life is full of important choices

I think netizens are mostly aware now of the lawsuits filed against two prominent bloggers by the upper echelons of a certain mainstream newspaper. I, my connection to the mainstream media restricted to being a mere newspaper-buyer and TV news-watcher while my knowledge and opinions is formed out of blog-hopping without commenting and/or debating (this is a disclaimer so that anybody reading this won't take my word for it. Not 100%, that is. I can even live with 0%. Honestly), think that this is really good progress. Society-wise, that is.

If anything, the lawsuits highlight the growing influence of blogs; people read them, and people might believe what is written in them (that's a significant might there, that's why it's in bold. The mighty might). So much so that bloggers can be forgiven for thinking that we can make a difference and so much so that some people in the mainstream media are suing. Because, well, we don't really know who's reading what. And those 'whos' might very well be the who's who of this country. Hell, maybe Datuk Hishamuddin's reading this right now. If you are, Datuk, my friend Boro thinks the education system suck (then again, naaah! But just in case, you know)

So this is basically how I break it up;
Statement 1: Blogs are free so anyone can have one
Statement 2: People have opinions, some write them in blogs
Statement 3: Anyone can read any blog(s) (reading a large amount of blogs, all at the same time, can be nauseating but hey, it's a free country)
Statement 4: Anyone is a big word and might consist of well, anyone

Conclusion: People can voice their opinions in a way that there's a possibility of anyone at all to hear about it. And maybe something will be done (in effect of what's been written)

The way I see it, blogging is one way that people can actually do something without waiting for the government to come up with some kind of program(s) for them to do so (and to provide some fried bee hoon at the end of the program(s)). Sure, we might not achieve much but hey, people are getting sued here. So we might achieve something. People are taking notice. So write, dammit!

I am of the opinion that lots of people in this country are doing things because somebody told them to. We have to be told to stop smoking, we have to be told to obey traffic lights, we have to be told (by a bunch of kids) to 'jangan memotong barisan, beratur dan tunggu giliran anda'. What's the point of democracy if we don't choose? We should choose ourselves, not have the government tell us what to do. Choose to stop at zebra crossings. Choose to give our seats to pregnant women and senior citizens. Choose to write (and blog) responsibly.

The lawsuits are filed against them because of certain things that the bloggers choose to write. The lawsuits are filed because some people are offended and choose to file them. The court, in upholding justice, is really choosing which side is right.

I choose to see what happens. I choose to not jump to conclusions. And I choose to hope that everyone will always have the choice to freely air their views. In blogs or otherwise.