This morning, the BBC released the news of another fatal attack on a blogger. Everyone like me should give this serious consideration. Okay, I live in the UK, a country that allows freedom of speech, but only to a certain point. I've already expressed my annoyance about Facebook singling out particular words that bots deem may contain harm. Words that start with dea …, ki … and mur …. Of course, newspapers thrive on such words.
But here's the disturbing news: A secular blogger in Bangladesh has been fatally struck with repeated blows in north-eastern Bangladesh, the third occurrence since the start of the year, police say. They deem a masked gang wielding machetes in the city of Sylhet responsible.
In February, Mr Roy, a Bangladeshi-born US writer who once moderated the same site she wrote on, was ki … after criticizing religious intolerance. And in March, another blogger, Mr Rahman, met the same end in Dhaka. An Islamist has been arrested over Mr. Roy's mur ..., while two madrassa students have been arrested over Mr Rahman's ki … Source BBC News.
But here's the disturbing news: A secular blogger in Bangladesh has been fatally struck with repeated blows in north-eastern Bangladesh, the third occurrence since the start of the year, police say. They deem a masked gang wielding machetes in the city of Sylhet responsible.
In February, Mr Roy, a Bangladeshi-born US writer who once moderated the same site she wrote on, was ki … after criticizing religious intolerance. And in March, another blogger, Mr Rahman, met the same end in Dhaka. An Islamist has been arrested over Mr. Roy's mur ..., while two madrassa students have been arrested over Mr Rahman's ki … Source BBC News.
Now, the bloggers in question wrote with passion and didn't hold back on their opinion. I would like to think everyone could do the same. But that's not the case.
I don't burn with a desire to bring down the established order. All I want to do is bring certain news to your attention and share relevant parts of my long life with you.
But what if I wanted to criticize—say, to make a point—the way the National Health specialists are treating my cancer-ridden husband? Would that be acceptable? If I believed in my cause enough to make everyone aware of his plight, the next step would be to speak to the newspapers, raise a rally, march for our rights, cause a confrontation with police, and then we have civil unrest on our hands.
Much as I emphasize with the three blogger's loss of life, and their families, I wouldn't do that.
We need to draw a line between what we want to change, and public safety.
What is your opinion about the safety of blogging?
I don't burn with a desire to bring down the established order. All I want to do is bring certain news to your attention and share relevant parts of my long life with you.
But what if I wanted to criticize—say, to make a point—the way the National Health specialists are treating my cancer-ridden husband? Would that be acceptable? If I believed in my cause enough to make everyone aware of his plight, the next step would be to speak to the newspapers, raise a rally, march for our rights, cause a confrontation with police, and then we have civil unrest on our hands.
Much as I emphasize with the three blogger's loss of life, and their families, I wouldn't do that.
We need to draw a line between what we want to change, and public safety.
What is your opinion about the safety of blogging?
RSS Feed
