Nibras Bawa, Freedom of Speech, and Kottu Censorship

The "Nibras Bawa Phenomenon" seems gone too far on Kottusphere, and the resulting outcome seems not only kicking out NB from the Kottu community; but also gone into the extent of deletion of several blogs from Blogger and Wordpress platforms due to organized abuse reports made by supporters of the two extremes. As Shehal pointed out, the whole NB episode is totally childish, but still there are some valuable points for us to take home from these incidents.

First; this expose us to the real face of those "guardians of freedom of speech". These people act like, that they value "freedom of speech" as the second most noble human right, after masterbaration. But, when their ego is challenged by some one else; they react so shamelessly, by using their authority to cut the voices against them and painting a picture to the outside world "he is a threat to Kottu security; so for the benefit of the majority of Kottu users, I had to remove him". Isn't this the same thing the government is doing to the journalists who criticize them? When government react to the journalists with censorship and (sometimes) violence, these people go up and down in the air saying "Look here! Mahinda is violating our freedom of speech!". But, when they do the same thing on a blog aggregator where they have the authority; they justify themselves with lame excuses. Nice work!

I remember Indi once said about Lasantha and Sunday Leader "No matter how much I agree or disagree with his journalism, he has a right to express his view". I can't locate the exact post he mentioned this, but that was the basic idea. Then what's the difference with Nibras Bawa? Reporting NB's blog to Blogger T&C violation is not much different from government using police to interrogate journalists in the 4th flour. In fact, government is better, because it has a vested authority to do so. But, reporting a blog of a person whom you don't agree with, is a cheap tactic to use for someone appearing to be a "matured" and a "reasonable" blogger, to the outside world.

I now can understand that, this whole thing started with this post made by RD; mentioning myself as well. While I respect RD's right to ask that question from the three of us; in real sense it's none of his business, the mannar of language we use in our blogs. And I totally reject the manner in which Nibras Bawa responded to RD. He was childish, too emotional, and immature. No argument. My assertion is, Nibras Bawa holds a "soda bottle" personality, and most of his reactions were instantaneous, without thinking of the consequences. This assertion is justifiable, because NB has taken measures to delete most of his offensive comments later (once the gas of the soda bottle die off). Indi interpreted this as "intentional effort" by NB to annoy other people (You post something "fuck you off son of a whore" and delete it as soon the target person read it). However, Indi would have thought kicking NB off the Kottu feed and painting a "security threat" picture about him on the Kottu feed is the best solution for him. In my personal opinion, Indi reacted emotionally, because Bawa hurt Indi's self esteem so hardly. It's quite understandable, when you blog in your real name, and "social credibility" is your prime motive for blogging.

Another notable thing is, Nibras Bawa is not the only one who got "censored" on Kottu. Why TamilNet.tv is not anymore syndicated on Kottu feed? I tried to find an answer to this question on past posts on Indi's blog, but I can't see anything where he commented about Tamilnet.tv. But the truth is, TamilNet.tv is silently taken off from the Kottu feed. If someone justify the removal of Tamilnet.tv from Kottu feed based on the fact that it actually is a satirical blog; then I ask the question, why not removing Jathika Chinthana Pravahaya blog from Kottu too? Why did Kottu allowed Ranjith Fernando Sucks? JCP is a little bit less obvious than Tamilnet.tv, and many people still believe JCP is a true "pro-Sinhala patriotic blog". But the truth is, it's run by a set of people who's intention is to redicule the concept of "Jathika Chinthanaya" put forward by most supporting forces of the present government. And the "mission" of JCP blog is perfectly matching the value system of Indi, and he is totally ok to host JCP on Kottu, while censoring the anti-LTTE Tamilnet.tv from the Kottu feed.

This again reveal the double standards of people who march behind the caskets of dead journalists, crying for "freedom of speech".

Last; for any online community to be vibrant and interesting; there should be fights between participants. Calling names, insulting, dis agreeing; these all are required for an online community to be vibrant. If the "god" interfere and try to make it "politically correct" based on a "code of speech" he designed by himself; then the whole purpose of having a community will be lost. The task of a good community manager is not to press the "ban" button at every trouble maker based on few complaints by "pet members"; but to bring consensus among the members of the community.

May be writing this blog post could be a great qualification for me to violate the Kottu "code of speech" and be kicked out at anytime. It's a concern for me; because I need the Kottu readership badly. Because, my mission is to provide them with the news on "other side of the coin". If you don't like Kottu readers to be aware of the other side of the story; you can kick me out at anytime. After all, it's your domain and your authority. I personally vote for bringing back Nibras Bawa and Tamilnet.tv to the Kottu feed, and giving back Passionately Patient a voice again. I don't know how the majority of Kottu community feel about them. My faith in freedom of speech is not only limted to Lasantha Wickramatunga and Sirasa News first.

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Of Rhythmic Diaspora, Nibras Bawa and Flame Posts on Kottu!

I found this "relatively old" post on Rhythmic Diaspora's blog, and was surprised how I missed it when it was first published. I've typed a reply, and then decided to post it as a new blog post here.

Dear RD,

First I apologies for late response to this, as I totally lost this one on the Kottu feed, when it appeared and I found this on a post linked in the hottest "Nibras Bawa" debate on Kottu.

Many people has already commented on your original post, and I honestly don't have time to go through each and every comment made above. But I read the entire original post, and would like to comment on the question you pointed at three of us.

First; VIC is totally independent identity from SN and NB. I do not share anything in common with NB (for sure!!), and I do share some ideologies about the war and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, wth SN. But, I personally don't like categorizing me and SN in a same block (Simply because he writes better than me, and my English sucks and it's really disturbing for me to read my own posts, after few weeks!)

Second; I am not a professional writer. I don't write for live. I don;t blog for pleasure or for leisure. My blog has a clear purpose, and I agree it has evolved a lot over the time. When I first began blogging, I didn't have much understanding on how to handle it. I thought it's a good way to publish any thing which comes to my mind. And honestly, I thought it's a good way to earn some extra bucks with AdSense. Some of my early posts are search engine targeted, for popular keywords. (I'm 100% honest here, and I do not have anything to hide) But over the time, I've learnt that, I can do much better things with blogging, than earning few bucks through AdSense.

So I've questioned myself, "what's the purpose of running A Voice in Colombo?". And I found the answer, and that's my number one "mission" on my blog.

"To debunk any anti-Sri Lankan ideas spread on the Sri Lankan Blogosphere, and on any mass media channel in general"

If you look at the posts I've made during last 5 or 6 months (After my re-launch about 6 months ago), you can clearly see this was my main motive. In the process, I do have my own definition of what is "Pro-Sri Lankan" and what is "Ant-Sri Lankan". Calling our soldiers "Uniform clad brainwashed cronies" is definitely anti-Sri Lankan for me, and I have attacked the person who used that phrase (Dinindu De Alwis) on all fronts I can attack him. My personal belief is, "If it is ok for Dinindu De Alwis to to call our soldiers like that; it is totally ok for me to call him a son of a whore, or an LTTE ass licker". If any of the bloggers on Kottu, can call the democratically elected president of this country as the "Buffalo" or call names on the defence secratary, commander in chief of the army of the country; what is wrong if I call those bloggers traitors, sons of bitches, or any other maximum insult I can "offer" to them? Mr. RD; think about this! Your judgement of morality is biased here! It is not only me, SN and NB are using insultive words on blog posts. May be Indi is clever to insult people with better English than me. But still he does insult people!!!! You get my point???

I guess, now you have an idea why I use such rude language at people, when I write on my blog. This blog now has a "focused mission" and, the mission is to debunk the malicious ideas spread by people like Dinindu, Sanjana and sometimes Indi (All though I respect him much more than the other two people I named)

But if you look carefully at my posts I can claim you that, I've never used such rude insults as I used on Dinindu, towards any of the other people on the blogosphere. If you can point out a single post I called India an "LTTE ass licker" or similar language, I would revert that claim. Of course I've used insults on Indi, and many other people. My belief is, if you don't tell "hard enough" to these people, they will never listens. And I don't care even if they listen. My main objective is to "MAKE AWARE" the general readers on Kottu, about the true face of these bloggers. When Indi hailed Mano Ganeshan as a hero; I used hard language to criticize him. That is to convey a message to the general readership of Kottu "Don't trust every word uttered by Indi. He is not god almighty".

I beleive, now I have answered your question loud and clear enough. I am open to criticism, and I hope I've taken your question in the right spirit as you've expected.

From now onwards, you will never see VIC blog about "AdSense tricks" or any other "fancy" topics; just to get search engine crawlers attract. You will not read anymore about my car, my family, or how I eat, sleep, pee, or fuck. Those are the topics for you guys! Instead, you will see only posts related to current affairs in Sri Lanka, and my STRONG opinions on them. You will see more posts, attacking pathetic LTTE dispora members, NGO dollar hunters, and any propeganda bloggers for bankrupted political parties.

P.S

To add to this; I have never exposed the personally identifiable information of people, on my blog and I have always respected the anonymity and personal lives of people. Indi's Father was dragged in many insults made at him; but I have never gone to that level in any of my posts. In fact, I have blogged about a situation where Sanjana Hattotuwa violated the privacy of people, by publishing the IP address of a commenter, with whom Sanjana disagreed.

Now what's your judgement about that?

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Bloggers Who Hailed Mano Ganeshan as a Hero. What do You Say Now?

Bloggers Who Hailed Mano Ganeshan as a Hero. What do You Say Now?

It is now not a secret that Mano Ganeshan, the so called "freedom fighter for democracy" who was worshipped by NGO parasites and some of the "liberal thinking" bloggers on Kottu, is actually an active player in Prabhakarans Ealam war. The speech he delivered at a LTTE rally in Vanni (Wearing a map of the Tamil Ealam in his chest) has now released to the media, and getting high viewership on Youtube. (But it's yet to appear on Vikalpa and on Indi's blog). If you have still not viewed the Youtube video of the tiger rally where Mano Ganeshan is speaking; I am going to embed it at the end of this post. But before that, let's see a timeline of Sri Lankan blogosphere, to see how some of the Sri Lankan bloggers hailed Mano Ganeshan as a hero.

Indi was so concerned about Mano Ganeshan's security on one of his posts...
"Another Tamil MP (Mano Ganeshan) fled because he feared for his life, and the government reduced his security too."

And here he says..

"Mano Ganesan, an outspoken Tamil human rights MP, had to leave the country because of security threats. So, the government now can offer more than just perks, it can offer to protect your life."

These were not all. I remember more posts made by him, promoting Mano as a hero. These are all I could find, to prove my point here.

Indi was not th only one who hailed Mano Ganeshan as a hero. Dinindu De Alwis used to do it a lot, but the poor guy has deleted his entire blog and moved away!

And Sanjana Hattotuwa and the Groundviews team used to publish many interviews of Mano Ganeshan, making him a hero among the readership of Kottu feed.

Here's one example
Here's another

These people used to attend rallies organized by Mano Ganeshan in Colombo. They walked with Mano, in the same rallies. They sat together in same meetings and promoted Mano in their Flickr photo streams.

Either all these people knew from the begining that Mano Ganeshan was a supporter of Prabhakaran and Tamil Ealam concept. All; Indi, Dinindu, Sanjana actively promoted Mano Ganeshan in their blogs knowing that. Or either, Mano cheated them as well!

My point is this. Mano showed us a different face in Colombo (A humanitarian, freedom fighter etc etc) and had a secret life of being a pr-Ealamist. So can the other people I've mentioned in this post, can be "Mano Ganeshans in making". Beware of them!

Indi used to hail Lasantha Wickramatunga as a hero, when we all knew that Lasantha was the number one blackmailist in the country. When lasantha received an award from UNESCO, indi took it as point to prove that Lasantha was indeed a hero. Not only Lasantha' even Mano Ganeshan recived an award from the UNESCO. But the fact remains, Mano is a pro-ealamist, and hence an enemy of the state of Sri Lanka. UNESCO is no almighty source to label people as heroes. No matter what award UNESCO offered, Mano is a terrorist and Lasantha is a blackmailist. People who hail them as heroes, are shameless traitors or brainless morons!

Here goes the "energetic speech" made by Mano Ganeshan at the LTTE rally. Is still a hero for you?

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Is Your Son a Thief? An Interview With Thief's Mother

Have NGOs failed in peacebuilding? An interview with Jehan Perera

There is an old Sinhala saying “Hora ge amma gen pena ahanawa wage”. This is what came to my mind, when I see the title of this blog post on our “favorite” Tamilnet.com substitute website (Actually, they give a close competition to Tamilnet.TV).


LOL!

Dear Sanjana! Read Sunday Times Appointments supplementary! You and your NGO pests will go jobless very soon. I've pre-ordered the domain name Groundviews.org to start a landscaping tutorial website! LOL LOL LOL!

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Congratulations Ajith P Perera for Topping the UNP list in Kalutara District!

Preferential votes for Kalutara district has announced, and we just got to know our friend Ajith P Perera topped the UNP preferential list with 28,568 votes. That's a great achievement, to top your district in the preferential votes list. Looks like the fake Rs.1000 notes you printed with your face on it; has paid some dividend. May be your party leader could try that trick in next presidential election. Anyway, let me wish you all the best for your political career from this point onwards :-)

In the meantime, the usual old record is played by UNP general secretary Thissa Attanayake, and JVP secretary Tilvin Silva. “Government used the military victories in North, to take undue advantage in the election, and used state media to influence the public opinion”. Oh! I thought no one is taking state media serious, so how can they shape the public opinion of western province? I thought Sunday Leader and Sirasa News First represented the public opinion of Western Province! Losers!

Another funny comment was made by Tilvin Silva. “UPFA recorded over 70% votes in most electorates in North-Western province council; but in the Western province they haven't exceeded 70% in any electorate. That's a sign that the popularity of UPFA has come down in the Western Province election”. LOL! Isn't it funny, the secretary of a political party who couldn't even secure 4% of the total votes in this election, comment about UPFA's failure to record a 70% take?

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Can Times of India Decide If Prabhakaran a Terrorist or Not, by Conducting an Opinion Poll?

I get hundreds of requests to vote "Yes" for an opinion poll on Times of India website for "Do you see LTTE chief V Prabhakaran as a terrorist?". 

Is this a question to be surveyed? It's ok to TOI to conduct an opinion poll "Who's going to win Indian General Election 2009?" but, there are much more credible ways to figure out an answer to the question if VPP is a terrorist or not. 

All you have to do is define who is a "terrorist" and list down the criteria. And then, how much of those criteria are satisfied by VPP during last 30 years. Killing Doraiappa, Preamadasa, Rajiv Ghandi, blowing up International Airports, targeting Pakistani high commissioner of Sri Lanka, killing thousands of civillians, setting up bombs in public transport (and the list goes on) are definitely actions of "terrorism". We all know it was Prabhakaran who masterminded all these things. Now, who wants to put an opinion poll to decide this?

Population of Tamil Nadu is way bigger than the entire population of Sri Lanka, and add the LTTE Die-Ass_Pora to that. It's going to be obvious that the outcome of this poll will be "NO". Then what is Times of India going to do with that result? Convince their government to withdraw charges against Prabhakaran for killing their ex-PM?

Oh come on! Stop kidding yourself, and get on to reality Mr. Editor!

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What Can an Abortionist Tell you About Genocide?

There is this Mervyn J.Samuel M.D, from Colombus, Ohio who keep on spamming me with his pathetic chain emails calling for world attention on a "Genocide" going on in Sri Lanka. One of his email contained the pictures of Tamil people killed in LTTE sucide attacks and artiliary firing in the no fire zone recently, and claimed those to be brutal attacks on Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army. In one of the mails, this Mervyn J.Samuel M.D add a personal note "The world is keeping silent while the Genicide is going on."

I've done my own research to know who this Mervyn J.Samuel M.D really is, and got to know that he is an abortionist running an illegal abortion clinic in Colombus, Ohio. LOL! An illegal abortionist talking about Genocide? LOL LOL!!! He is part of the LTTE Diaspora (Note, I'm not using the word Tamil Diaspora. Ratnapala's and Seneviratne's can't belong to Tamil Diaspora), and very much threatened by the present situation in Sri Lanka. If the war comes to an end, and LTTE lose it; this abortionist will lose his "political refugee" license to live in the states. To end this post, here is an interesting comment he made on one of the emails he forwarded.

I hope you are recovering from the long trip.I hardly see any infighting
among the Tamil diaspora now.This is good.Please take care. We have so much of
talent and people are doing their best from the senior leaders to the
young ones.I hope the Lord will give deliverence to our people just like the
Jewish people had from the Egyptians.The Jews are still waitng for peace for
over 2000 yrs.I hope the Tamil People do not have to wait this long.

Mervyn J.Samuel M.D.
Columbus, Ohio

You are spot on this note Dr. Mervyn J.Samuel! Tamil people (in Sri Lanka) do not have to wait for 2000 years for peace. They have already earned it! Ask from any of the 95,000 people who came to government controlled areas during last 72 hours. Oh! I forgot! You live in Columbus, Ohio!!! How can you talk to people in Sri Lanka!

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