Icheoku says it is very easy for anyone to remain an angel when no one ruffles his/her feathers. So also is it very easy to pontificate about freedoms and liberties for all when these rights have not been deployed in a way that is threatening and/or inimical to your own very existence. The British government of Prime Minister David Cameron has proved with its latest plan to ban or restrict the use of social media that these professed rights and freedoms are rather ephemeral and subjective to the whims of those who govern? The thought alone suffices and Icheoku does not need to see it implemented to conclude that there is a dictatorship in all of us, especially our supposed leaders if not for a vigilant society that resist such absolute maximums and are on constant lookout for such.
That the supposedly bastion of freedom and democracy, the United Kingdom, is toying with the idea of banning social media including Tweeter, Facebook, My Space etc because they were used to organize people during the latest London riots, is a very serious matter indeed and a cause for concern among every freedom-loving peoples of the world. It is equally quite interesting to see the often-shifting nature of human-beings, depending on whose ox is gored and who is at the receiving end, as the same David Cameron, not too long ago, praised the same social media when they successfully brought down some Middle Eastern and Arab governments as the new-age weapon of choice for organizing societal revolutions? But now that the same revolution is trying to spread to Her Majesty's kingdom with the help of these social media, David Cameron will not have any of that; instead he is planning to ban these purveyors and keep the British people in the dark and away from organizing themselves rather than tackle the underlying factor which triggered the disturbances and fix what is broken within the British society.
Imagine the ever sanctimonious Brits and a Prime Minister Cameron who is now considering banning or rather curtailing peoples right to assemble, communicate and interact? Listen to the Prime Minister, "We are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services ..........." and Icheoku wonders whether these rights and freedoms are suddenly now subjective and dependent on what is convenient to the government of Prime Minister David Cameron rather than inalienable fundamental rights, not subject to anyone or any government's whims and caprices? Icheoku says were the former the case, then Iranian, Libyan, Syrian as well as the deposed Egyptian and Tunisian governments would have had reasonable grounds not to allow the assemblage and communications amongst their own citizens to disturb and in some cases dislocate their governments? Icheoku maintains that freedom should not be flexibly made dependent on the government's comfort level but at all times exercised fully without any let or hindrance; and therefore condemns the planned ban of social media in Britain because it is being used to organize uncomfortable riots? Banning the British people from communicating through social media is undemocratic infringement on their rights and freedom of speech as well as assembly and expression.
The British government and its security apparatchik should find other less restrictive ways to checkmate the abuse of these social media by the few, other than completely banning their use just because some supposed trouble-makers might deploy them wrongly to cause havoc? But first, they should endeavor to solve the fundamental root-cause of these disturbances - the ever widening social and economic inequalities that are the bedrock of these upheavals. Instead of looking at or addressing the symptoms which manifest as riots, the government should attack the disease of festering inequalities that is eating deep into the fabric of the British society. Put in another more simplistic way, one cannot just decide to ban cars just because some people used cars to go on robbery or kill some people. The proper thing or best approach possible is to simply isolate the particular case and deal with it as an individual case but never to punish the whole people collectively for the misdeeds of a few. Icheoku once again, reiterates that neither British Prime Minister David Cameron or any other leader in the Western world or the entire world for that matter should be allowed to turn himself into a dictator, censoring what people can say or do including their right of association or assembly. The planned ban of Tweeter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media is wrong for being over-broad, anti-freedom and undemocratic; therefore the decision or plan must not see the daylight in the interest of what Britain represents to the world - a bastion of freedom!
That the supposedly bastion of freedom and democracy, the United Kingdom, is toying with the idea of banning social media including Tweeter, Facebook, My Space etc because they were used to organize people during the latest London riots, is a very serious matter indeed and a cause for concern among every freedom-loving peoples of the world. It is equally quite interesting to see the often-shifting nature of human-beings, depending on whose ox is gored and who is at the receiving end, as the same David Cameron, not too long ago, praised the same social media when they successfully brought down some Middle Eastern and Arab governments as the new-age weapon of choice for organizing societal revolutions? But now that the same revolution is trying to spread to Her Majesty's kingdom with the help of these social media, David Cameron will not have any of that; instead he is planning to ban these purveyors and keep the British people in the dark and away from organizing themselves rather than tackle the underlying factor which triggered the disturbances and fix what is broken within the British society.
Imagine the ever sanctimonious Brits and a Prime Minister Cameron who is now considering banning or rather curtailing peoples right to assemble, communicate and interact? Listen to the Prime Minister, "We are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services ..........." and Icheoku wonders whether these rights and freedoms are suddenly now subjective and dependent on what is convenient to the government of Prime Minister David Cameron rather than inalienable fundamental rights, not subject to anyone or any government's whims and caprices? Icheoku says were the former the case, then Iranian, Libyan, Syrian as well as the deposed Egyptian and Tunisian governments would have had reasonable grounds not to allow the assemblage and communications amongst their own citizens to disturb and in some cases dislocate their governments? Icheoku maintains that freedom should not be flexibly made dependent on the government's comfort level but at all times exercised fully without any let or hindrance; and therefore condemns the planned ban of social media in Britain because it is being used to organize uncomfortable riots? Banning the British people from communicating through social media is undemocratic infringement on their rights and freedom of speech as well as assembly and expression.
The British government and its security apparatchik should find other less restrictive ways to checkmate the abuse of these social media by the few, other than completely banning their use just because some supposed trouble-makers might deploy them wrongly to cause havoc? But first, they should endeavor to solve the fundamental root-cause of these disturbances - the ever widening social and economic inequalities that are the bedrock of these upheavals. Instead of looking at or addressing the symptoms which manifest as riots, the government should attack the disease of festering inequalities that is eating deep into the fabric of the British society. Put in another more simplistic way, one cannot just decide to ban cars just because some people used cars to go on robbery or kill some people. The proper thing or best approach possible is to simply isolate the particular case and deal with it as an individual case but never to punish the whole people collectively for the misdeeds of a few. Icheoku once again, reiterates that neither British Prime Minister David Cameron or any other leader in the Western world or the entire world for that matter should be allowed to turn himself into a dictator, censoring what people can say or do including their right of association or assembly. The planned ban of Tweeter, Facebook, MySpace and other social media is wrong for being over-broad, anti-freedom and undemocratic; therefore the decision or plan must not see the daylight in the interest of what Britain represents to the world - a bastion of freedom!
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Christy 'Apena' Essien-Igbokwe , the wife of Jegede Shokoya of the New Masquerade and Nigeria's lady of songs is dead; she was 51years old. Although her family claimed that "brief Illness" killed her like so many Nigerians; Icheoku retorts that it was most likely AKwa Ibom voodoo and remote control that was used to arrest her. It is on record that she had fallen out with the governor of her native Akwa Ibiom State and have been having a relentless war for political turf with the governor? So who knows whether she was sacrificed to Ekpe cult or even Alusi-Okija as an offal; afterall African science is still very much alive and portent. May her soul rest in peace.
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