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Hello dear sirs,
I heard on the radio this morning that today, May 3, is World Press Freedom Day. I was also emailed a link from a petition site to which I am subscribed asking me to sign a petition to free journalist Jason Rezaian from Iranian custody.
According to the petition’s description, Jason is an American-Iranian journalist. He is a correspondent to the Washington Post. Prior to his arrest in July 2014, he had been writing from Iran for ten years with hopes of dispelling misconceptions Americans have about Iranians and vice-versa. He is being charged without any formal crime being committed, he is being denied consultation with a lawyer, and his health is deteriorating.
While the petition description doesn’t say it outright, it is clear that Jason was arrested solely for the crime of being a journalist. It is also probable that he reported on something that someone in a position did not want to be reported on, or did so in a way that displeased someone.
Journalists are incredibly important. Journalists keep people informed, show stories from different angles, and are a symbol of free thought. For these very same reasons, journalists are often censored, threatened, and prosecuted.
The people who prosecute and restrain journalists do so because they are afraid of a journalist’s power. Journalists have often been used to build up an illusion of power and greatness, but journalists can just as easily make that illusion crumble with simple yet powerful words on a simple yet powerful piece of paper. While a sword can shatter a pen, the stains the pen leaves on a society often prove to outlast blood stains on the streets. An ignorant society that is not exposed to multiple view-points is difficult to control. Journalists threaten this control by spreading knowledge and ideas through their written and spoken words. Journalists are extremely important in the limiting of a government’s power over its people. A country without free press does not truly have free people.
Translating this issue into a knowledge statement is difficult. This issue deals with ethics, the human sciences, language, reason, and emotion. In this case, the language used by the journalist was extremely influential to the reasoning behind his detainment. Considering this knowledge statement, the following knowledge question can be formed: to what extent does language affect reason in the human sciences?
Please click the link below to read and sign the petition to free Jason Rezaian.
https://www.change.org/p/his-excellency-supreme-leader-ayatollah-seyyed-ali-khamenei-we-request-the-immediate-and-unconditional-release-of-jason-rezaian-from-iranian-custody
Please click the link below to explore the knowledge question!
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/28/senate-pension-loophole-mac-harb_n_3830272.html
I heard on the radio this morning that today, May 3, is World Press Freedom Day. I was also emailed a link from a petition site to which I am subscribed asking me to sign a petition to free journalist Jason Rezaian from Iranian custody.
According to the petition’s description, Jason is an American-Iranian journalist. He is a correspondent to the Washington Post. Prior to his arrest in July 2014, he had been writing from Iran for ten years with hopes of dispelling misconceptions Americans have about Iranians and vice-versa. He is being charged without any formal crime being committed, he is being denied consultation with a lawyer, and his health is deteriorating.
While the petition description doesn’t say it outright, it is clear that Jason was arrested solely for the crime of being a journalist. It is also probable that he reported on something that someone in a position did not want to be reported on, or did so in a way that displeased someone.
Journalists are incredibly important. Journalists keep people informed, show stories from different angles, and are a symbol of free thought. For these very same reasons, journalists are often censored, threatened, and prosecuted.
The people who prosecute and restrain journalists do so because they are afraid of a journalist’s power. Journalists have often been used to build up an illusion of power and greatness, but journalists can just as easily make that illusion crumble with simple yet powerful words on a simple yet powerful piece of paper. While a sword can shatter a pen, the stains the pen leaves on a society often prove to outlast blood stains on the streets. An ignorant society that is not exposed to multiple view-points is difficult to control. Journalists threaten this control by spreading knowledge and ideas through their written and spoken words. Journalists are extremely important in the limiting of a government’s power over its people. A country without free press does not truly have free people.
Translating this issue into a knowledge statement is difficult. This issue deals with ethics, the human sciences, language, reason, and emotion. In this case, the language used by the journalist was extremely influential to the reasoning behind his detainment. Considering this knowledge statement, the following knowledge question can be formed: to what extent does language affect reason in the human sciences?
Please click the link below to read and sign the petition to free Jason Rezaian.
https://www.change.org/p/his-excellency-supreme-leader-ayatollah-seyyed-ali-khamenei-we-request-the-immediate-and-unconditional-release-of-jason-rezaian-from-iranian-custody
Please click the link below to explore the knowledge question!
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/28/senate-pension-loophole-mac-harb_n_3830272.html