Headline June 05, 2015/ ''' THE MASTER THINKER TO MANKIND : ! IBN KHALDUN ! "'

''' THE MASTER THINKER TO MANKIND :

  ! IBN KHALDUN ! "'

TO THE INITIATED  -Pakistan is a great and a budding democracy. Every place, I walk to and observe, the beauty of the  ''freedom of speech''  greets me with garlands.

"Ibn Khaldun's  The Muqaddimah     is often cited as the first work of historiography and the forerunner to the social sciences. However, he is best known for his theory of cyclical patterns of power-

Or the Rise and Fall of civilisations.

Arnold Toynbee,  the western historian decalred  Muqaddimah to be  "the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by the human mind."

According to Ibn Khaldun, what brought the ruin of a civilization was not lack of military, political, or economic power but  INJUSTICE.

When society lost its commitment to justice, ethics, and fair play, and when powerful members of society put their own interests above those of the community."

A glance at history shows that civilizations with a better justice system prospered. Roman laws were superior to those of the  ''barbarians''.

Later, the State of Madinah was based on  ''Adl and Insaf"  [the correct translation of which is the Supremacy and the Application of Law} created one of the most egalitarian societies based on rule of law and economic justice. Thus:

Setting up the first welfare society and state in the history of mankind. The rapid spread of Islam was due to its vastly superior system of justice. For instance, in the 9th Century Muslim scholars were debating the ''rights of the child". 

These above passages, crafted from the writings of Pakistan's greatest son, Imran Khan. A warm, personal greeting to O''Captain. And with time and passage, I will cover his work. 

''Freedom of Speech" fails to scintillate for a couple of reasons. The five big free speech themes, Mr. Shipler  explores are more second cousins to one another than siblings-

Which means he gains little thematic momentum as he switches from book uproars to whistle blowers to bigot to the perils of corporate money and,finally, to artistic freedom.

All of the book's many cross-hatched character sketches and narrative details can't save it from reading more like several overwritten magazine articles bound between hard covers than a unified book, about freedom of speech.  Its sprawl  and lack of urgency will discourage even the most tenacious reader.  

Mr.  Shipler does an adequate job of refreshing the story of the former Justice Department official Thomas Tamm, who was an important source for The New York Times 2005 scoop- About the government's secret monitoring of phone calls and emails.

There's a potential tension here, as Mr. Tamm leaks what he considers to be an unlawful surveillance program and pays the price as an F.B.I investigation targets him and he is threatened with prosecution for espionage.

But Mr. Shipler is also so clearly on Mr. Tamm's side that he doesn't bother to recruit a respectable source from the legal or national security establishment to present the argument that Mr.Tamm's conduct could be considered wrong and unlawful.

Even if you identify with Mr.Tamm, as I do, it comes off as a fixed fight.

If the best measure of a book is how vigorously it causes a reader to quarrel with it,  "Freedom of Speech"  excels.

In the book's last section, Mr.Shipler recounts how a Washington theater that staged controversial works and sponsored freewheeling discussion became the target of a small pressure group, which sought to disrupt its funding.

Such pressure is neither censorship nor suppression of free speech. No theater, no poet, no filmmaker, no painter, no artist has a free-speech right to other people's money.

Indeed, deciding what sort of art you spend your [or your group's] money on can be one of the highest expressions of free speech.

Another way to appreciate  "Freedom Of Speech" is to read it as evidence that the First Amendment rights in America, if not the other many parts of the world, are in good repair.

Oh, there may be a snake or two on the loose, but what paradise doesn't have a tempting serpent?

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Yaa all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' The Battleground '''

'''Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless