A
Anonymous
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This is the fourth installment in my recent series of rants about the sad state of our world. The previous ones can be found [a href=\'http://forum.maidenfans.com/index.php?showtopic=9146\' target=\'_blank\']here[/a], [a href=\'http://forum.maidenfans.com/index.php?showtopic=9403&view=findpost&p=112952\' target=\'_blank\']here[/a] and [a href=\'http://forum.maidenfans.com/index.php?showtopic=9425\' target=\'_blank\']here[/a].
Recently, there was a cryptic series of ads in Hamburg subways. A series of posters had several slogans about right of free speech, and all had the signature phrase "Freedom of Speech".
Today, I was in the subway and saw the new series of these posters . It turned out they were all from a new campaign of some tacky cellphone provider advertising their brilliant idea of a flat rate for cellphones.
I am a bit tired to quote the German constitution, so I'll go a little higher now and quote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed by the United Nations in 1948. The particular phrase "Freedom of Speech" appears in the preamble:
[!--QuoteBegin--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--](...) Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, (...)[/quote]
The related article in the declaration would be article 19:
[!--QuoteBegin--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.[/quote]
The sad thing is that this advertisement also, albeit arguably, is protected by article 19.
What am I going to rant about here, you might ask. I found this advertisement insulting. Not only did it insult my intelligence, but I also think it insulted the dignity and honesty of the Declaration of Human Rights, and as such, the Human Rights themselves, by its blatant and unscrupulous abuse of the description one of the most important and fundamental human rights; even worse, it sheds bad light on the right itself.
Freedom of speech and expression also includes all sorts of advertisement to make your voice heard. Advertisements are often made to be funny or witty. Some are shocking, some are inspiring, while some can indeed be provoking and intelligent, some even appealing. Most, however are either tasteless, superfluous, dumb, exaggarated or inane. To shorten it, advertisements are usually like the kind of people they try to reach. Benneton obviously wants to provoke, and attract customers who care; a commercial for vacuum cleaner bags is usually as boring as the housewives who put deeper thought in buying such products.
Now, what about this cellphone provider? In the western world, most people own a cellphone these days, and a lot of people (over)use them. Proper communication between people is rarely even possible without some sort of mobile availability. I will not rant about how annoying it can get when you are out with someone and having an interesting conversation when all of the sudden you hear that *BEEP*; that shall be subject to another rant.
Cellphone providers mostly want to reach young people (or "kids"). They advertise with young people and use slogans for young people. Young people are usually not as knowledgeable as older people. Chances are that a good lot of those people who are actually interested in this kind of advert have never heard of a constitution, of the United Nations or Human Rights. To them, it is just another slogan.
Must I point out how sad this is? Certainly not.
What is the cause? There are many causes, but it all runs down to the Decay Of Western Civilization©. Poor education, sell-out of social values, replacement of society by television, all that kind of stuff. Many people don't even know that they have such a thing as right for free speech and that, although they were born into such a society, and perhaps will die in this society, this right is certainly not self-evident®. All around the world, people get killed for their demand of this right. Here, it gets abused in a shallow commercial slogan. How sad is that?
A thought I have developed recently, and which I am not happy about, is that we may have to earn our right for free speech. There are so many idiots out there abusing this right to the fullest. Free Press is stained by such criminal institutions as the Sun, Enquirer, Bild etc. Freedom of Expression is given a bad light by bigots worshipping people like Hitler or Stalin and claiming the bomb attack on Dresden was more of a historical catastrophy as Auschwitz.
In western society, we are dealing with human rights like with everything else we have in surplus; while people in Ethiopia starve, we open our refrigerator to find a Schwarzwald cherry tart; while bums on the street search trash cans for something to eat, McDonalds throws away the fifty burgers they had left over from the day.
There is hardly anything you can do about this. That's the way humanity is. All I want is to appeal to you intelligent people out there to appreciate the rights you have. We are very, very lucky people. And we should be knowledgeable and happy about that. Only if we know what we have, we can defend it; and only if we know what we have, we can try and share it with others.
Recently, there was a cryptic series of ads in Hamburg subways. A series of posters had several slogans about right of free speech, and all had the signature phrase "Freedom of Speech".
Today, I was in the subway and saw the new series of these posters . It turned out they were all from a new campaign of some tacky cellphone provider advertising their brilliant idea of a flat rate for cellphones.
I am a bit tired to quote the German constitution, so I'll go a little higher now and quote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed by the United Nations in 1948. The particular phrase "Freedom of Speech" appears in the preamble:
[!--QuoteBegin--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--](...) Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, (...)[/quote]
The related article in the declaration would be article 19:
[!--QuoteBegin--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.[/quote]
The sad thing is that this advertisement also, albeit arguably, is protected by article 19.
What am I going to rant about here, you might ask. I found this advertisement insulting. Not only did it insult my intelligence, but I also think it insulted the dignity and honesty of the Declaration of Human Rights, and as such, the Human Rights themselves, by its blatant and unscrupulous abuse of the description one of the most important and fundamental human rights; even worse, it sheds bad light on the right itself.
Freedom of speech and expression also includes all sorts of advertisement to make your voice heard. Advertisements are often made to be funny or witty. Some are shocking, some are inspiring, while some can indeed be provoking and intelligent, some even appealing. Most, however are either tasteless, superfluous, dumb, exaggarated or inane. To shorten it, advertisements are usually like the kind of people they try to reach. Benneton obviously wants to provoke, and attract customers who care; a commercial for vacuum cleaner bags is usually as boring as the housewives who put deeper thought in buying such products.
Now, what about this cellphone provider? In the western world, most people own a cellphone these days, and a lot of people (over)use them. Proper communication between people is rarely even possible without some sort of mobile availability. I will not rant about how annoying it can get when you are out with someone and having an interesting conversation when all of the sudden you hear that *BEEP*; that shall be subject to another rant.
Cellphone providers mostly want to reach young people (or "kids"). They advertise with young people and use slogans for young people. Young people are usually not as knowledgeable as older people. Chances are that a good lot of those people who are actually interested in this kind of advert have never heard of a constitution, of the United Nations or Human Rights. To them, it is just another slogan.
Must I point out how sad this is? Certainly not.
What is the cause? There are many causes, but it all runs down to the Decay Of Western Civilization©. Poor education, sell-out of social values, replacement of society by television, all that kind of stuff. Many people don't even know that they have such a thing as right for free speech and that, although they were born into such a society, and perhaps will die in this society, this right is certainly not self-evident®. All around the world, people get killed for their demand of this right. Here, it gets abused in a shallow commercial slogan. How sad is that?
A thought I have developed recently, and which I am not happy about, is that we may have to earn our right for free speech. There are so many idiots out there abusing this right to the fullest. Free Press is stained by such criminal institutions as the Sun, Enquirer, Bild etc. Freedom of Expression is given a bad light by bigots worshipping people like Hitler or Stalin and claiming the bomb attack on Dresden was more of a historical catastrophy as Auschwitz.
In western society, we are dealing with human rights like with everything else we have in surplus; while people in Ethiopia starve, we open our refrigerator to find a Schwarzwald cherry tart; while bums on the street search trash cans for something to eat, McDonalds throws away the fifty burgers they had left over from the day.
There is hardly anything you can do about this. That's the way humanity is. All I want is to appeal to you intelligent people out there to appreciate the rights you have. We are very, very lucky people. And we should be knowledgeable and happy about that. Only if we know what we have, we can defend it; and only if we know what we have, we can try and share it with others.
--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/blink.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'blink.gif\' /][!--endemo--] 
--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'smile.gif\' /][!--endemo--] it is far away from both.
--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]