OR318 Blog

by Ritesh J

I’ve always been a strong supporter of censorship, primarily because people don’t understand that with freedom comes responsibility. I have also believed that censorship was created for the good of society.

But when those controlling the content are responsible for societal turmoil, censorship turns into tyranny.

Many nations in the Middle East control Internet content, and in many ways it’s not wrong. But when a YouTube video or a blog post is the cause of deportation, or in  Omid Reza’s case, legal murder, a line needs to be drawn.

In 1857, there was an Indian Military Revolt that took place under the British Raj that is widely debated as the first organized revolution against the British government. This resulted in the British government creating laws to curb the freedom of the people in India, which was a catalyst to a chain reaction of Mutiny throughout.

Just like that, if revolution has taken a new form online, it is bound to be shot down over and over again. And just like any revolution in the past, it doesn’t die on punishment. As a matter of fact it escalates.

Those who control content anywhere, be it online, broadcast or print, must know that their primary function is the good of the society. And if they themselves are the biggest problem of the society, they won’t survive for long.