? Why go through
all that? Only ONE reason. ONE. It was and is true.
Btw? I have no secret agenda, no wish for you except you'd
see that the term CHRISTIANS like almost everything else is a lie.
A Christian OBEYS or seeks to do what Jesus said to do.
A Christian doesn't TRY to convert anyone.
A Christian is COMMANDED, ordered to 'love', 'love your enemy',
...HATE your unbelieving family, ie. get away from them, DON'T
listen to them, reject invitations and explain why.
Tell me? How many Christians do you seemor know who do this?
NonChristians get along or pretend to get along with their family.
I don't want to bore you. But just see that names aren't truth.
No Christian is militant except spiritually. We know the world is run
by evil, dark forces. We see it everywhere. Christians will pray
against those: a spiritual WAR because it is.
Islam is almost founded on 'jihad' or killing as 'holy'.
Their god, Allah is said to favor killing.
About India? Is it true that it's PM Modi's goal to also make
India 'only Hindu'? Are Christians killed there for BEING Christian?
I believe we SHOULD be able to talk, express, get people thinking,
do you?
For example, only in Christianity are you NOT BORN into the family religion. So, I ask you? How is it freedom to be born Hindu without your agreement? How do your parents being Hindu mean YOU
are AUTOMATICALLY Hindu?
This is force.
Only Christianity does not force. AND, if they do force,
then this is not Christian at all, but a LIE.
AS I said, Christianity is a high calling.
Will PM Modi allow peaceful Christians to live in India, talk to
Hindus who want to do this? Or, is this about numbers, territory?
Something I hope to think about.
Your questions are incredibly uninformed! Killed for being a Christian?! Try and find out how Christian population has prospered and multiplied in India in the last few decades. As for your question about Modi wanting India to be Hindu only, it is absurd beyond belief. Short answer is no.
Most people don't know this, know what you mean.
I know Christianity quite well, Islam less well but somewhat.
Most don't know what a Christian is, how one 'becomes' a Christian.
Maybe it's the same idea for Islam too.
It's pretty basic, logical: if you want to know, read it.
But don't listen first to people, no matter their title.
From what I've read in India, it's not Christian.
Some MAY be Christian.
Nearly everything is 'only a fiction'.
You DON’T how Muslims treat Hindus in India. What you think you know about how Hindus treat muslims, is wrong. But don’t bother replying. I am not intereyin any debates.
The messenger is baised and a criminal. Using modern age media to evict herself of the crime by gathering religious sympathy.
Exactly! The point everyone misses is that Rana Ayub is obsessed with religious hate but claims victimhood by saying hindus accuse her of being anti-hindu! I guarantee you this: the people in Substack who asked her to write about press freedom only have read her version of the Gujrat riots. They have no idea how the Muslims started it by torching a trainload of Hindu pilgrims! I thought Substack might be different but it is as woke as the rest. I think it also has an Indian guy in its founders team, as usual sold out to wokeness.
We need a free press because so much untruth and inflammatory stuff is printed by the free press.
Sounds ironic doesn't it? Actually, I think, the thought is used as an excuse to not have a free press. It is the reasoning behind 'fact checker' censorship.
But it is not some comedic irony is it? It is a fact. The free burbling and mouthing off of all and sundry in the chaotic world gives rise to much untruth and cunningly deceptive and manipulative talk.
But the cure lies within the disease. Only by allowing it all can we find the 'cures' within. Once we start 'cutting down' on what's said there's the immediate danger of cutting out the 'cures' instead of the diseases.
I think today that has been indisputably shown in the covid debate.
I just thought of an analogy: in a waste land we often find those hardy stinging nettles growing. But in my experience it is true that where they grow the antidote - the dock leaf - grows nearby.
Attempts to regulate the growth of that wasteland simply to remove the nettles are expensive time consuming and overall deleterious to the 'riches' that grew there before. The same with speech I think.
We have perhaps a wrong idea of 'listening' or 'what we should be hearing'. We seem to have gotten the idea we should be hearing pure tones, so to speak.
But the natural 'background noise' of a community is more like the 'white sound' of the ocean and we should expect that.
And our innate job and skill should be to listen to that 'white sound' and pick out of it what is good and right and useful to us and reject that which is not.
When we try and control that 'white sound' we are trying to stop the sound of the sea and we are at once losing the wealth of the sea, so to speak, and a natural skill of our own. We weaken ourselves. We cheat ourselves.
It is not really a question of what they should be allowed to say - it is a question of how well are going to school ourselves to listen.
Thank you for that, Nazrul. Excellent site I think. Good to know about it. :)
Alleged "Press freedom" is absolutely meaningless the world over. The billionaire-owned press and media are the ongoing authors of their own destruction. See their years-long deafening S I L E N C E on Julian #Assange. They are aligned to empire building, neoliberalism, arms deals, far flung invasions, the watering down of democracy, Saudi incurred famine, and the on the record slaughter of civilians and journalists from Apache helicopters. The word "disgusting" doesn't do this justice.
Yep. The Assange thing is an astounding crime. To add it on top of all that's been shown about Australia is probably enough to finish entirely any respect for the country at all.
One expression of freedom is having free speech:
“I disapprove of what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
― Evelyn Beatrice Hall (paraphrasing Voltaire)
"Why in the world would you oppose free speech?
It’s the only thing the oppressed have.”
— Jordan Peterson
From:
Communication Insights From Movies
https://moviewise.substack.com/p/communication-insights-from-movies
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may be sought through constitution or other legal protection and security.
In some countries, reporting on certain topics is prevented or restricted by governments.
Without respect to governmental information, any government may distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public. State materials are protected due to either one of two reasons: the classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret, or the relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. Many governments are also subject to "sunshine laws" or freedom of information legislation that are used to define the ambit of national interest and enable citizens to request access to government-held information.
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may be sought through constitution or other legal protection and security.
In some countries, reporting on certain topics is prevented or restricted by governments.
Without respect to governmental information, any government may distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public. State materials are protected due to either one of two reasons: the classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret, or the relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. Many governments are also subject to "sunshine laws" or freedom of information legislation that are used to define the ambit of national interest and enable citizens to request access to government-held information.
Wow, this is a powerful piece. Freedom of the press is very important, and we are fortunate to have that in the US.
I do worry about Nikita’s “two narrative system” though. In countries like the US where we have freedom of the press, that freedom is used to hold power accountable as often as it is used to spread completely false information.
As a reader, it can be very difficult to know whether something is fact or fiction and that is as dangerous as not having freedom of the press. Misinformation has led to widespread hate and even violent action!
I know the debate is often framed as freedom of the press vs. censorship but I kind of think we need both and I wonder if there is a way to fact check the media without removing our freedom to it. Can we hold press accountable (without harm to the journalists), even as the press continues to hold power accountable?
With all due respect the change in law allowing media and press to have common ownership has destroyed accurate reporting and accountability. I have encountered extraordinary corruption at all levels of business, church and government including local through top levels of government. The judicial system is also massively corrupt making accountability meaningless. Agencies align themselves with unfortunate political dogma that has destroyed the higher purpose of government to doing what they can to get away with as much as then can. The Intelligence Agency was established in 1947 using the OSS, Nazi intelligence network amd the Mafia as partners. What could go wrong when drugs are used to generate off the books revenue?
There is difference on freedom and fake news . Rana Ayyub is one the person who propagate hate among communities for money. She have used money collected in the name of victim of covid -19 ,victims of flood and use that money for person use. She plays victim hood of being minority muslim but fact is muslim are one the most progressive muslim in the world . Many Bollywood star like Shahruk , Salman ,Amir all of them are muslim . We need to separate out fake news spreader and oppose this kind of victim hood publically . I would encourage this platform should not be used by these fake news creator otherwise this will also die like twitter.
It is very clear that freedom of thinking, speeech and communication are under treath also in Belgium and certainly on digital media. I was banned from facebook when opening an AVAAZ community where we shared all information we could find additional to what was provided in mean stream media... Keep on doing the right work and support independent investigative journalism!
There is no freedom of anything anymore. People are too afraid to assert their freedoms thereby losing them. Only thugs and governments have freedoms.
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Essential to a free stable society which cannot flourish in a fettered atmosphere All people should be able to express genuine feelings of good will & sense to encompass all with honesty and god will Sadly for me these new ideas dont sit will with me I dont understand them or like them probably never will so my writing will be nil value and I.m too old to be brought up to date
I like picking up a lot of useful knowledge. Any form of freedom no longer exists. People stop exercising their freedom because they are too afraid. Only dictatorships and bullies value freedom.
All of these authors come from liberal, and if I may add, strongly left-leaning, media.
https://colortunnel.io
I have no confidence in their authors or media in general. Media outlets and reporters need to be able to express themselves freely and not only talk about
In France, they launched an NFT platform for press cartoons : https://grafonage.art/
For anyone with an open mind, here is another point of view about India and Muslims. Two-Nation Theory Is Islamic In Origin; Even Nordics And Europeans Are Now Saying So | https://swarajyamag.com/politics/two-nation-theory-is-islamic-in-origin-even-nordics-and-europeans-are-now-saying-so
You're simply sidestepping the main point of my post. All three religions claiming Abraham are false. How can I prove this? All three religions claim Abraham as their father. God gave Moesh 2 tablets. The first tablet reads as follows;
Exodus 20:1-7
1-3
And God conveyed all of these words, providing perspective in our presence, saying: "I am Yahowah, your God, Who relationally brought you out and delivered you from the realm of the crucible of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You will not exist with other gods in proximity of My presence.
4 "You are not to prepare or produce for yourself a carved image, or idol, or any visual representation of something which is in the heavens above, or which is on the earth below, or which is in the waters beneath the land. You are not to bow down and worship them or speak for them, and you are not to serve them or minister on their behalf.
5 For indeed, I, Yahowah, your God, am a zealous and jealous God, Who is desirous of exclusivity in our relationship, reckoning the perversity and sin of twisting and distorting, of perverting and manipulating the way, by the fathers upon the children concerning the third and the fourth generations of those who are hostile to Me.
6 But I will prepare, perform, and deliver unmerited and unfailing mercy, unearned favor, and undeserved kindness to thousands who love Me, and who closely observe, carefully examine, revere, and keep My teachings, instructions, and prescriptions for living.
7 "You are not to lift up, support, or advance, forgive or dignify, respect or tolerate, through the Name or reputation of Yahowah, your God, lifeless and worthless deceptions or devastating and destructive falsehoods. For indeed, Yahowah will not forgive or leave unpunished those who deceive, beguile, or delude, using clever trickery to mislead in association with His Name, to promote vain and ineffectual lies which lead to lifelessness and destruction, or devastating deceptions which nullify our existence, leading to emptiness."
Read the above and compare these words of God to your religion. If they differ God is not in error your religion is in error. God does not change.
God told Moesh when he asked, Who should I tell the people has sent me. What is your name?
I am, I exist, call me Yahowah. Yahowah is clear in verse 7 anyone teaching His name is not to be used, or cannot be known will not be left unpunished.
And yet all three religions neither know or use the personal name of Yahowah. The Roman church has banned mentioning the name of Yahowah. Judaism teaches the name cannot be pronounced and yet every other Hebrew word using the very same letters can be pronounced.
Islam sadly if a religion created for those who are comatose. Don't take this as a personal attack I mean you no ill will. Simply you've and most all religious people have been indoctrinated into believe the impossible is true. Islam believes Allah lives in hell where he torturous mostly women who did not please their husbands. Where Yahowah states only demons and humans like the Popes, priests, Rabbis, Imams, and Muhammad, Paul, Akiba, and their like will be imprisoned for all eternity.
Muhammad spent a great deal of time contradicting himself while claiming to speak for a black piece of volcanic glass, now encased in silver at the Cabaha. 6 differing accounts of creation, etc. The Roman church authored the Christian new testament and the early history of the church dating back to their fictional Jesus character.
Judaism claims to observe Torah of Yahowah, while ignoring it in favor of the Talmud.
All religions including social secular humanism were created by men for one purpose; To control and fleece their adherents. Yahowah hates all religions, the only men He approaches are those who have left religion, politics, and militarism. Only men like this are able to think rationally and without straining all information through their faith, politics or military mindset.
Great article!! I've followed all the contributors and look fwd seeing more of their work.
Here's my very personal account, and UK perspective of where we are at with freedom of speech, and the impacts to our health... Freedom Of Speech Is Dead, Long Live Medical Tyranny... https://rachelwild.substack.com/p/freedom-of-speech-is-dead-long-live?s=w