Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A TALE OF TWO BLOGS

CNN has just announced that the world is waiting eagerly for Steve Jobs to announce the latest Apple wonder for the year. And before switching to a report on the economic platform of Republican candidate John Mcain and Mitt Romney they mentioned that the latest updates could be found on a blog - The Marquee to be exact. This situation is the exact opposite of the case of "Saudi Arabia's most popular blogger", Fouad al-Farhan, who has been detained for questioning due to having used his blog, ALFARHAN, to criticize corruption in the 'Kingdom" and call for reforms. Mr Fouad al-Farhan has refused to sign an apology and continues to be detained.

Two blogs. Two vastly different situations. One blog gets feted by CNN while the other causes its author to be deprived of his freedom. While the internet is a site for some to surf porn and indulge in trade and games, for others it is the only means that they have of expressing their dissent and reaching out to a global audience. We Filipinos should consider ourselves lucky, we have a right to blog. We should not take that right for granted.

http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/blogs/marquee/
http://www. alfarhan.org. Foud al-Farhan's blog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101915.html

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