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We don’t need no information – Dharm Navaratnam

February 26, 2016

These past few days have been very interesting as well as educational.  A news portal (The Malaysian Insider) was suspended for carrying an article that was purportedly detrimental to National Security. The deputy president of Umno was suspended for purportedly raising questions, criticising the leadership and seeking answers. A minister made a statement to the effect that unless you hold a position of power, what you say or think doesn’t matter and no one cares about it. Very educational and informative indeed.

What this has made me realise is how stupid I actually am.  It has been a very humbling experience to realise that even after 12 years of primary and secondary education, followed with a bachelor’s degree, I am not capable of rational thought and I need others to think for me. I need others to tell me what I can read and what I cannot read.

I do not have the capability to distinguish right from wrong and I am most certainly very easily confused.  I believe everything that is reported in the press and an “anonymous source” means that this said source must have "spoken the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help him God". I am too stupid to know that when an anonymous source is quoted, I would need to make up my own mind on whether it is true or not.  It does not necessarily mean that it is fact. I could also just be the “sources” opinion on a particular matter. But of course I am too stupid to figure that out and I would get confused.

And speaking of opinions, what exactly is an opinion? I wouldn't know because if I did know, or if I had an opinion, I couldn't possibly express it in case it confuses people. It may even confuse me. More worrying, is that it could become a threat to national security.  Heaven forbid!

I also realise that I have wasted many years of my life trying to question things. It is not correct to criticise nor is it correct to seek answer. That is not my place and I should, no I must, just accept everything that people in power tell me. Questioning anything or seeking answers means I am disloyal and I could be kicked out of any positions of power I hold. Good thing I'm not very smart and therefore don’t hold any positions of power.

Oh, and I'm also humbled to realise that I am a nobody.  It's great that certain politicians think that the members of the rakyat are nobodies. Thanks for telling me that what I think doesn't matter as I am not in a position of power and hence I am a nobody. Thanks for pointing that out to me. I'll try and remember that at the next elections.

I am grateful to be put in my place.  It is also with deep great gratitude that I bow in thanks to the MCMC who has taken the lead in protecting my interests and the security of the country by banning the online news portal. Doesn't matter that you can easily get access to the said portal through DNs (Domain Name Server) changes or by the use of mirror sites. Doesn't really matter anyway because I'm too stupid to know what to do.

It is my fervent hope that they will proceed to ban all other publications because we do not need any information. It's better to just not read any newspapers or online portals anyway.  While we're at it, let’s ban TV too. After all, there is some TV Show that has a tagline that says "The Truth is Out There". That could be detrimental to national security too because watching it may just make us start questioning or seeking answers to all sorts of things. That can't be allowed to happen.  We need to just ignore everything, don't ask, don't question and all will be well.

So information is bad for us. In any form. Ban it. Ban it all. To paraphrase Pink Floyd, "We don’t need no Information." The more information that we get is only likely to confuse us even more. And we really can’t have that. – February 26, 2016.

*Dharm Navaratnam reads The Malaysian Insider.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.