President Bean said: “Machang Atheist…how would you rate ‘Groundviews?’”

Sinna thangachi President Bean…are you taking a survey?

If not, I think you may be asking me a trick question. It’s like someone asking you, “Do I look fat in these jeans?”

Hasta Luego punchi nangi President Bean!

How can anyone expect much from the state – owned print media as represented by the Daily News, Thinakaran and Dinamina and the Sunday Observer. The same applies to state television such as Rupavahini and ITN.
As for Hudson Silva, he is any nincompoop’s Rush Limbaugh!

Unfortunately, the supposedly alternative media in Sri-Lanka also represents the interests of only a select few. There is nothing “alternative” about any media that propagandizes under the pretext of fighting for human rights. Both the state and the “civil society” have much to learn about equal rights and justice.

At least the state media is not a devil in disguise; however – whether in disguise or not – both devils ultimately do the same damage to society and the nation.

I suppose most people simply choose their devil. I have, for my part, rejected them both.

My admiration for devils does not extend beyond Halloween!

Undergroundview said: “Isn’t this supposed to be a discussion about repression? Rather than, say, the early education of fellow posters… “

A note to the underground man/woman: early childhood education is the most important phase in one’s life. In, my experience, people who were not indoctrinated with religion and race at an early age, very often, grow up to care about their fellow human beings and the environment. Certainly, the discussion on repression can lead to the exploration of childhood experiences, can it not?

Sure, I deviated – and I am still deviating – from the original discussion, but so are you and the others. What’s your beef with me questioning someone’s early education based on their one-sided interpretation of a parable?

Relax…the world belongs to us all!

Just wondering…

You and the crew have become expert in quoting clichés because, I suspect, creativity is not your forte. Excessive quoting is an indication that the writer is unable to breakdown an idea/concept, as he/she does not understand the very basics of what he/she professes to know.

Resorting to unnecessary quotations and derogatory comments, in my opinion, is often used as a get out of jail card by fraudulent “intellectuals”; however, I am not that generous: no free pass for you and the crew – not even a day pass!

As for the proverb the “three wise monkeys” – probably originating in China or Japan – it is taught to every child in Kindergarten. Perhaps you and the crew were never exposed to Kindergarten basics?

As I understand, according to you, this proverb is used in the West under a different context, namely to denounce moral apathy. My, my, if you know at least a tiny bit about the world, you will find out very quickly that this proverb is frequently used among people of all cultures. Besides moral apathy, the “three wise monkeys” also symbolize the dangers of: gossip, propaganda, rumour mongering and character assassination. Only the morally apathetic could engage in the said behaviour.

The next time, please, wow us with something creative – no quoting!

Ciao!

Funny you should say that. A quick search on google shows numerous protests, of all sizes, about all sorts of issues, in front of the White House. There was one where people threw shoes at an inflated George Bush, to protest his wars. One where thousands of people marched from the White House to the Capitol, against the war in Iraq (where people were only arrested when they climbed barricades at the Capitol). The US has a strong tradition of free speech and protest inside its borders.

You added: “Sure some get to protest, after extensive screening and with a vast degree of control on their behavior, literally at gun point by the snipers and secret service all around them. They might as well protest somewhere else. I can assure you that US president has a more thorough security arrangement than MR.”

I’ve seen US presidential security abroad – it seems over the top, until you realise how many assassinations and attempts there have been on the lives of US presidents, and how many people really really dislike the US.

But you should not confuse that with their approach to the freedom to peaceful protest. There are many things in America that should not be imitated – but their freedom of speech and freedom to protest is a good thing that Sri Lanka would do well to copy.

It hasn’t led to the collapse of the USA, has it? Would it really destroy Sri Lanka?

Most people in my country celebrate the fact that we were able to defeat General Musharraf. I am sorry to see anybody admiring a dictator. You have mentioned the period of your birth therefore I will not be very harsh on you. Dictatorships are terrible things. Those of us who have lived through one work very hard to see that such dictators go. The defeat of dictators is not the end of everything. All the problems created by 32 years of dictatorship by the military in my country since independence will be there for a long time. What dictators destroy it is difficult for others to build.

In our struggle for democracy one strong cornerstone now is the judgment of the chief justice who was returned to his post to the effect that no head of state in the future will have any power to suspend the constitution. The struggle to build constitutions with real safeguards is a very difficult task. It is easy to undo them. Then all the systems of protection disappears.

Corruption is a problem but corruption thrives when there are dictatorships. Within a democracy there is a possibility of fighting against it. The new chief justice has made very strict rules regarding monitoring of corruption by judges and in the legal process. In some countries there are great achievements of controlling corruption. There are people who don’t have to pay any money to get a job done by a government agency or a law enforcement agency. They don’t have to give favours to anyone in order to get a job if the jobs are available and if they are qualified. So given the democracy there is a chance to fight against corruption.

I hope in your life you will see a better Sri Lanka. As outsiders we used to envy your country. We thought it would be one of the great examples that demonstrate the possibility of rule of law, democracy and economic develop taking place at the same time. Now we are sad no doubt. But we will continue to hope that the younger generation of Sri Lanka will not repeat the mistakes of their leaders as is happening now. I hope you country will offer you a better place with the freedoms and friendships that you deserve.

Underground views, Ok do you think a bunch of skin head protestors (objecting Obama) will get to protest in the lawn of the white house? No! Do you think citizens who support the mudjhadine will get to protest at the white house about the war in Afghanistan? No. Sure some get to protest, after extensive screening and with a vast degree of control on their behavior, literally at gun point by the snipers and secret service all around them. They might as well protest somewhere else. I can assure you that US president has a more thorough security arrangement than MR. Let’s face it both presidents are high risk targets as they were/are both involved in active engagements.

With active insurgencies you cannot account accurately for disappearances. In Iraq, Afghanistan a person is one day a civilian next day a combatant. When he’s killed in action he’s listed as a “dead civilian” or “disappeared”. That’s the new reality in counter insurgency war and I know that a lot of disappearances you talk about are really LTTE supporters who voluntarily disappear to become combatants or activate as suicide bombers.

In all fairness, when MR came to power he had other more pressing issues. At the time issue of executive presidency wasn’t the biggest concern for me either but an impending all out war. In his defense he fared well with that challenge presented having exhausted all other options with the benefit of hind sight to say so. Now that challenge is not completely over and he hasn’t even finished a 1st term yet. So isn’t it too early to come to conclusions in all fairness yet? I’ll leave it at that and honestly don’t know if he will stick to it. For instance Obama came into power on the platform he will close Guantanamo – process detainees and pull out of Iraq, none of which has been completely done yet due to inherent complexities yet we can’t come to a decisive conclusion yet. That’s politics. But if we all get so upset over “some” broken promises like in relationships then we won’t have a political system in this world right?

About the 1970s stuff I wasn’t even born then so I shall refrain from counter arguing that period as I have limited knowledge. I am very aware of the mistakes made as a nation during that period and fully accept some of the grief we have experience as a result of that even though “my generation” was not responsible for that shortsightedness. I am more concerned about the present and the future. In fact I never set to deny genuine mistakes made by Sri Lankans. I just wanted to point out the callousness of your claims without adequate factual and relevant linkage. Most of all the misinterpretation of a legitimate war surrounding conditions as state oppression. By your argument any war is state oppression be it their own citizens or other statesmen. By your reasoning we can call US, UK and the coalition as a Stalinist Gulag regime looking at the civilian casualty and disappearance figures in Iraq and Afghanistan alone. Not to mention the sordid torture tales.

(proverb traced to 1546 John Heywood, in 1738, used by Jonathan Swift in his ‘Polite Conversation)

I suspect our delusions, and the things we blind ourselves to, our the things that do our own lives and public life the most damage!

A sane security arrangement would be able to distinguish between peaceful protest and a threat to peace, between dissent and treason.

A less sane arrangement would imprison journalists for being critical of the government, lock up camp doctors who speak too frankly about the conduct of the army, and have astrologers investigated by the police when their predictions don’t meet with presidential approval.

Anyway, what’s the point of listening to astrologers if you’re going to force them to give you only good news?

You say that you don’t know the law, which means you don’t know the laws that have been lost. Mr. Fernando has been talking about the way the lawlessness came about in Sri Lanka. You write without even understanding what you are writing about. That’s a pity.

Put this same argument in a different way. If you take various kind of atrocities like disappearences and tortures etc. in Burma, let us say since the ‘70s, the actual atrocities will be much less than in Sri Lanka during the same time. For example, they did not have 30,000 disappearences as it happened in the south of Sri Lanka. However, from the point of view of the extent of repression, Burma during these years up to now is more worse. What creates their repression is the complete absence of any kind of institutional protection.

The same thing can be said about Cambodia since the ‘90s. The actual extent of atrocities, such as extrajudicial killings, is much less than in Sri Lank just going by the known facts. Yet, the repression in Cambodia is much worse, judging by the extent of institutional protection.

My argument about repression in Sri Lanka was that we have lost much of what we even had by way of institutional protection. The type of institutional protection we have now is not one of a basic rule of law system. Instead, we have abandoned that system in a very fundamental way. We are now on the side of countries which are worse from the point of view of institutional protection.
I have the same problem as you about space. It has already been a long comment from the point of view of space available. However, I intend to deal with these issues at even greater length and publish elsewhere shortly. I hope, meanwhile, you will get your facts correct. But as for your own assumptions about the world and when it will be perfect and about the third world, well you are entitled to hold whichever view that you wish to hold. That’s no problem for me.