Is censorship sometimes necessary?

[Torsten]

There are only a few countries where people enjoy a decent level of personal freedom and where their basic rights are projected by the state and supported by society. Although those countries are rather small in number, they are combined much more powerful than all the remaining countries where there is some form of dictatorship. A religion is like an ideology that is forced upon the people. Any person should be free to decide what and whom they believe in.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Construction workers

[Lmn_Dreem]

I'm sorry. I don't play Taqiyya game with you. I think you have a little confuse between Shariá and Shia. There are many differences between them. Temporary marriage is not in Islam. Slavery is forbidden in Islam. IIslam is found just in Qurán and Sunna, just.

[Jamie (K)]

[Jamie (K)]

Slavery is not forbidden in Islam, because Mohammed himself owned slaves.

[Torsten]

Exactly, that's why the democratic countries have a greater impact on the world than all the dictatorships combined. In countries like the US or most EU countries anyone is free to believe in anything and anyone. If I want to become a Muslim, I can do so. If I want to be a Christian, I can become one. If I want to stay an atheist, I'm free to do that as well. Nobody will try to force me to believe anything. I can believe in our government or I can leave it. A human being is capable of making their own decisions as to what to believe in. However, in most countries around the world, people don't have that freedom. Even basic rights are not guaranteed and it will take generations until this changes.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Two people hugging

[Jamie (K)]

Maybe it will never change, Torsten. If there is dictatorship, there is no economic freedom, and if there is no economic freedom, ordinary people cannot gain economic power, and if they can't gain economic power, they can't win their freedom. All they can do is have a revolution and bring in a new dictator. Then history repeats itself.

[Lmn_Dreem]

I'm sorry if I bother you. Finally, I want you to relax. Menkind may spend his lifetime looking for the truth. You and me need to reach the truth. Always, the truth exists in one place. So, keep search for it. I'm also looking for it. One day we'll get what we want. Relax and think with your own thughts. Let people say whatever they say. Follow the truth. Ask God to help you. You'll arrive.

[Lmn_Dreem]

No, Jamie. It will be a day everything will change. We can make a new generation and they can do what we couldn't do. Be hopeful

[Torsten]

It all depends on what the majority of a nation want. If they do want economic and personal freedom, they will find the means of achieving those goals. If they want to be suppressed and exploited they will continue to live as have previous generations. It takes a lot of pressure for the masses to get organized action against their oppressors. As the saying goes: We change when the pain to change is less than the pain to remain as we are. In most countries, the pain to change is more than the pain to stay as most people are. It's like keeping sheep: the sheep don't know that there is a world outside their field. They will always stick to their miserable lives and take all the pain in stride because they are afraid of the unknown.

TOEIC listening, photographs: An airport terminal

[Lmn_Dreem]

You are right, Torsten. So, we have to change our mind and concentrate in raising a good generation who able to change the bad history we live in.

[Jamie (K)]

There are some countries where people respect force and brutality more than wisdom and justice, and those places aren't going to have freedom anytime soon.

[Lmn_Dreem]

Like the sheep which Torsten talked about.

[Jamie (K)]

It's different from being sheep. Sheep follow because they feel comfortable with it. I'm talking about people who actually take pleasure in their dictator's brutality and admire him as a "strong man" because of it.

[Torsten]

Also, people want stability and tradition more than freedom. They accept brutality and exploitation in return for a sufficient level of stability and tradition. Getting rid of a regime like the one in North Korea requires a revolution with lots of victims and insecurity. The regime in North Korea is brutal and ignores even basic human rights. But it guarantees one thing: Stability. The North Koreans can be sure that the same regime will still be around in 5 years and more. They have never lived in freedom and democracy so they don't understand that the only system that really guarantees stability is democracy. A regime can stay in power only if the majority of its people are ignorant and weak. That's why the regime will always go to great length to control the flow of information. The regime will suppress any attempt to establish a free exchange of opinions and ideas. Regimes need a high level of censorship.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Shaking hands

[Jamie (K)]

In the 1980s, the Western countries, including the Vatican, started having word processors and copiers smuggled into Poland, and the subsequent inability of the government to control distribution of information did a lot to cause it to fall.