I am on med, and therefore, most of you won’t be seeing me chirping much in blogosphere these few days. Yes, people. I am in a very, very dark and foul mood. The not so sweet fairy, is back, people.
I’ve wanted to sleep, but as of late, I’ve noticed that bloggers have been arrested for their writing. For insulting royal institution, for expressing their strong opinion against certain issues and whatnot, and this disturbed my mind greatly.
Mind you, this will not be another one of my opinionated view on certain current sensitive current issue, but I’d like to share something that someone wise said recently. I’ve always admired this man for his opinions and vision, because even when he doesn’t really make sense at first(see ringgit peg, see KLIA and see also Sepang F1 Circuit), he proves himself right as time passes by.
Former premier, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said bloggers should follow his lead and stick to facts if they want to stay on the right side of the law.
“Bloggers should not unnecessarily do things that are not going to benefit anybody. Why use your blog to insult people?â€
Mahathir said this is how he has evaded arrest, despite ruffling feathers through his acerbic writings – of which one of the most recent accused the US government of having staging the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
Perhaps, most of you may not be interested in Tun Dr. M’s word, as you probably think… hey… I am a mummy blogger, I am a foodie blogger, I talk about my personal stuff and happenings or even, I just gossip around about things that does not concern me, and therefore, the man’s word should not be taken into consideration, because it does not apply to me at all. It is completely irreverent to me, and I should brush it off.
But then again, his words interest me immensely, because my dear readers, sometimes… we have the tendency to write about people, and people are not even aware about it because we never bothered to ask permission from the subject in question. I suppose…it is okay if we write up good things such as birthday greetings and not offensive things about them.
But I am aware that sometimes, bloggers gossip about other’s personal matters. Sometimes, it is not just plain annoying, but a royal pain in the eyes to see. It is absolute eyesore, and never failed to disgust me to no end.
We may and may not realize this… that when we write unfavourably about someone that we know, and maybe we don’t know at all- about people that we merely encountered on the street, but do you realize that we can sometimes be subjected to defamation and slander for writing about them because in truth, we do not have the whole picture and as we write and ‘share’ our opinions, we tend to judge and take sides?
Some people may do this for fun, just to attract traffic and improve their comment counts, but do you know that when you do so, you might have shun the person in the eyes of public, and they could actually take action against you?
You may justify your actions by saying “I am just sharing”, ” I just want to know what people think about this so and so issue regarding so and so”, but when it comes to law, such justification is absolutely unjustifiable? You may say that “Hey, this is my space, I can write whatever I like…so, buzz off if you don’t like what I write”.
However, I seriously think that freedom of speech comes with great responsibility. One should write responsibly and ethically. When you shun someone in the eyes of the public and cause damage to one’s reputation, you are defaming people, and people have rights to take legal actions against you in mitigations of damage.
Well, many of you might not know that your articles may be defaming, slanderous or even invading one’s privacy, but I hope, all of you will thread carefully, because we’ll never know when you offend people and when people decide to put you into a cauldron of hot soup.
Cleffairy: Writing is power. And with power, comes great responsibility. Either bear the responsibility, or be prepared for the consequences of your own actions.
This is a very important part of blogging.
I really hope that bloggers will read the post and be more aware.
Great post.
Kudos!
hugs,
shakira
Blogging ethically… and responsibly. 😀
that’s explain why I don’t really like to write ‘bad’ stuff provided someone provoke me doing so!!
I never like negative stuff, comments, or even attitude, so for me, I just want to stay as positive as possible… 😀
Good for you, Cyn… and as for me… I need to keep Tun’s advice in my head as well. 😀
With power, comes great responsibility… macam spiderman 🙂 I write nonsense. I hope I’ll never ever step on anybody’s toes or tail or anything… I just want to put my foot firmly on the ground 🙂
Of course it’s like Spierman. Borrowed quote ma… ahahaha… great power comes with great responsibility…. lol… same goes with blogging and writing. It comes with responsibility.
very true, gotta be responsible for wat you write
Yep… even in blogging, there’s ethics.
i will only mess o wrote entry if they mess up with me…i wont fucked them for nothing… 😉
LOL… I oso do that la… but as you kno, mine is mostly disguised. Not many noticed my ventings oso ler, brader.
that’s why i dun blog no more….instead, i post cuties pics and let em drool over their lappies. wait a minute…..is that a felony?? 😛
LMAO… u got their permission bo, bro? LOL…Aihhh.. I miss out good old times la… but… thank God Sleeping Fugly is no more. He irks me like mad wan lerr… got him around, I sure mati cepat wan!
I agree..be honest and responsible for what we write an dont make confused words to lead others to different directions.
Blogging responsibly also means that you are protecting your readers, no? 😛 i always feels this way.
Always be truthful in whatever you do even blogging, dont ever slender, we can accept all kinds of comments bad or good, but fundamentally i believe blogging is about sharing and identifying with others.
We may receive bad comments that will make us all mad and what not, just be truthful,
thank for sharing,,,,,,,,,you take care now and drink a lot of water and get of a lot of rest
I, for one thing, cannot accept malicious and threatening comments towards my readers. It is fine if people want to hentam me and do so directly to me, but it disgust me if they attacked my readers, who are innocents.
although I do not really care what people thinks about my blog but as what Tun Mahathir says….bloggers should not do unnecessary stuff… when it comes to criticizing and ranting, there should be a certain degree of twist in your content and style that could be done in order to avoid trouble…I implemented this a lot in my blog including my issue on that “Allah” thingy…the most important is not only be responsible but also be smart…
Well said, Eric. Very well said, and I couldn’t say it better than you did. 😛 I write bout sensitive issues too… but, I would always mask it. This is not only to protect myself, but also my readers as well. Wouldn’t want anyone get too carried away while having a heated argument here. 🙁 I tink, as blog owner, it is our responsibility to protect the readers too.
Elvis Presley! “Can’t help falling in love”! Aiyor…that Elvis impersonator from Sarawak was singing this song on stage when he collapsed and died! Guess he died happily…singing the song of the King that he loved so much!
Do not trouble trouble until trouble troubles you! I always avoid sensitive topics as everyone has his or her own opinion and everyone thinks he or she is right. Especially when one is emotionally-aroused to the extent of being fanatical about something, they may be speaking from the heart and not through the mind…and they will never think they are wrong. Even those terrorists think they are fighting a holy war – they think they are doing what they do for a worthy cause even if they die doing it!
OMG… died on stage? Like Elvis? Wahhhhh… shocked me! He must have died happy tho…
*sigh* true, but I can’t help it sometimes. 🙁 And I never believed in Holy war. God never told us to go around kill the innocents on His behalf. NEVER! He loves all His creation all the same, and it’s just too bad that people are using his name in vain. 🙁 Holy? I say, it’s Holy shit lah.. killing the innocents, it doesn’t matter which religion you’re from and whatnot….no religion teaches us to harm others. 🙁 Holy war is as good as murder to me.
Hi fairy, stay sweet ya! 🙂
Ethical blogging is great, but so unimaginable in the whacky world of today. So many frustrated people have found a way to vent their frustrations to the world ie via blogging. I ‘m sad that these frustrations carry a lot of negativities which has a ripple effect which is difficult to control, let alone dispel. I’ve been a victim too lately.
We have to just play our part, to be conscious that our role to spread goodness does have its effcts too, albeit in a small way.
I wish us well. ^_^
+Ant+
Stay sweet? *sigh* hard to be sweet when there’s so much nasty people out there. I tend to let my temper ahead of me, you see. Gratitude, you are not alone. Not everyone out there are responsible for what they said, and therefore, the innocents are usually victimized.
I pray everything goes well for you too, Gratitude.
Tun Dr M is a real visionary.
Gosh..i guess i am some what guilty of those crimes a few times in my post. Anger got the better of me. will watch-outin the future. thanks
Kathy… I think, most are guilty of it. I am too…it’s just the matter we see to it that we control the damage or not onli.
And hey…if not mistaken, next wik got Payless Book sale in YMCA, KL Central there. You’re going bo?
Totally agreed… don’t anyhow just write without thinking. Be responsible! It’s totally unnecessary to blog abt something which could land u in trouble and that really waste a lot of your time, which could be better utilised for something better!
Yeah… sad to see some young chaps getting arrested for their not so smart comments in blogs and in fb!
yea… i read the news too.
very agree, and Anton (Gratitude) has written everything I want to say already.. (with wayyyyyyy much better English command la. ofcoz. HAHAHA)
but in fb also can get arrested, very geng leh..
Thank you!
I will always remind myself for this issue.
Be a more professional blogger.
I always welcome people to advice or point out my weakness/mistake.
I will learn from the mistake.
If I have make any offend to you… please accept my apology.
I am really sorry for that.
Genial fill someone in on and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you on your information.