So today, I'll be blogging about something interesting that happened on my way back from my interpreting job today. (I had to interpret for a Nicaraguan today =) ) On my way back home, (I had a day off of work from the restaurant, woohoo!) I ended up sitting next two Nepalis, who I later found out were brothers, one of whom asked me if I was also Nepali in Nepali, a language that I'd never heard before. After figuring out I had no idea what they were talking about, they asked me in English if I was Nepali, to which I said no and had to go through the whole spiel about my ethnic background, as usual. After that, we talked a little and they told me about how and why they came to the U.S. I was a little ashamed not to know too much about Nepal, other than its geographic location and it's capital, Kathmandu. When they said that even the internet wasn't "free", I had to verify that online. Not because I didn't believe them, but because I was curious as to why... and also because I wanted to learn more about Nepal.
This is what I hate about news sources in general. We usually don't care about geographically countries with no "valuable" natural resources. I learned that after a century of hereditary monarchy, Nepal underwent a a period of attempted reforms and democratication. Attempted democracy was usurped and Nepal went through a 9-year civil war (1996-2005) led by Maoist rebels and the country only just recently elected its first president. We never hear anything about Nepal. Or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Or East Timor. Or Côte d'Ivoire. Or Uzbekistan... It's upsets me that we don't know what's going on in our world and the only wars that get publicized are ones the "Western" powers are involved in.
In any case, I found an interesting map while researching on the lack of "freedom" of internet usage in Nepal. Here's the website where I found the map.
Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Maldives, Nepal, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam: Fifteen countries are black holes in the World Wide Web. News is not free to circulate there. These enemies of the Internet are nonetheless here in Tunis and are talking without any shame about freedom of expression. www.rsf.orgThe map above was issued by "reporters sans frontières" (rsf) a short while back, apparently. On their website, they have a list that ranks press freedom, from 1 - 169, 1 being the most free and 169 being the least. Interestingly enough, the 15 countries listed above rank as follows:
129. Maldives
137. Nepal
145. Tunisia
148. Saudi Arabia
151. Belarus
154. Syria
155. Libya
160. Uzbekistan
162. Vietnam
163. China
164. Burma (Myanmar)
165. Cuba
166. Iran
167. Turkmenistan
168. North Korea
Usually, internet censorship can be a good indicator of the level of freedom that the press have. According to the rsf website, North Korea used to be last on the list until recently, then Erithrea ranked below North Korea for the first time. Actually, it's a fascinating article they have there, I'd highly recommend it. Alright, I'd better get some shut-eye now, or at least try.
Today's Random Quiz:
| You Are Assertive |
 You're not a bully, a manipulator, or a nag. You just state what you need quickly and honestly. You've been assertive for so long that it just comes naturally to you. You're definitely not shy. People wonder why you get what you want in life. Well, it's because you ask for it! |
