{"id":119997,"date":"2021-11-04T19:46:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T02:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=119997"},"modified":"2021-11-04T19:46:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T02:46:40","slug":"media-terrorism-vilifying-buddhism-demonizing-buddhist-theros-under-guise-of-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/04\/media-terrorism-vilifying-buddhism-demonizing-buddhist-theros-under-guise-of-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Terrorism: Vilifying Buddhism & demonizing Buddhist theros under guise of free speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Undoubtedly, media, plays a crucial role in manipulating people\u2019s\nminds. Media headed by the wrong people can have detrimental results on a\npopulace. We know the lengths LTTE terrorists took fake propaganda. It\u2019s an\nuphill task to reverse the lies people had been fed. Those who sit in media,\ndictate what people think & often are the instruments that are responsible\nfor creating the reactions while also playing a biased role of judge & jury\nafter stirring the pot of trouble via media. There is enough evidence to\nshowcase how even terrorists use media to brainwash people\u2019s minds with\ncontent. Action can only be taken legally & legislatively against such \u2013\nthe question is will Parliament & will the courts do so? Freedom of speech\nends when it violates the freedoms of others. No columnist or cartoonist can profess to be the crusader or\nmessiah and deem their right to criticize and ridicule.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In\nSri Lanka, it is fashionable to project the notion that Sinhala Buddhists are\nthe cause for all ills. This is impregnated into the minds of the people since\n1505 when western colonial invaders deemed their enemy was Sinhala Buddhists.\nAnyone who wished to take over the island viewed those that defended it as\ntheir enemy. The project to vilify Buddhists\/Buddhism was no secret and British\nColonial records mince no words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n1964 Press Commission Report reconfirms that the project of the colonial\nBritish was still in place and continuing unabated. Therefore, we cannot forget\nthe historical role now outsourced to kalu suddas and link the current\nvilifications using media with that colonial project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\nis another factor that we cannot forget either. While this is not a critique of\nany religion but the bitter truth is that both Christianity & Islam are\nexpansionist faiths using the sword to convert people & take over their\nlands. There are ample examples of their bloodied past. Buddhism however spread\nas far as present day Iran & as far as Indonesia without a single sword or\nforced conversion. While the New Testament removed much of the violent texts in\nthe Old Testament, the Quran still has verses to eliminate disbelievers\/kafirs\n& permits the doctrine of taqiyyah (approval to use pretense) until the\nultimate goal is achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identity Manipulation using\nMulticulturalism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nmulticulturalism became a curse to citizens of western countries where they\nshockingly watched their \u2018cultures\u2019 become \u2018multiculturalzed\u2019 the former\ncolonies were being lined up to have their civilizational cultures be\neliminated incrementally as well. The quest was to denigrate the key stumbling\nblock that prevented countries & their citizens being historically uprooted\n& being brainwashed to dislocate themselves of their cultural\/heritage\n& turned into modern hippies\/gypsies..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ngoal was tasked to NGOs & Media outlets. Faiths which were in majority,\nwould use political\/social\/religious\/economic pressures to throw their weight\nbehind their people\u201d who were a minority amongst the majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\ncontent analysis of the Sri Lankan print media & the selected regular\ncolumnists and their pet topics will showcase the systematic vilification at\nplay. Media must be representative of the country\u2019s demography \u2013 but in Sri\nLanka it is not so & this must be changed to usher fair play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no doubt that all\nfaiths have mischief makers in robes who are not what we expect them to be. But\nit is not for us or cartoonists to decide or dictate how they should\nfunction. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npresent 3 cartoons are hurtful because these same cartoonists pick only on\nBuddhists\/Buddhism. Perhaps they fear what happened to the Dutch cartoonist so\ntheir easy prey is Buddhists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But,\nlet them never forget that it was only during the Buddhist reign that all\nreligions thrived without any discrimination. Buddhists have had to flee for\ntheir lives where they are the minority \u2013 Maldives even expunged the Buddhist\nhistory of Maldives. So no one can say Buddhism or Buddhists have discriminated\nminorities. Buddhists have had their theros killed, we have had the oldest\nlibrary in the world brought to cinders, we have lost terrain and territory,\nthe magnificent structures built by people to show their veneration to Buddha\nwas demolished and vandalized. So don\u2019t preach to us about Buddhists being\n\u2018militant\u2019 because those that do so are only trying to hide their criminal\npast. What was done to Buddhists comes nowhere near the media-propped lies\nbeing spread against Buddhists\/Buddhism who are only reacting to the actions\nagainst them. Media conveniently diverts world attention to the reaction &\naway from the actions that resulted in the reactions. Media hardly criticizes\nthe actions as they do the reactions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If anyone has any issue with\nany thero, by all means express these views directly at the thero with\nsupporting evidence & facts, but to dress a dogs bone in a robe is simply\nto use the chance to denigrate Buddhists\/Buddhism & this is in bad taste\nknowing that Buddhists worship not the wearer of the robe but the robe because\nit represents the Buddha in our eyes.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was nothing but intentional\nhate speech.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media entities and editors preach about discrimination and\nhate speech and are ever ready to dispatch dossiers overseas but when they\ncommit the crime their mouthpieces attempt to justify by saying \u2018Buddhists should not react because they have to give up\neverything & go to nirvana\u2019.<\/strong>People seem to have been\ngiven a wrong interpretation of Buddhism \u2013 nowhere does it say Buddhists cannot\ndefend what is theirs, nowhere does it say Buddhists have to walk away when\ntheir lands or sacred sites are being wrongfully taken over. Unfortunately,\nBuddhists are being fed these notions by the expansionists because the ultimate\ngoal of the expansionists remain alive and they do not wish Buddhists to defend\nwhat is theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a\nworld that preaches need for action against hate speech \u2013 it may be good to\nstart first with the religious texts that are the root cause of the radicalism\nand terrorism that prevails and which are being subtly promoted by media\npersonnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These cartoons are hate speech\nbecause they are directed only at Buddhists<\/strong>. Will these\ncartoonists draw similar ones for Islam\/Christians? Doubt so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So as hate speech, this is a violation of not only the 120\/296 of penal code but spreading\nhatred falls under the PTA as well as ICCPR 56 of 2007<\/strong>.\nThe Government & the Judiciary can certainly take action and should while\nthe Buddhist associations and the Maha Sangha must make their objections. The\nPress Complaints Commission must not simply wait for complaints but should also\nbe analyzing the content and vilifications themselves. We await action by the\nBuddha Sasana Ministry unless pressures are used not to \u2013 which is probably the\noutcome! So it is an advance prediction of the outcome!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government is given a mandate by the people to ensure unity\n& peace, the governments mandate is not\ngiven to newspapers, media, columnists or cartoonists to vilify the majority\nwith impunity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedoms and rights do not have\na carte blanch & are not meant to target only a segment community ad\nnauseam.<\/strong>Freedoms and rights STOPS where it infringes the freedoms and\nrights of others. With all the slogans and tamashas woven around freedoms and\nrights \u2013 what no one can deny is that pre-1505 era all of Sri Lanka\u2019s\ncommunities lived in peace, without any differences & people were not divided\nas majority or minority. All these nuances were introduced by colonials with\nhidden agendas & part of their divide & rule now outsourced to the kalu\nsuddas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge Undoubtedly, media, plays a crucial role in manipulating people\u2019s minds. Media headed by the wrong people can have detrimental results on a populace. We know the lengths LTTE terrorists took fake propaganda. It\u2019s an uphill task to reverse the lies people had been fed. Those who sit in media, dictate what people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}