Friday 27 February 2015

Dangerous blogging .

Until quite recently it never occurred to me that writing a blog could be dangerous!
To sit and record the daily panoply of thoughts echoing around my head has been the habit of a life time. I have always kept a diary....now after far too many house moves the ones written in old school books are gone...lost for ever..consigned to the dustbin of life!
Blogging though is different.
My murmurings are published day by day in company with thousands of others throughout the world, taking advantage of IT technology.
The news of the young blogger sentenced to prison and 50 lashes a week was shocking...but he was blogging on sensitive issues knowing that he was living dangerously.
The news of the atheist blogger in India hacked to death by outraged men who presumably are believers is very shocking this morning.
The notion of free speech is enshrined in all of our hearts.
That we could be imprisoned, beaten and killed for recording our beliefs is very frightening...but it is also another spur to our outpourings .
Words count! The killing of someone whose words were resented proves the point.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

2 comments:

UKViewer said...

I hadn't heard about the Atheist blogger's death, but had about the Saudi blogger, which has been a bit of a viral (so to speak) circulation through social media.

You are quite right. Words are important, although we need to take care that our words don't harm others. Some people seem to glory in doing that sort of harm and do it under a pseudo name, to try to avoid detection.

I use a screen name, but you know quite well who I am, but than, I don't set out to cause harm, but to hopefully, be a witness for good.

Ray Barnes said...

Like you Jean I find the blog a useful tool. A way of letting off steam, relieving the angst of the day, putting a space between my problems and me.
The trick is to edit as you go I think.
I never re-read my blog before pressing publish, but try to choose words with care as I would if speaking face-to-face with others.
Free speech is a great concept as long as its purpose is not to hurt or stir up angry feelings.
Certainly we should be able to express our opinions freely so long as it is made plain that that is exactly what they are - opinions.
The extreme intolerance shown by certain sects such as those you describe is what separates them from normal society, and is in every way deplorable.