Mahathir the faux blogger?

Assuming that he has actually opened a blog with th stated intention below then he needs to be told a truth or two.

If all he wants to do is publish his ” writings as and when I am able to pen my thoughts and opinion,” and have the Press, academics and others too lazy to do their own research to quote him, then he should have opened a just a website instead.

A website is part of the one-way communications that traditionalists, authoritarians, Umno politicians past and present and other who do not get IT about the new media and conversations start and maintain.

A weblog or blog is about conversations. Someone who starts a blog does so because they want to engage others with teir point of view. They are aware that others may hold different views but they nonetheless want to communicate them and have discussions with them, in the underlying belief that no one is all wise and that we may learn from each other.

If Mahathir wants to pass himself off as a blogger than he should not moderate his blog and engage those with differing points of view. Agreed that anonymous posters are a menace so he can leave them out but he should not moderate the postings and trackbacks of those who are willing to put their name to their writing.

In this regard Unspun would like to invite Mahathir to a discussion on whether he, as he claimed, allow Press Freedom to flourish during his reign, or did he destroy whatever Press Freedom there was.

It’s all quite appropriate a topic since May 3 is World Press Freedom Day.