NW Goonewardena withdraws from Thuppahi in Disgust

I was well aware of the meaning of the word “slander.”  But, since I am old now, my memory is not that good.  So, I decided to see the meaning of the word “slander” in various dictionaries.  A cross-section of the meaning in various dictionaries (eg. Collins, Webster’s) are given below:

(1) “Outright LIES about a person’s actions or character and can seriously harm their reputation.”

(2) “Malicious gossip.”

(3) “Make FALSE and damaging statements about someone.”

(4) “The utterance of FALSE charges or misinterpretations which defame and damage another person’s reputation.”

That would more than do.  The key meaning that is coming through is making FALSE allegations about someone.  Can you or anybody prove/show me that I have made any FALSE allegations against anybody?  Just saying so, is preposterousl.  You have to establish it with evidence (that is something, most, if not all, who comment on your website never do).

Let us take an actual example.  If I am not mistaken, I said that Sri Skantha (or some name similar to that) was racially prejudiced.  Can you show me that this accusation is false?  That, Sri Skantha is an eclectic, egalitarian, and impartial person?  If you can show me evidence to this effect, then I am willing to accept that I have slandered him. If not, I think everybody should shut up.

Michael, your blog has become a common playground for expatriate Sri Lankans living within the cocoons of western countries, and in the twilight zone of their lives to have a whale of a time.  They are “experts” on everything in Sri Lanka, be it, history, culture, religion, economy, society, or for that matter of fact, anything.  I ask you to seriously reflect whether any one of them writes factually?  Whether anyone, has at least a working knowledge of what they are writing about?  Whether they just say what comes to their mind without any supporting evidence? Whether some are talking absolute rubbish?  Whether some are making use of the blog to , often indirectly, but sometimes, directly, vent their bitterness regarding matters pertaining to race, religion, and even culture?  Whether some are trying to deliberately misinterpret and mislead others regarding various aspects of our country?  Whether some are trying to show off their repertoire of the “kaduwa”,  and nothing else,?  Whether some are stating links between people and events without in anyway indicating how such links occur(ed)? (For example, some make statements like this – “remember Ranil Wickremasinghe and the bond scam?”  That is all.  There is not a single qualification or addition to that statement by them.  To drive home the point, it is like my stating “remember Michael Roberts and the anti-Covid protesters in Australia?”  What is the real issue, and where is the real link between people and people, or, people and events?.

Your blog has also become a playground for some to place their biographies, where, often, we are not in a position to know whether the content of the “biography” is true or not.  Anyway, who wants to know people’s personal characteristics, their “achievements”, and comments regarding their “very impressive” lineage?  Surely, this is not a place for such boastful comedy?  In fact, I am reminded that this person’s father, who I admit was a very good writer, had to show his resentment of the dilution of democracy in the country at one time by placing a fictitious obituary notice saying,” the death is announced of D.E.M. O’crazy, father of Liberty, etc”.  He did not have the guts to show his resentment by directly writing about the dilution of democracy in the country by his editorial or another article in the newspaper.  After he placed this “obituary” in his newspaper, I lost all regard for him, and considered him a cynical coward.

Finally, I would also like you to reflect that everybody who comments on your blog, do ONLY  post-mortems.  “This happened, that should not have happened, so and so is a crook, the golden age when the ‘suddas’ were here, our people are violent, our religions are shit, so and so should should go to jail,………,.”   The  list of post mortems is endless.  But does anybody suggest the way forward?  Does anybody even have any idea about how we can come out of our current economic crisis?  Does anybody suggest how we can achieve stability in this country?  (On the contrary, I think some of them will be very happy if the country degenerates further in to chaos so that some vested interests of theirs’ can come to power).

Basically, your blog has become a talk shop, a place for vile gossip, and a place for pseudo-intellectuals, and a few braggers.  More than anything else, it has become a playground for Sri Lankan expatriates in the twilight zone of their lives to pass judgment on Sri Lanka and its people from far, far away, and with absolutely no understanding of the ground realities.  That is the bitter truth.

Regards

N W Goonewardena

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