March 10, 2007
Reaching for democracy
It’s so easy to take privilege for granted when it’s all you’ve ever known. Events this week in Turkey brought that to mind. Turkey is an ancient land, steeped in tradition. Seeking admission to the EU has been a bumpy ride as different segments of society strive to find a common meeting ground that will lead to establishing a democracy. Freedom of speech was challenged a few days ago when a hateful and racist video aired on YouTube and was viewed by Turkish citizens. The courts took the situation under control by banning YouTube. As Americans we may find this overly reactive, but ours are not the voices that matter. What seems outrageous to us was seen as an appropriate response to an offense by those who made the decision. Public outcry was immediate, against both the video and the juidical ruling. YouTube could have reacted faster, but did eventually pull the inflammatory material, and the court decision has been reversed. Small steps, but important ones. The voice of the people was heard and respected. That’s democracy in action, an indicator of the nation’s sincerity as it seeks union with its neighbors. I wish them well as they work towards determining which traditions are profitable for modern Turkey and which should be relegated to history.
My friend Osman helps us sort it out from the perspective of a modern Turkish citizen who reveres and respects the history of his ancient land. Go celebrate the return of YouTube with him!
Technorati Tags: Turkey, current events
Posted by skeet @ 10:56 pm • Society & culture
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March 11th, 2007 at 5:35 am, Osman Says:
I just love your point of view, Skeet. It is awesome and really objective! Cheers!
March 11th, 2007 at 7:41 am, Flo Says:
It’s hard to remember the rest of the world doesn’t have all the freedoms we have. I wonder if our founding fathers would have been able to put the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence together today?? It’s a far different world we live in.
March 11th, 2007 at 10:23 am, skeet Says:
Mahalo, Osman! Your endorsement means a lot to me!
Flo, I’m thinking it would be very difficult. They’d argue about grammar and syntax, inclusions and exclusions, with constant public input and interference via the net. If they finally agreed on wording, someone would kill it in the house or the senate and send it back to the drawing board because it didn’t include a hidden clause that they were sure they paid for and which would have funneled millions into their own pet project. When the finalized documents were finally approved, they would be virally corrupted by some hacker and our constitution would include a clause confirming that only Donald Duck would ever serve as president.
I guess there were some good things about the good old boys network that operated behind closed doors but produced results. :0D
March 12th, 2007 at 1:46 pm, Shadowscope Says:
Alexa Project…
Updated 3-11-07 Shadowscope’s score is now 232,848 and newhomessales.net is 3,511,085. theapp.net is still showing no data. Updated 3-8-07 It has dropped to 268,792, I have also added my other two sites, one is just a subdirectory for now……