You can never control who uses it for what...

RE: Taliban: Bomb the Ban by Alissa J. Rubin

To the Editor,

Following our discussion about media in both the United States and Islamic countries, as well as the viewing of the journalist documentary, this article points out a couple of things that were not brought up. While we talk frequently about media being misused as a platform for biased groups to voice their opinion to the masses, we overlook the idea that these same groups pull as much information from the media as they seek to put out. The Taliban defense of the freedom of speech comes as a shock to many as it was quite oxymoronic, as they were speaking out "in support of a free press, human rights and, yes, civil society." The Afghani government's desire to no longer broadcast militant attacks calls into question if there is something they are trying to hide...but perhaps what they were trying to avoid in the first place is just what is happening now: The Taliban wants the information that has been made public for all. Both groups realized this at the same time. The government wants to protect the information while the Taliban seeks to exploit it. So the question is: is the point of freedom of speech so that everyone (and I mean everyone) can have access to what is happening or is the point of a government to limit what is said in order to protect its people? It seems both America's greatest priveleges and debates are reaching the other side of the globe!