Controversy 1:
Being a Hindu, I have worshiped several different gods, some of whose
names I do not remember. I have been doing it because my parents do and my
parents worship because their parents did it as well. Hence, it has been passed
on from generation after generation. About a month ago at the dinner table, I
asked the question, “Why are we worshipping to someone who we have never seen
or heard from?” The answer I got from by parents was that God is someone who
exists in our hearts and souls. When we get a message from an inner voice, it
is God who is trying to stop us when we are trying to do wrong things and God
is also the one who encourages us when we are about to do good things. To me,
the answer seemed very convincing at the time, but now when I think about it,
it still remains a mystery. It is a fact that we have never seen him but there
is faith that he exists.
Controversy 2:
As respectful citizens of our own proud countries, we
have faith on the governments who are running the countries but the fact is
that some governments are spying and betraying the trust of their naïve
citizens. Whistleblowers are people who reveal wrongdoings and other
information of an organization to the general public. One of the latest
controversial debates is, are whistleblowers heroes or criminals? It is very
important to see both perspectives of this debate because if we only choose to
see one side of the story, it would be very bias to that particular side.
Edward Snowden, an ex-employee of the CIA has also been charged with theft of
government documents and espionage. Snowden has been hailed in many nations as
a hero, because he revealed how the USA and Britain track all citizens.
However, his actions have not been well received by the United States. This
leak of mass surveillance programs is the biggest leak in Pentagon history.
Snowden believes his actions are justified as he was informing the public about
what is being done against them. He is currently residing in Russia where he
has been granted temporary asylum. Earlier, whistleblowers were severely
punished for exposing misconduct or illegal activity by the respective
organizations, but now multiple countries have set up acts (possibly
reluctantly) to protect whistleblowers. Hence it is very important to clearly
identify who to punish and who not to and the only way it can be done is by
having a balanced viewpoint on the situation.
