Theos-Talk Archives (July 1997 Message tl00138)

Internet is still in its very infancy. One of these days, it is going to be
a medium like telephone, fax etc but very very different. All the other
medium are subject to control directly or indirectly. But so far it has been
found that Internet is not.

One of the unique feature of Internet is its openness and easy access to
anyone with a connection. What this has done is cause a lot of soul
searching and perhaps heart aches for many organizations used to be run in
an autocratic manner and the ease with which the communication medium can be
controlled by the organization. Such medium are the traditional newsletters
and magazines.

Since Internet is not amenable to such traditional controls -- some have
tried censoring/moderating -- but not with much success in the larger
picture. So the openness is going to open up a whole pandora's box and all
the artifically erected walls are crumbling down. One of the things that
many have seen is the ease with which criticisms of God/god down to an ant
can be aired with ease. So we can expect more criticisms and more intense
ones down the road. (IMHO you have seen nothing yet, and what we have seen
is child's play.) Since there are many who feel that there is nothing sacred
about any individual or any idea, or anything tradition has considered
sacred, such criticism is very healthy. For Ages, lack of criticism has made
many avoid independent thinking and leaders have exploited those who cannot
independently think.  Ask any leader. They will tell you that independent
thinkers are the most difficult to deal with (and some times seen as very
dangerous too).

Criticisms are generally curtailed or avoided by various means. Fear of
man/woman or fear of retribution either in this world or hereafter (if you
believe in the latter.) Criticisms are also avoided by other financial or
intangible inducements. As the saying goes "he who pays the piper calls the
tune." I have seen many instances of avoiding criticisms of especially
leadership in organizations because the leaders may wield the power of the
purse by proving travel money, scholarship funds, provide opportunities to
travel and speak at important places and occassions, and sometimes by using
implicit threat of being thrownout from (so called unrelated/unconnected)
organizations or the use of fear of stopping one's "progress" and "titles".
Much of these no one talks about. Everyone who has been a victim or a
beneficiary knows. It is the rare person who is not at the mercy of the
leaders or not looking for any favours who can show a great amount of
independence and is able to criticise openly without any fear. So I have
always tried to avoid any favors (direct or indirect) so that one can keep
one's true independence and take a truly independent stand and be dare
enough to criticize without fear or favor.

Hi, folks! You have not seen anything yet! Brace yourself for very exciting
and critical msgs no matter whether the subject is god or the insignificant
ant. When one is prepared for such a possibility, nothing can surprise any
one any time.

YMDMV

...............Doss  aka M K Ramadoss