Re: Mocking The Rule Of Law By Lynching Figuratively And In Essence

Professor Asonganyi

That was well said but we are in Cameroon where as I did say a few
weeks ago; anything goes for every thing

Enjoy a nice weekend

Aaron



On 12/22/13, Asonganyi Tazoacha <asontaz@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Mocking The Rule Of Law By Lynching Figuratively And In Essence
>
> Let me be frank, I had long decided that I should leave the "journalists" to
> slug it out themselves; to do whatever they like with their profession. But
> as the punches rain from each 'side', how much they resemble the subtle
> blows and jabs – and sometimes fatal punches - in every nook and corner of
> our society; in every other profession we turn to!
>
> When one of my friends spent a considerable length of time in a newspaper
> column every week educating us on the ills of our society, he finally gave
> up with the sigh of "The past tense of shit." It was the expression of the
> feeling that everything that was supposed to be said had been said – and
> they did not seem to be listening - so what else? So he hung up his pen, so
> to say.
>
> Yes, once in a while, there is that strong feeling that all that can be said
> has been said, so one should leave society to fry in its own juice of filth.
> But what type of society would that be? It will be soulless, lifeless,
> without a critical spirit urging it to move forward! Those like me whose own
> profession is to spend time in the classroom teaching students are always
> reminded of the many of the students who sit through the lectures but still
> flunk, in spite of the best efforts at teaching. That is symbolic of
> society. Some say many people do not read; that many of those who read
> either do not understand, or forget too soon…So, it is good to continuously
> point out what has been said before – to go down memory lane often, and
> often enough as a form of revision.
>
> The rule of law abhors interferences like the 'fifteen-days-renewable' of
> administrators, suspension of journalists and news outlets by the National
> Communication Council, and many other niches carved out by government for
> appointed officials to wield discretionary power – a subversion of judicial
> authority by executive power! Indeed, such government appointees virtually
> always work actively or passively to diminish the rule of law.
>
> In society, there is always a constant flux of opinion based on the choices
> of individual members. The judgment reached by each individual on different
> issues is not neutral, but it represents a stance; it concerns only a part,
> not the totality of an experience. In a way, public opinion is a plural
> perspective that brings together diverse aspects of life's experience in a
> way that casts new light on apparently separate parts that form a whole.
>
> The news media are the outlets through which individual opinion is known in
> the court of public opinion. In a way, society is in a state of permanent
> flux of individual opinion – a warlike posture - in which truth is usually a
> casualty, although only temporarily, because of rejoinders, counter opinions
> and different points of view that reach the pool from which public opinion
> emerges. Therefore opinion is constantly changing as it gets fed with
> information, different points of view, different images, and different sound
> bites.
>
> This is why it was interesting to read the following in what can be called a
> "rejoinder" or better still, a rebuttal by a journalist:
>
> "…It is not everybody who has the time and option to resort to [rejoinders
> and legal redress]. The rejoinder has its limits because it is not everybody
> who reads the first article that necessitated the reaction that will read
> the rejoinder. Secondly our law courts have been variously criticized of
> being corrupt, slow and easily manipulated….[A] section of the press always
> intervenes in such matters with well conceived write-ups to intimidate,
> blackmail and influence the course of justice…"
>
> This is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, public opinion is not based on
> the fact that all those who read an opinion necessarily all read a rejoinder
> or rebuttal; to argue in a rebuttal that a rejoinder is not a good leveller
> because readership evolves is "to saddle the press with an impossible
> burden," to use the words of a learned judge.
>
> Secondly, the history of the judiciary and the rule of law convince us that
> where justice appears not to be as "neutral" or as efficient as it should,
> it nearly always turns around and reasserts its authority over the rough
> edges of power. Such rebounds have always been under the prompting of
> society that constantly engaged the judiciary in shadow boxing through test
> cases in which litigants exploited all legal openings to make their point
> and expand the realms of freedom.
>
> Indeed, US President Eisenhower is said to have described his appointment of
> Earl Warren and William Brennan as the two biggest mistakes of his
> presidency because the two Supreme Court justices, against the wishes of the
> president, led a liberal revolution in the USA during their tenure. About
> the press and individual sensibilities, one of the justices, William J.
> Brennan Jr. wrote the following opinion:
>
> "The guarantees for speech and press are not the preserve of political
> expression or comment upon public affairs, essential as these are to healthy
> government. One need only pick up any newspaper or magazine to comprehend
> the vast range of published matter which exposes persons to public view,
> both private citizens and public officials. Exposure of the self to others
> in varying degrees is a concomitant of life in a civilised community. The
> risk of this exposure is an essential incident of life in a society which
> places a primary value on freedom of speech and of press... We create a
> grave risk of serious impairment of the indispensable service of a free
> press in a free society if we saddle the press with the impossible burden of
> verifying to a certainty the facts associated in news articles with a
> person's name, picture, or portrait..."
>
> Of course, the courts sometimes leave the impression that the law belongs to
> the rich and the powerful, but this is no excuse for preferring lynching to
> the rule of law. It is wrong to be a partisan of lynching robbers in
> essence, as happens so often in our society, or a partisan of lynching
> figuratively, like some journalists are doing with their peers and some news
> outlets.
>
> In this period of celebration of the life of Mandela, many of us are so fond
> of quoting him, or referring to his example. Mandela is revered because he
> held much power in his hands and knew how to use it. Most of us who quote
> him often turn out to be very bad copies of him once they hold just a little
> power.
>
> Those with thin skins should not leave the impression in the public mind
> that the press in Cameroon fought a gallant fight against censorship in the
> 1990s and censorship ended up having the last laugh.
>
> Tazoacha Asonganyi
> Yaounde.
>
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--
Aaron Agien NYANGKWE
P.O.Box 5213
Douala-Cameroon
Telephone +237 73 42 71 27

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