twitter and democracy. things that bother me!

twitter has been adopted by many celebrities and other big shot names as a way to stay in touch with the masses. But, as they keep on racking up followers, they don't seem to be following as many. Come think of it, these big names appear to be following themselves. So, nothing really changed by adopting new social networking venues. These people keep on dispersing the same messages towards the public and receive the messages of the elite few. I really despise these arrogant personalities that take on twitter, for example, and become friends with the same few they would be associated with in the real world and still pepper the public with the same headlines, slogans, and stale quotes. examples: @queenrania, @HHShkMohd, & @SenJohnMcCain

the other thing that keeps bothering me is the glorifying of Arab leaders. How could they accept, and in many cases demand, such unsubstantiated respect and admiration. In all democracies the world over leaders are often grilled over deteriorating economic and social conditions and are usually not reelected for subsequent terms if things don't improve. For Arab leaders this concept never seems to be an option. for ones that allow elections, the result seems to to always be in the %99-%99.9 range. for others, the throne is a god given right. and, in both cases, the amazing, make believe accomplishments are always paraded and celebrated in a very sad way!

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The new online media ruling

If you haven't been under a rock the past few days, you probably heard of the new Censored Jordanian court ruling that's making online content fall under media laws. These stone age, Censored laws, even though they were recently amended, are already limiting the freedom of Censored press, let alone limiting the extent to which people can express their Censored opinions online.This Censored government, which came into office with high Censored hopes, is trying to curtail the success of many online news outlets and the space that many people flock to to express, discuss, and debate. However, the Censored Judicial system in Jordan, which is no where near being Censored independent from the Censored executive branch, is merely acting on تنسيب from those with Censored influence.
What I really think of this law is that it's a Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored Censored.
This law if isn't official censorship, it will lead to it. People will be afraid of truly expressing their opinions and will resort to writing in code and/or not write at all. They will not be exposing shortcomings, investigating wrong doing, or critiquing government policies. And, in the absence of a parliament, any parliament, this law is in effect a way to cancel out the space between floor and ceiling. eh, raising ceilings my Censored!

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