{"id":1675,"date":"2009-05-16T12:33:21","date_gmt":"2009-05-16T19:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.candlelightstories.com\/?p=1675"},"modified":"2009-05-16T12:48:36","modified_gmt":"2009-05-16T19:48:36","slug":"word-bullets-are-destabilizing-guatemalas-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/2009\/05\/16\/word-bullets-are-destabilizing-guatemalas-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Word Bullets are Destabilizing Guatemala’s Government"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Guatemalan Twitter user named Jean Anleu Fern\u00e1ndez<\/em> who was arrested for making a Twitter post<\/a> that suggested people should remove their money from the Banrural in order to help break the backs of corrupt politicians has been released from jail and placed under house arrest.\u00a0 In the video above, you can watch as he greets his friends and makes a Twitter post while in handcuffs.\u00a0 In one of the most fascinating recent examples of the battle for free expression we are watching a normal guy get persecuted by a Western nation for simply posting his thoughts on the internet.\u00a0 He has been charged with inciting financial panic and attempting to cause a run on the bank.\u00a0 I actually think his idea for pulling money out of the bank is a very good one and I fully support his idea.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 If Guatemala is so afraid of a run on its bank, then it either needs a new bank or a new government.\u00a0 Perhaps both.\u00a0 I think that, on the basis of what we are seeing in Guatemala, both the bank and the country’s government should be eliminated as quickly as possible.\u00a0 The barrage of worldwide outrage toward Guatemala’s government via the internet is illustrative of the power of ‘word bullets’ to destabilize and destroy governments.\u00a0 This is a fearsome power in the hands of ordinary internet users all over the globe.\u00a0 It is this power that is the great weapon in the hands of all free people.\u00a0 But it is also the power that will cause a dangerous reaction from governments seeking to eliminate this potent popular weapon.\u00a0 I think that we are on the brink of the greatest assault on freedom of expression in history and that the assault will come primarily from free Western nations.\u00a0 We are seeing it already in attempts like U.S. congressional representative Linda Sanchez’s bill to criminalize the posting of opinions<\/a> on the internet that may offend anyone at all or emotionally injure a potential reader.\u00a0 There is absolutely no difference between her attempt at legislation to eliminate freedom of speech and the behavior of the Guatemalan government in arresting a man for suggesting that people withdraw their own money from a bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Guatemalan Twitter user named Jean Anleu Fern\u00e1ndez who was arrested for making a Twitter post that suggested people should remove their money from the Banrural in order to help break the backs of corrupt politicians has been released from jail and placed under house arrest.\u00a0 In the video above, you can watch as he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,160,209],"tags":[382,378,381],"class_list":["post-1675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","category-politics","category-web","tag-free-expression","tag-guatemala","tag-twitter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1675"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1678,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675\/revisions\/1678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/candlelightstories.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}