Some people say that journalists - writers - are mercenaries. Once more, with feeling.
Others have told to my face that journalists are responsbile for how the public thinks. That the country has gone to hell, and that journalists made it so.
Wow. I didn't know that I was that powerful. Kun fayakun. Be, and so be it.
In Islamic traditions, it is said that in your grave, everyone will be asked by two angels this question, amongst other things: marobbuka - who is your God? Can you say, Amir Hafizi?
"Marobbuka?"
"Amir Hafizi is my God. He changed the world! I was merely playing along to the world that he created! It was all his fault!"
Let's look at say, movie reviews. I said, and am saying, that Iron Man 2 is a good, enjoyable movie. That is one view - mine. There are other views, sometimes in direct opposition to mine.
I believe that Babe is one of the greatest movies ever made by mankind. Roger Ebert doesn't think so. Who is right? Who is wrong? Is there a right or wrong?
The secret is simple - you decide. You get your vote.
I said it pure and simple, years ago, that writing up to 2000 words about something or someone doesn't fully encapsulate the real, whole essence of that something or someone. Or doing a movie about a subject. Or a 100,000-word book. You can spend over 40 years with somebody, like my parents did, and still not know him or her.
The medical profession has been around for what, thousands of years? Hundreds? And even the best doctors in the world don't know everything about the human body.
Perhaps one day, the role of us journalists - sorry, mercenaries - is not to come up with views of our own, but to facilitate discussion and encourage many different viewpoints to be expressed. Not to fight for any one perception, as some do, or one side of the story, but to ensure that people have enough information to make up their own minds about something.
End of the day, it is up to the individual, who make up the people, to decide.
