Democracy, human rights and freedom of the press

 Kishore Mabubhani made the following statements in his book (Can Asians Think) about democracy, human rights and freedom of the press.

1. American journalists do not believe in the Christian rule "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" or "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone". It believes that the infidelities of a politician are public property, to be exposed in every detail. But infidelities seems about the same in all sectors of society, whether in Congress or in the press corps.

2. Power corrupts. The absolute power of the western journalists in the third world corrupts absolutely. On arriving in a third world capital, the American journalists believes that he has arrived as a lone ranger battling an evil and corrupt government. He did not realize that he is behaving like a colonial proconsul demanding attention from the officials of the third world government.

3. A free press can serve as the opium of society. The American media prides itself on the ability of its investigative journalism to uncover the real truth behind the stories put out by government, big business and other major institutions. It could never stomach the proposition that it could serve as the opium of American society. But it has.

4. A free press need not lead to a well ordered society. A free press can lead to good government, but it can also lead to bad government.

5. Western journalists are conditioned by both western prejudices and western interests. the claim of "objective" reporting is a major falsehood.

6. Western governments work with genocidal rules when it serves their interest to do so.

7. Western governments will happily sacrifice the human rights of third world societies when it suits their interest to do so.

8. The west has used the pretext of human rights abuses to abandon third world allies that no longer serve their western interest.

9. The west cannot acknowledge that the pursuit of "moral" human rights policies can have immoral consequences.

10. An imperfect government that commits some human rights violations is better than no government, in many societies.

Tan Kin Lian
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