There are certain accepted norms that should not be over stepped in civilized societies, in speech, word, or action. It is to maintain a decorum in respect of a person’s intimate and personal relationships. That should be more so in written or electronic media. These accepted norms are not followed by some for gain, some seeking a cheap popularity to attract readers, or internet surfers. In the west there are tabloid news papers specializing in scandals of celebrities , sex and pornography.
It is the arousing of base instincts of people to be curious to know what is going on next door, who sleeps with whom, what under wear such and such a person wears, all with photos from a paparazzi. Some such news mongers even rummage into other peoples garbage to see what they have been eating, what compromising material they have thrown away.
There are people who would like to look through key holes. Hence some media do not hesitate to come down to their level to become social garbage collectors to make a business of catering to satisfy these curious people.
It becomes dirty and abusive when they interview a wife of a public figure just to know whether their intimate relationship is waning, or just sublime and report what she says with gusto to “news” starving public. Or interview people to get news worthy information as to what the wife of the man next door thinks of her husband, or how the man next door treats his wife. No decent news paper or website would go that low to print such material for public gaze. Of course there are those specializing in providing such sexual details and erotic material.
The Sri Lanka Guardian posing as a leading website publishing articles from respected writers and journalists has also gone down “ that drain” interviewing probably posing leading questions to make the wife make statements about her husband and her very personal thoughts about what he says, and proudly display it as an “exclusive report”.
There is no difference the interview is about a wife’s angry reaction to a husbands political ambitions or about his sexual escapades.
But in either case it does not seem to matter much to the Lanka Guardian what the after math of displaying such scurrilous family matters would be to an otherwise normal couple with their usual ups and downs in life- same as all wives and husbands.
With this interview with Karuna’s wife the Guardian Website is trying to kill two birds with one stone. One is to satisfy persons of dubious taste who have a penchant to devour with pleasure such family scandals, and . secondly it seeks to scandalize and bring to shame a man who broke away from the terrorist group to follow a democratic political path.
The Guardian’s terrorist connection is not unknown. It had shown a certain sympathy towards the terrorists during their days of glory.
In that respect it is pertinent that the Sri Lanka Guardian website seeks to interview the wife of Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan. Otherwise why not interview the wife of another Minister, say the wife of Douglas Devananda or the First lady –the wife of the President ? What else is the obsession to go after Karuna ? The Guardian seems over concerned about family problems of Karuna Amman, and none other.
But why is Sri Lanka Guardian taking on Karuna? There is a reason for that, which of course does not take long to search. It is because Karuna represent the wisdom of the Tamil People in the lineage of those great Tamil leaders like the late Laxman Kadirgamar, Thiruchelvam, Ketheeswaran Loganathan, and many others assassinated by the terrorists. Karuna is to-day’s symbol of unity, the symbol of integration of the two principal communities the Sinhala and the Tamil. It is not the Kanaka Pulle the heir apparent to Prabhakaran’s disaster against the Tamils, who represent the Tamil Intelligence.
Kanaka Pulle is Prabhakaran’s cyanide capsule that perpetuates his dream of home land concept. He is the symbol of separation , the symbol of Tamil National destruction, the time bomb against development and progress of the Nation of Sri Lankans. Therefore, those who profited from the largesses of terrorism continue to target Tamil heroes who stand to unite the Sinhala and Tamil communities
It is a fact far too deep to penetrate into by the Lanka Guardian. Perhaps the Lanka Guardian is trying to make a speciality of breaking up families of Tamils who worked against the terrorists. It will not be surprising if the next interview were to be the wife of Anandasangaree.
There was a News paper in Sri Lanka which carried a series of articles interviewing wives of Ministers. They were of course very decent interviews of a spouse of a Minister, who had special interests such as painting, music, or social work. The news paper reporter asked her questions about her special interest and how her husband participates in her activities. But not about personal relationships and family quarrels they have at home about their different activities.
In France, and even in America some News papers and TVs, interviewed the wives of Ministers or even the wives of the Presidents, and again on a very respectable note, without being critical or asking impertinent questions as to where they differ with their husbands political pronouncements.
It would be interesting to hear what the wives of the TNA Parliamentarians say about their husbands. The Lanka Guardian may as well make it a speciality and make it a means to break marriages or make new marriages.
The Lanka Guardian had interviewed the wife of Karuna with leading questions to ask where she differs with her husband and what she thinks about his political affiliations and pronouncements. There was clear evidence to show that it was to discredit the Minister.
The Lanka Guardian also questions else where Karuna’s proposal to visit the Western capitals to meet the Tamil expatriates. It carried a news item again to say that Karuna Amman visits only Switzerland. It would be more healthy for the Lanka Guardian to leave its preoccupation of Karuna and concern itself with other matters which are burning questions of the day.
Even the Federation for the Freedom of the Press may not defend the Editor or the Reporter of the Lanka Guardian if an irate husband would threaten them with death for publishing personal matters concerning a wife and a husband for public scrutiny.
It is of course the business of the Sri Lanka Guardian if it wants to make exclusive reports of the martial conflicts between Ministers and their wives. At that rate the Lanka Guardian may soon make exclusive reports on family affairs of politicians with a “ for adults only” labels.
The Lanka Guardian reports to day that it receives death threats from Karuna. Does it surprise any one ? Even the most religious and a pious husband would feel like killing a reporter if he interviews his wife to find out how pious he had been with her and publish what she says in the press.
There is a story among the Sinhala which says of a man who catches a snake and puts it under his clothes and shouts” help….., help……, there is a snake biting me”.
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