Update to Howie's post from Myanmar: NO MORE POSTS FROM MYANMAR
>
Merry Christmas everyone! I'm in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Rangoon, Burma). Internet access is next to impossible but people have ingenious ways of re-routing and a bunch of technological trickery to get around the junta's heavy-handed attempts to stifle communication with the outside world. This is a real Orwellian society; it's incredible. I hope to write about it when I get back but today I couldn't resist the temptation to write a very mild post at DownWithTyranny about the propaganda in the media. And that was the end of DownWithTyranny in Myanmar. They sure found it fast, decided they didn't like it and closed it down! I guess I should never have written about how the junta forced the rock band Iron Cross to change the name of their album from THE WILD WIND to more acceptable BREEZE.FOOD FOR THOUGHT--DAMN, THOSE TYRANTS CAN BE TOUCHY!
Let's suppose you're a functionary working for a tinpot dictatorship, and you hear tell of a website called "DownWithTyranny." Do you:
(a) E-mail your friends saying, "Hmm, this sounds way cool"?
(b) Read some back posts, adding snarky comments reflecting the pro-tyrannical point of view?
(c) Block the shit out of the damn thing?
--Ken
#
Labels: Myanmar
posted by KenInNY @ 7:08 AM
3 comments
|
Reddit
3 Comments:
I'm enjoying your travel reports as usual Howie.
Myanmar- one place I don't need to visit. Watch your back.
All Blogspot is blocked in Burma. They probably didn't even notice you.
The government of Burma is claiming that they are working round the clock to make their country modernized. You will see all propaganda full of (their) stories and news how they are closing knowledge gap between Burma and more developed nations.
However they are not utilizing the most important and cheapest tool at their disposal, the internet, to the full extent. As a consequence, Burma is lagged far and behind in internet penetration and one should not be suprised to learn one day that Burmese will become most digitally and technologically backward country on earth if this self serving, backward thinking military government.
Mean while, on the other hand, the performance of the opposition in exile is also equally pathetic and questionable at best. All they are seeking is their vested interests and the promotion of their individual, organizational, racial, or religious interests.
A Burmese view toward the tourists flocking into Burma? It is a dilemma. One should stay longer to see the real Burma, it is not as grotique as some like to portrary but it is not as rosy as some likes to promote or propagadized.
Post a Comment
<< Home