Why We Need Dissent

One of the complication of diabetes is failing eyesight … ultimately losing sight. It was not sudden but gradual: a slow blurring of the view - things become unfathomable: objects become shadows of light. Things become out of focus.

Only then would you realize what one took for granted. The benefit of good eyesight … the benefit of eyesight.

One of the aftermath of the Yolanda Disaster was and is the attempt to silence and murder dissent. It was not the time for criticism: Instead it was a time to be united. The blame game was not the game of the moment … It was better to help. Help the Government and the Nation do not hinder it. A Republic of the “True, Good and the Beautiful”. A call for a cultural and social Potemkin Village.

There is nothing wrong with helping or being part of nation building. In fact it is much laudable and much needed. Yet activities like Rescue,Relief, Reconstruction and Nation Building help come through hard work; goal setting; and honesty - at times brutal and unflattering.

Why?

Honesty is needed to see the state of affairs.
Honesty is needed to keep the State: the Government well to be honest to the People and the Nation.
Honesty is at times harsh but that is what is needed - a much needed bitter pill.
Lies and Attacks can be disguised as Honesty; And that is why all statements - must be tested and questioned: Separate the truths from the un-truths; Separate the criticism from ad hominems; Separate fact from fiction; Separate factual from sensational; And reject what Goebbels once described as beautiful truths.

Otherwise, we as a people and as a nation will travel through time as a blind man without aid of a guide or a stick stumbling or worse falling of a cliff.