Some things cannot be policed or forced on people.
Things such as sentiments, thoughts, feelings, these cannot be
forced on people.
And since on the internet, people can be anonymous and free to
write their true feelings, some of these will surface. It is
inevitable.
I oppose those attention seekers and those who deliberately
flame and troll and intentionally provoke other groups / races /
religions, and I think it is good to apply the law on them, but,
people should not be punished if they say something or write
something which just express their feelings without the intent of
fanning trouble.
So how do you know which one is sincere expression and which one
is deliberate trolling ?
That is the hard part.
For instance,
Someone (you know who) has made several repeated comments openly
in the media and the media print and reprint them, over the years,
comments regarding certain group of people. And this person is a
high profile politician and write many books and memoirs. He has
generated many unhappy rebuke and complaints from the said group,
and even members of his own party. Even his son is forced to come
out and publicly rebuke him.
But apparently he has never been charged with any law.
So how do you determine which expression falls under the normal
and permissible expression and which one is extreme and crosses the
line ?
It is a little subjective and it's like examining a movie for
censorship and trying to determine whether a scene is porn or
whether it is an art scene.
I still agree with the principle of this law. Someone who is an
attention seeker and just want to provoke people for the sake of
provoking people, should indeed get punished. No doubt about that.
Because they will disturb the peace and incite social chaos.
However the proposal of further regulation of the internet, must
be realistic. It is almost impossible to totally regulate internet
and furthermore because of the nature of internet discussions, many
internet users are just simply expressing their feelings and
thoughts. It is almost impossible to regulate that.
