issue 8 第一篇 第一次发帖 请多指教

christine4514UID: 2756119

第一次发帖~ 这篇是已经小改过的 还是请大家帮忙多多指正  再有就是想请问大家 考试的时候如果就是这样的水平 能不能有3分？ 先在此叩谢鸟~ :handshake

issue 8:"It is often necessary, even desirable, for political leaders to withhold information from the public."   


    This statement asserts that the holding back of information from the public is quite necessary and even desirable for public leaders. It might be tempting to agree with the speaker to a certain extent, take the example of the authority withholding negative information in an appropriate way to prevent social unrest. However, the speaker overlooked the leader’s potential abuse of authority to withhold information, which is exactly what I disagree with. This abuse can cause the civilian to be unable to obtain true and vital information which is entirely opposite to the contemporary views of information freedom.

To begin with, it is undeniable that some indispensable information is withheld from the populace by public leaders in a hidden way. By doing this the government aims at concealing the problem of their own corruption which prevents the problem from being corrected at the root. For instance, Napoleon Bonaparte, widely known as a great military and political leader, said that ”I fear the newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets . ” His words mirror the public leaders’ fear of the uncontrollable nature of information as a threat to their power. Additionally, the measures of withholding information may effectively contribute to a contradiction between society and government. Hence, these deeds of political leaders which may lead to the rise of information imbalances is definitely unwise.

Another compelling argument against the speaker’s position is that the populace has the right to judge what information is relevant to them and to obtain that information. This should not be determined and controlled by the government. One of the most convincing examples can be taken from the Universal Declaration of Human Right States that everyone has the right to express themselves and to obtain the information they want to know. Not only does this well demonstrate the human right of information freedom, but also presents a powerful argument against the speaker’s opinion. The holding back of information from the public can only illustrate the immaturity of a society. In a mature civil society, citizens can negotiate and discuss with the government equally and the government will disclose the information to civilians on its own initiative. Moreover, even the bible has an expression “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”, which supports the idea that people should be able to get the true and vital information withheld by the political leaders.

Yet public leaders withholding information can have an effect to some degree. The government’s blocking of information makes a contribution to the removal of social unrest and the maintaining of steady progress. Even so, in most situations, the blocked information is the origin of public anxiety, which means the withholding of information may finally cause misunderstanding and enrage the populace.

In short, the statement that withholding information is beneficial for society fails to recognize that the blocked information hidden by public leaders is by no means in accord with the contemporary view of information freedom. Furthermore, the political leaders’ abuse of privilege and subversion of the people's rights will cause the relationship between government and the populace to become imbalanced. Only by making the system transparent, can a harmonious society be realized.

christine4514UID: 2756119

为虾米偶滴帖子前面不是new捏。。。唉  拜托各位牛人帮偶看看啦~