There is a famous Sri Lankan saying "වඳුරා ට දැලි-පිහිය ලැබුනා වගේ", (like a monkey got hold of a razor knife), indiscriminate chopping and slashing with no care about what its doing or who gets hurt, or whether it hurts itself.
With the age of Information and Communication Technology dawning in Sri Lanka it seems that, now we have to modify this old Sri Lankan saying as "වඳුරට ICT ලැබුනා වගේ" .
Let me take a few examples;
My first example refers to kottu. I am a frequent to kottu.org, and it simply amazes me how "monkeys" (thank god that the majority of the kottu bloggers are NOT "monkeys") (mis)use this freedom of expression to the extreme. Probably anyone with a little bit of brains who sees theses blogs can clearly identify that some of these blogs are written by "monkeys" and are intended for the sole purpose of slinging mud, spreading disinformation and sledging any one or any thing that they simply don't like or don't agree with. No productive or creative initiative but a simple destructive one. Sometime I find it ironic that I have to scroll right down to read the good blogs, because the top of the kottu page is full of "monkey poop". (Wonder whether kottu can come up with a blog ranking? hmm but may be the monkeys might rig that as well).
My next example is the abuse of "Anonymous". I have seen a lot of posts and comments about it on kottu. To me it does not matter if a comment is Anonymous as long as it is productive (why bother logging in, when only your productive opinion or ideas matter). If it is not productive and is simply used to abuse, well then there again you have to replace the "Anonymous" with "monkey" and discard the post.
Another example is; I have seen a pic of my friend's wife on the net (no! not naked, but somewhat revealing). Well I know that she did not put in there, nor did he, but some "monkey" who got hold of it has put it up on a forum or somewhere and it's spread like a wild fire! The funny thing about this is a "monkey" who usually sends me 'OWC' emails, sends me an email saying "see what you can do to take our friend's wife's photo off the net". (It's good for him to spread it about, but when it happens to his friend. Ahhh! now he's worried). I am not concerned about this issue just because it's my friend's wife, but who knows, where the next time someone manages to take a photo it might be my wife or my sister or may be someday my daughter (I still don't have a daughter, and neither my wife nor sisters wears reveling dresses). But who knows whether there are peeping Toms, who could be peeping through the windows of your home, the changing room of the dress boutique or the ceiling of the ladies wash room (no I'm not paranoid yet). Hmm, think of your own self and family.
My last example has to do with camera phones. The newest headache, specially for girls these days are "monkeys" carrying a phone with a camera. It has become so risky for girls to just let their guard down (my wife always complains that she has to always frown and growl at monkeys who try taking photos). I remember about six months back I was traveling on the Intercity train from Kandy to Colombo. The frequent travelers usually knew each other and were pretty much friends. On this particular day there was this girl who walked up to me and said that the lady next to her had told her that the "monkey" in front of her had taken her photo. I went up to this guy and asked him weather he took her photo or not, he politely but nervously replied "no" (just like a gutless "monkey" - no spine to admit or take responsibility), I asked for the phone and since he did not give it I grabbed it off his hand and looked through and there is was, I deleted the photos and had to give him a warning (well I'm no macho man, but nowadays very few people stand up against injustice).
My opinion about "monkeys" is that they are people who have not a single cell in their body that has a gene called "civic responsibility" and also that they are the type that does not have even a single vertebra.
Finally I have no idea how to finish this post....! So I anyone who stumbled upon this can reflect on the fact of how to deal with ICT in the hands of "monkeys". Personally when it comes to kottu, I have earmarked blogs of "monkeys" NOT to be visited (why increase their hit rates?).
PS: I knew that, this heading was going to get your attention (my initial heading was "Monkeys and ICT").
Disclaimer : No insult to the to Platyrrhini and Catarrhini (the type that usually have tails at the rear end).
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11 comments:
Admit it, whether you like it or not this is the life in 21st century. You cannot change it. Web 2.0 is here to stay. Adapt or perish.
One Monkey
yeah right. good on ya for the act on the train. macho man. since only a handful of guys are mad on this planet, i guess we can do something. but online moderation is kinda hard you know. so we'd better get on with "muscle moderation" for the time being so monkeys would think twice before they get off their trees!
Web 2.0 is not here to stay. Nothing is forever, already there is discussion on Web 3.0 and 4.0. I eat and drink Web 2.0, but I don't misuse it.
Sri Lanka is famous for taking anything without adapting it to the local needs, from our Education system to Salvinia.
Thanks Nimal, moderation is one way, but I have some discussions running about this issue with some ICT and Computer Science researchers. We'll see how it goes!
Man, there is nothing called 'local needs'. In the Global age, needs are same everywhere. They do not vary from USA to Bangladesh.
Those who talk about so called 'local needs' are the ones who resist change. (and will eventually be extinct)
Education system failed purely because people thinking like you try to 'adapt' it (changing education media, for example) It did not fail in countries like India or Singapore where no such stupid experiments were done.
Put the 'hana mitiya' down
This is 21st, and not 19th century, if you have forgotten.
Anonymous, You've simply lost the point (Nothing I can do about your (in)ability to understand my way of presentation). The whole post is about use and misuse(abuse) of ICT (Hope it is clear now?).
I was just commenting to "One Monkey" about perish and adapt (take what ever is given kinda approach).
Your analysis is very true....I get shocked sometimes to see things that are published on some blogs. There seems to be a bad pattern of starting blogs to attack famous people. The two examples I've come across are Prof V.K and Ranjit Fernando. Its a separate question whether you like them or not. But is it right to attack them personaly without proving points? Shouldn't we respect elderly people?
Its very important to use these powerful tools carefully. Its easy to say things without thinking that much, its very difficult to take them back.
I strongly agree with you Yasas. I like the trend ICT is taking with Web 2.0 and all, but my only issue here is the USE and MISUSE of it. I don't have a problem with what anybody does with ITC as long as it does not harm someone else. This is simply the abuse of the freedom of speech. And like I said, I simply have blogs that I avoid for the reason that I don't want to increase their hit-rates.
Yasas, you have an admirable respect for elderly people.
Bit off the topic...but Pol Pot was extremely old at the end and I think allowed to lead a normal life and died a natural death. Does he deserve respect simply because he was old or because he was a human being?
I must admit I also share a respect for elderly people due to cultural conditioning, but I asked this question of myself recently.
Back to the topic. I suppose regulation for offline publications would apply to online publication. The internet is a relatively new medium. Once people get a handle on the laws, it should find its own equilibrium. The only difficulty is the global nature of the phenomenan and cross border regulation.
There is no quick fix, like anonymous says. It will take time. Everybody knows there is this issue, I put this up to just remind people about it again.
Face the technology man
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