Finnish media Free Speech

Finnish writer who penned novel of life events during Soviet occupation of Estonia goes all in for combating ‘hate-speech’…….


 

I used to have a modicum of respect for the heavily weighted purple head of Sofia Oksanen, but not anymore…

 

You would think that being someone originally from a country freed from the Soviet Union’s iron grasp, would make her into a champion of free speech. Sofia Oksanen wrote an excellent novel called “Puhdistus”, Purge in English. Oksanen has taken the position of the elite media. According to their view (which comes from a position of both control and power), it’s the rest of the civil society that is the danger to freedom of the press, when in fact, they only have themselves to blame.

 

If not for their heavily biased news spinning, the average citizen wouldn’t be seeking out alternative news outlets for different takes. In a free society, you can only BS the public for so long. That Oksanen defends the likes of Yle ‘journalist’ Jessika Aro (who still pushes the fake news that Trump got elected due to Russia’s help) is enough for me to conclude that she really isn’t for “free speech” nor “freedom of the press”. She’s for the return of the status quo, the ruling elite, they alone are to be the vanguards of ‘the truth’, not the citizen.

 

NOTE: When Oksanen mouths the words of ‘ self-censorship’, she doesn’t mean the journalists keeping quiet about Finnish leaders/business CEO’s rubbing elbows with the totalitarian Iranian mullahs and the Chi-Coms, or of the corrupting force of the EU or the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood in Finland. No, she means journalists who hate being taken to task for their crap-styled ‘reporting’ or social media commentary. Having no defense for their activities (dressed as ‘journalism’) causes them great angst.

Sofi Oksanen makes a significant donation to protect freedom of expression: “Freedom of expression is threatened, including in Finland”

The author justified her donation by, for example, the proliferation of hate speech and the self-censorship it raised.

AUTHOR Sofi Oksanen donates € 15,000 to the Finnish section of Reporters Without Borders. Oksanen unveiled her donation at a gathering at the Päivälehti Museum on Monday, while petitioning for the protection of freedom of expression.

“Freedom of expression, a pillar of liberal democracy, is also threatened, including in Finland. We can lose what we have achieved because we are deluded to take our achievements for granted, ”Oksanen said. Finland’s NGO funds are used, for example, for school information campaigns, which open up the principles of freedom of expression and provide guidance in identifying false news and disinformation.

The author recalled that in the 1990s Finland’s freedom of expression was promoted by EU membership and the European Convention on Human Rights. “So we did not end up with a world of freedom of speech by chance,” Oksanen said.

OKSANEN attaches great importance to working for freedom of expression and, for example, the security of journalists. In her petition, she went through the worrying developments in several countries, such as Estonia, the United States, Myanmar and the Philippines, in the areas of freedom of expression, disinformation and hate speech.

 

According to the author, similar developments are possible in Finland, as emotional reactions, for example under persecution, are similar everywhere.

 

“It is emotion that hate speech and false news appeal to, not fact,” Oksanen said. Among the worrying phenomena in Finland, Oksanen highlighted, among other things, the persecution of Jessikka Aro and recent research on the hate speech received by politicians and its effects. Jarmo Mäkelä, the Finnish president of the Reporters Without Borders, signs the concerns of Oksanen.

 

“One of the challenges is hate speech and related targetings designed to silence journalists writing on sensitive issues. Second is the fake news and disinformation that is spreading through social media platforms that threaten citizens’ right to receive truthful information, ”Mäkelä added.

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