As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on February 17, 2013
1. In the days of the print and electronic media Governments were able to exercise some control through licensing and laws. Liberal people condemn these controls because they deny freedom of the press. Freedom of the press is one of the fundamentals of democracy.
2. Then came the alternative media via the Internet. Governments not only find themselves almost incapable of controlling but the belief now rejects any attempt at control by the authorities. Actually there was always control by the owners, editors and even sub-editors.
3. In the alternative media just about anyone can put anything they like to say on the internet directly, with no managers, editors or sub-editors changing any of the contents. The freedom is almost total. This is the essence of democracy?
4. The first people to exercise this freedom are the purveyors of pornography. They promote their dirty pictures and blue films in the most explicit way. There is no censorship. And so children and young people now have access to this filth.
5. The effect is to undermine their moral completely. There can be no doubt that the increase in sex crimes such as rapes, child abuse, extramarital sex among young people, pregnancies, and illegal abortions, getting rid of unwanted babies by dumping them in rubbish heaps are partly due to access to pornography.
6. An unmarried couple put on the you-tube video clips of them having sex. They feel so proud of their shameful act. The Internet is also used to threaten ex-girlfriends with nude pictures of them.
7. Abusive language and racist remarks have also caused increased tension within society. Allegations of all kinds are made without any bases.
8. Now we are seeing doctored video clips being put on You Tube. A short video clip recently showed the PM asking the audience in Penang whether they were ready for the BN. They were loud cries of “No” from the crowd.
9. Now it has been found that this was engineered by bringing a group into the crowd, equipping them with video camera and microphones. When the PM asked “are you ready for BN” this group shouted “No” in response. It seem that the whole audience shouted “No”. Actually only the special group shouted “No” into their microphones. The “Yes from the big crowd was not recorded and not included in the video on You Tube.
10. Immediately this particular recording was put on You Tube and it went viral even though the video recording by others showing the crowd raising their hands and saying “Yes” was later put on You Tube, many do not bother to see it. They continue to believe in the fake video clips.
11. This is the direct result of the freedom offered by the alternative media. Lies can be made to seem to be the truth.
12. But the truth can also be made to look like lies. After an opposition leader was shown with a girl obviously having some kind of sexual relations, it was made to be a lie by showing how a video clip can be doctored.
13. A picture of President Obama is shown speaking at some kind of press conference. After finishing he was shown to walk off and he kicked violently at the door to open it.
14. Then a picture is shown of Obama speaking and then he walked off the stage through a door, which opened, without his kicking it. This was what really happened.
15. The purpose is to show how video clips can be altered. Therefore the opposition leader can claim that the pictures of him with the girl was actually not what happened, that it was doctored.
16. Thus truth can be made to look like a lie.
17. The new software available can alter movies and still pictures in any way one wants to. In the movie the “Life of Pi” there were numerous scenes of a fierce tiger on a small boat in the ocean with Pi.
18. Pi was real but the tiger was created through the magic of computer animation. It looks very real, growling and roaring and threatening the man. If one is not told one must be amazed at the scenes shown on the movies. Of course the picture “Avatar” is all computer animation, as are all the cartoons and the human/animal or human/caricature interactions.
19. While the alternative media gives everyone freedom to publicise whatever, the hackers and others can also block out the entrees of whomever they chose to. So far I have to change five sites for my blogs as somehow or other they were tampered with. People could not access my blog and effectively I was silenced. I lost the freedom of the media even more than when Government could deprive me of my freedom.
20. Frankly I would rather have the Government censoring me. The Government of this country is elected. If I don’t like what the Government is doing I can work for the rejection of the party which forms the Government. But there is nothing I can do to stop people who may wish to deprive me of my freedom through the alternative media.
