To censor or not to censor …… A letter from Jean d’Ark
Bula Peter,
I’m emailing you as for more than a month now, I can no longer get an SSL connection through a secure Proxy to make comments on the Freedom Blogs anymore. Clearly something is different with Fiji’s Internet access nowadays, and I wonder if whatever-it-is somehow breaches Fintel’s Terms of Service contract with the Southern Cross cable co. Anyway, I guess I’ll probably never know as I don’t even know what’s exactly wrong to start with.
Anyway, just a couple of comments.
Firstly, did you notice how odd it is that Driti and Roko Ului have not been Court Martialled by the military itself? Why is Frank using the civilian judiciary for this (other than that he knows they are already “in his pocket”)? If you go through the names of the known military lawyers, it’s hard to find one of note that’s still 100% behind Frank. Just name them! Leung (long gone); Tagicaki (ditto); Amani Bale (wife beaten by Frank’s goons); Rokomokoti (out); Aziz (out of favour). So I’m not sure they have enough senior lawyers left in the military to handle this prosecution. Hence the civilian one instead. (Plus the fact that this case has too much potential to split the military even further – so better keep it in quarantine over there in the “obedient” civilian courts).
Also, I am wondering if anyone saw the following article in the WSJ last year. I certainly don’t remember reading it on the blogs, although I am not a daily blog reader or checker. Anyway, let me know if you’ve seen it before:
Finally, I notice that the military ghost-bloggers seem to have left off commenting on Fiji Today for now. Have you blocked them? Or are they just off doing something else for the time being?
You know in terms of their PsyOps brief, the media cell’s mission is to make the Blogs an unpleasant experience for Freedom Bloggers. That is why they relentlessly make so many stupid comments. Not so that they win any argument, because that simply can’t happen by first principles of the outright wrong-headedness of their whole coup rationale in the first place. No, they do it to “rob” the Freedom Blogs of their function as oases of justice and good sense.
Today, Frank’s Fiji is a maddeningly contrived place of Emperor’s-New-Clothes stupidity and injustice. Freedom bloggers in Fiji log on to the blog to escape that daily nightmare. But when the Blogs are overflowing with stupid comments from regime bloggers, Freedom bloggers’ escape into reality is undermined. As is the satisfaction of “venting”, and “told you so” commenting, that Net bloggers can get from reading about and commenting on, the regime’s failures. So as the FreeBlogs are “polluted” by this kind of comment-spam, and as the Regime survives crisis after crisis, the potential for Blogger demoralization is increased. Likewise, if a significant percentage of FreeBlog comments are negative (by the sheer contrived industry of a couple of media cell psy-operatives), then this can deflate the righteous indignation and anger of Blog readers. Visiting the FreeBlogs then becomes a less and less rewarding experience for Democracy Advocates, and so their patronage slowly tapers off.The regime knows this, and that is precisely their aim – destroying our will to fight. Fiji Today would be well advised not to participate like that its own devaluation.
But the Regime’s comment-spamming is an abuse! That sort of domination would never be allowed by any free media! No Newspaper would allow any single person or group to dominate its Letters to the Editor column – even if the people concerned wrote good, pertinent and sincere letters. There is simply no such thing as “carte blanche” expression in Letters to the Editor sections with limited column inches.
The idea of military ghost bloggers being allowed to spam freely under the guise of “free speech” is also a head-scratcher! These people have been ordered to say what they say! Where is the free speech in that? If we were to replace Frank with an intelligent and ethical commander tomorrow, these ghost-bloggers would follow his orders to write logical and ethical comments with as much gusto as they are writing stupid and immoral comments for Frank today.
Finally, the military ghost-blogging spam is an abuse because they are using our tax dollars to abuse us! They stole government, and they stole the authority to spend our tax dollars. And in this case, they are spending it to abuse with stupid, wrong and immoral arguments, the very people whom they are paid to protect! When Fiji Today allows military ghost-bloggers to spam-comment the way they have occasionally done in the past, it is in effect aiding and abetting the regime in that abuse, and in that robbery of tax dollars.
I therefore ask that in future, Fiji Today moderate regime comment-spam with these facts in mind.
Vinaka!
Jean
Rest assured Jean Freedom Bloggers “are winning” this battle – check the Viti counter on C4? As for dirty tricks – regime have ben playing dirty for a long time – assisted by their new Chinese friends in the PLA they’ve been using electronic warfare for ages(viruses)- fortunately a good upto date firewall will prevent this. Word of thanks must be given to FTD – C4 & many others for aiding Viti in our fight for freedom & dignity. Might add that the regimes mindless bloggers are considered a positive asset.
Great stuff i think happening in the world
jean d’Ark
A very well written article above; I agree with most of your comments.
It is interesting to see how these green goons operate on these blogs.
Firstly, they come on with a new identity i.e. amigo, jeke, max, etc and claim that the military ‘govt’ is doing a brilliant job in handing out sewing machines to village women. They forget to add that the women can’t use them once the cotton in the spool runs out as reels of cotton are not sold in the villages.
After the green goons have been ‘picked up’ on these points and the many short comings of the military dictatorship is highlighted, they come back on saying that they are not in the military but can see the ‘dream’ [in reality a nightmare]
Then they become abusive; using gutter language.
I have kept the comments made by ‘amigo’ 4 years ago on the then ‘Fiji Times’ web site blogs and they are word for word the same as that posted recently by joke.
After they are beaten by logic, they then go silent for a while and re-emerge with a new name and repeat the cycle.
Talk about fools flogging a dead horse; bananasinpyjamas’ jaundiced junta is not only dead but resembles a rotting carcass.
Hi Peter, Jean and Team,
At least we have one thing in common: my blog is also being “hit” by mindless ghost bloggers, these ones wanting a return to pre-2006 Fiji. But other than making crude and personal remarks about their opponents, and calling for the “illegal regime” to resign, they rarely have anything to say about how to make Fiji a better place. As for the number of CoupFourPointFive readers, FijiToday and my blog have far fewer readers but, if the articles and comments are anything to go by, both are written and read by more reasonable people.. Quality should count for something. In my Weekend Readings tomorrow I’m publishing a list of some of the comments I’ve rejected — and they are not the worst ones!
Best wishes to an informed and helpful FijiToday. You leave CoupFourPointFive for dead, despite the number of jouralists on its team.
Ratu Epeli Ganilau, Molbi Aziz, Ben Padarath to be charged soon with roko and driti.
Yeah, making Fiji a better place…No blog, no media, no academic discussion will ever achieve this. Social media are as good as the movement behind them. People in Egypt, Libya, Syria etc, etc demand the very same thing that the people of Fiji do not seem to appreciate: freedom and dignity. Fiji will only be a better place if the human rights abusing military has been disarmed, dismantled and thrown on the scrap heap of history. Let the UN take them as permanent peace keepers under the condition that no military person is ever allowed to carry a gun again in Fiji. After all the militarization of Fiji’s society has been enabled and supported by the UN. Anybody who believes that the military could be part of a solution for a better Fiji indulges in self-delusion.
Thanks JdA for your persistence and insightful analysis, you couldn’t have put it any better! I have at times left the FT blogsite in disgust while looking for meaningful debate and analysis. I agree that FT being in “cahoots” with these military spammers when it allows them space to vent their propaganda (in the name of freedom of speech (FOS)? according to them but)to the detriment of our own pro-democracy views. FOS must then be balanced with sensible pro-democracy comments, if the ultimate goal of blogsites is to destroy regime dictatorships.So I hope that FT will begin to vet pro-regime comments so we don’t waste our time and don’t insult our intelligence reading their useless diatribes!
Great article JdA, agree with the comments you’ve made. I think the absence of the military bloggers may be to do with the current mess going on at the barracks…maybe they’re now too busy watching their backs because of the amount of liumuri going on.
Geeze Croz things must be slow when you start appearing (kissing arse) on the competitions blogs. You’ve never really got it have you? Not about “you”.
Fascinating. I have also wondered why the bonehead brigade have become so quiet. Perhaps everyone is getting a “loyalty review” after the arrests?
Hey Croz, you’re obviously missing the point of those posts on your blogs then, the illegal regime resigning would make Fiji a much better place. Just that one step would work wonders for Fiji.
Radio.
Wrong again my boy.
Those that benefited from previous governments have all but gone bludging on foreign taxpayers aye!!!
Isa Jeke – your back from the dead – thought you choked on your roti.
Jerke. How is your goat?
International sanctions “are” biting.
Pro regime coup appologist and self proclaimed Viti authority CW obviously getting desperate – latest Kai Palagi trotted out only claim to fame apart from
his remarkable longevity is that he was born in Viti.
@ anonymous
You are spot on. The sanctions are biting and the coup perpetrators and their apologists like poor old Walsh in his clowded glasses are in panic mode.The latest palagi coup apologists poor old Crosbie has dug up doesn’t even appear to have a pulse? He is really scraping the barrel as he and the handful of coup collaborators and supporters try and save the fragmenting regime. I will be sending food parcels next. Might even send them to the collapsing regime as well?
Don’t forget the Viagra – both look like they could use it.