 Freedom Come, Freedom Go
The sun just isn't shining as bright anymore, and it has nothing to do with the bipolar teenager-like behavior of March. At the time of writing, the most used video sharing platform, YouTube, only shows the following message on its website:
"Access to www.youtube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Ystanbul First Criminal Peace Court"
Did YouTube cause a war? There was a virtual war alright, between the mighty youth of Turkey and the just as angry Greeks, neither side having anything better to do than to try to save their nations identity and pride through comments on a video. The part that I don't quite understand is why a virtual exchange of curses ended up in an inability to access to awesome content, even if it is sure to be temporary.
Maybe all the speculators and fortune tellers have it figured out all wrong. Turkey should have no fear of becoming Malaysia or Iran, but a country a little farther east: China. The policies on media seem to be strikingly similar, after all. I haven't been watching TV since moving to the dorms, but I remember back in the day when television channels would often be shut down for a day or two for various reasons, either because they took sides in a political debate or because they dared to broadcast "offensive content." China takes this one step further. The "people's" government owns media entirely. That is, if the government says it didn't happen, it indeed did not. Ever heard of the Tiananmen Square incident where hundreds of civilians died for asking for basic media freedom? Guess what, it didn't happen. What about those riots in Tibet these days? Nope, they are merely an illusion.
Consider this though, if China's leaders followed progressive and liberal policies and made the effort to cultivate rather than oppress individuals and spread rather than contain thought and culture, who knows what scale of progress the nation could achieve. We could all be speaking Chinese right now, instead of learning English.
Note: Just so you know, our very own University's "American Culture and Literature" department occasionally organizes seminars and talks about American culture and offers courses for non-major students wishing to learn about the real America, outside the TV screen. If you're interested, check out STARS!
Onur Çelik (AMER/II)
o_celik@ug.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr
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