Science Talk

Anti-Babalar · Guest

YouTube: We didn't solve the problem, just made it worse

Turkey reacted very strongly to the actions of a few idiots who thought they
had pulled off a great trick by downloading images insulting to Ataturk onto
the internet video-sharing site YouTube.

And in the end, as a result, an Istanbul court ruled that entrance to the
YouTube site from Turkey should be blocked. Yesterday, I actually tried to
log on to the site, but I was not able to. Whether this was because of the
court order or because of everyone trying to enter once they heard about the
court ruling was unclear.
Of course, Turkish Telekom General Manager Paul Doany has said that entrance
to YouTube is possible using some different servers, but never mind.
Because the truth is, if you really consider it, we created this problem
ourselves. While protesting a video clip which at first only a handful of
people even knew about, and then moving to block its broadcast in Turkey,
what we achieved was that now, the entire country knows about it. And now
these same images, which YouTube has removed because of the reactions, may
be broadcast under different names on other sites. And when, as is
inevitable, the Western media gets ahold of this story, they will watch the
video clip, saying to themselves "now, let's just see what it is that drives
Turks crazy." Meanwhile, we'll just sit back comfortable here in Turkey,
knowing that WE can't watch it!
Our societal inclination towards getting angry fast makes us forget this
important truth: Sometimes, ignoring something can be the best punishment
possible!