New media – Power to the people or threat to stability?

In today’s new age, we have a few options on how we can voice our thoughts, namely through blogs, forums, e-mails, and instant messaging. Instead of writing in to the newspaper and waiting for our comments to be published one fine day, it is much convenient now with new means of communication through the internet, one can easily post his/her views either through blogging or discussing it in the forums. With all these easy access to openly express our thoughts, it gives power to the people to voice out either their support or discontentment on a certain issue, whether in a constructive way or not, it is totally up to them to decide. Such great power easily obtained from these new media has raised concerns from various ruling governments all over the world. It is seen as a threat to their stability as many activists have made use of this new media to poison the minds of Internet users to their own advantages. For example, we have witnessed the al-Qaeda group and extremist movements skillfully manipulating these new media to further tarnish the Muslim public’s view of the West. And may we be aware that the internet is globally accessible, not only can it be viewed by the Muslim public; it can also be viewed worldwide. Imagine the whole world under the influence of such manipulative and mind poisoning news. In the worst scenario, such things have the potential to bring down the entire nation, separating the world into two distinct forces, the West and the Muslims.
As much as we value the freedom of speech, we too most certainly do not want the world to be in a complete chaos. Thus, I think that it is essential for us to control our emotions wisely and not let our feelings overtake our consciousness while blogging for example. As a matter of fact, a vast amount of bloggers and online journalists have been thrown in jail in Iran since Sept. 2004, many of which were caught posting offensive materials. If in any case the people pose any threat to the government, the government has every right to detain them. Nevertheless the government should not repress its people to voice out their opinions. Constructive critics are helpful in a way to improve the government. Hence, we suppress such opinions when we know it might be of great use to build a progressive nation? It is possible for the new media to both provide the people with power to express heir views and at the same time not threatening the stability of the government but in fact help the country to further improve.