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AAKM-UNIVERSALITY-OF-ATATURKS-PHILOSOPHY

Reproduced by Australian Atatürk Cultural Centre Inc. 9 press is occasionally used as a tool for propagating the most preposterous lies. But freedom to express opinions in the press involves other dangers. There is the danger that the press, and possibly intellectual groups too, may discard nationhood and become the tools of political or secret economic aspirations. The possibility that money may be paid to buy the press, the latent influence of international monetary circles and the direct effect on the press of the discretionary funds of foreign governments are all serious dangers which may result in public opinion being deceived and misled. Such drawbacks, which the freedom of the press may bring in its wake, however, are not without remedy. First of all, legal limits to the freedom of the press may be set. Secondly, newspapers may themselves set up special organisations to provide codes of ethics to cover their work. Journalism, initially nothing more than a profitable business, may be transformed into a social institution. Intellectual and political training of the people provides a further guarantee. People may develop the habit of reading various newspapers, comparing one with another and scorning journalistic fabrication.11 Sound Social Thinking and the Press With national guidance and by taking a correct but firm line with entrenched moral attitudes, it is possible to create a social way of thinking in line with national interests which will prevent the spread of thoughts harmful to society. It would certainly be absurd to allow your opponents to express themselves freely as you would then merely be laying yourself wide open to their attacks. Something more than a defensive attitude is called for. When people set out to destroy you, nothing can stop them. But just as there are safeguards for health, so too there ought to be safeguards for the intellectual well being of society. The same principle is applicable in both cases. Moral germs are as difficult to destroy as biological ones. Just as physiological immunity may be created in a man's body, so it is also possible to bring about moral immunity in the social edifice, thereby developing strength and a basis of resistance in society (...). Whatever the niceties of the laws adopted by parliament, a writer has an obligation to display as much concern and respect for the rights of the citizen and the supreme interests of the country and these interests come before any kind of personal interest- as he would in regard to science, society or his own politics. It is this obligation, which will enforce discipline. Nevertheless, as has not been the case in the past, the most effective tools for doing away with any disadvantages arising from the freedom of the press are certainly not rules curtailing its freedom. Quite the contrary; it is the very freedom granted to the press which should itself eliminate any disadvantages arising from that freedom.12 Freedom in Training and Education The question of freedom in training and education is a most important and delicate one. The state is very much concerned with the training and education of its citizens (...). The freedom in question follows on from the freedom of the individual but it is

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