Comments on: Who Cares About YouTube Anyway?

By: faiz

faiz — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:52:07 +0000

I would like to thank the overwhelmingly democratically elected peoples government to listen to our pleas and respond accordingly.

DON’T BLOCK ANYTHING! PEOPLE ARE NOT STUPID TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING THEY SEE AND HEAR.

The intentional posting of the audios have tainted the image of the army intelligence. It is yet another failure after the Pilkhana massacre.

If the highest office holder’s informal talks with her officers are deliberately released then there is every reason to doubt the standards of the defenders of our territories.

By: Akash

Akash — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:48:05 +0000

Mash, please allow me to add a few more words: YouTube is no universal talisman and the idea of freedom is not absolute; they must always be located in some geographical and political context. I for one enjoy YouTube and the various tools of what appears to be a seamless universe but I also live and participate in a particular situation to which I am obligated to. It seems to me that there is a strange parallel between the aggrievement of the army officers and the digital media people (I am not saying that they are party to the same cause but both are surely shooting at the same target). It seems by the uproar of both that the natural entitlement (privilege) of both have been, in one form or another, compromised or violated by the state. There is certainly some truth there but that “truth” has to be set up against a scenario larger than both, where the fundamental fact is the nation-state (and not just the government in power) is under an unprecedented seige and where any interim solution will be procrustean. Let is talk about Digital Bangla or its demise, etc., when we are certain the seige has been lifted.

By: IMRAN-Washington

IMRAN-Washington — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:40:15 +0000

Its a shame for a government that boasts about a digital Bangladesh to impose such censorship on digital media. Censoring the media is wrong and undemocratic. I hope Sheikh Hasina doesn’t roll back her promises made during the elections. If politicians start doing what authoritarian regimes do, then they haven’t learned from the past few years. Democracy can not be guaranteed without a free media. What the government has done by blocking You Tube is despicable, sad and threatining to our democracy.

By: Akash

Akash — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:46:23 +0000

Mash: I really wanted to push the button. I am completely with you but it is not totally a B/W situation of “freedom” and suppression. No, we don’t snooze when the government goes astray but surely you see that the government, and may I say the state, is under seige. I definitely enjoy your blogs, but I am not sure all the commentators here and elsewhere see the vast difference between the dire mischief of the audio leak (by an army personnel/s no doubt) and the injudicious decision of the government. That the leak has happened and the government can do little in admonishing, much less discipline a grieving and aggrieved army (really the pampered ones here) shows the planned consequence of Pilkhana: a divisiveness and rancor between the civilian government and army institution. Pilkhana was planned as the center of a whirlpool from where other tensions and turbulence will cascade out.

By: Mash

Mash — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:22:49 +0000

Akash, the government seems to be less concerned about finding out who leaked it and more concerned about taking draconian steps to shut down access to Internet sites. The government’s first response should not be censorship. It demonstrates weakness on the part of the government.

Us “pampered brats” dont like government censorship. You may find that to be a quaint notion, but there it is. But, seeing that you are also using the Internet to post your comment, I suspect you also belong to the subgroup you seem to be maligning. Self loathing is not healthy

Some of us fully understand “the enormity and gravity of that deliberate mischief”. But grasping the issue behind the leak of the tape and the underlying tension between the civilian government and the military does not mean we snooze when the government decides censorship is its way out.

By: Engr Khondkar Abdus Saleque( Sufi)

Engr Khondkar Abdus Saleque( Sufi) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:15:36 +0000

When Bangladesh has a perceived vision for Digital Bangladesh blocking You Tube does not go with it. Well, the meeting of PM with disgruntled Army Officers was definitely a state secret. No media was there. Army intelligence should have been active. Yet some army officers recorded discussions on cell phone and let out on You Tube. Army officers are expected to behave in a much more disciplined manner. One or many here behaved irrationally. Army administration can find out the officer(s) concerned and discipline them.But blocking You Tube was a crazy response.The action of Army officer was irresponsible. But blocking You Tube was also injudicious. PM handled the situationwell. BDR situation was definitely a massive intelligence lapse for which DGFI, NSI , MI ,BDR Intelligence are responsible also. Letting out state secret has not glorified Army as an institution at all.The sooner Army Administration realises this the better. Otherwise discipline in army rank and file will not be re-established.

By: Akash

Akash — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:38:24 +0000

Sure, all those hullabaloo over the YouTube ban makes sense, especially for the pampered brats of the digital domain. But not much concern about how a recorded version of a meeting with the prime minister of the country and officers of the “disciplined” and “professional” army got out. And most bloggers and bloggees do not seem to get the enormity and gravity of that deliberate mischief.

By: faiz

faiz — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:28:40 +0000

The tapes were leaked long time back. There is little interest among people about its content. Transcripts of the supposedly ‘authentic’ tapes have been published in some media linked to the leakage.

The government not only reacted late but also acted foolishly to block the YouTube. It doesn’t make sense.

Therefore, I ardently ask the democratically elected government to lift the ban ASAP. This may also be the work of the conspirators within the government to destroy democracy in Bangladesh.

By: Faissal

Faissal — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:11:05 +0000

I have seen the DU massacre video, somewhere, before. Thanks for posting your videos. Someone, some days back, sent me a link to where someone had stored a copy of that “banned” tape, but that RapidShare account went over its limit. Maybe we can spread the contents of that tape by other means. The BD Govt. should realize that state secrets should be protected by preventing them from getting out, in the first place, not by censorship once it is already out.