Penguins

Penguins are aquatic, flightless birds that are highly adapted to life in the water. Their distinct tuxedo-like appearance is called “countershading,” a form of camouflage that helps keep them safely in the water. Penguins do have wing-bones, but they are flipper-like and extremely suited to swimming. Penguins are found almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, where they catch their food underwater and raise their young on land.

I am not an expert of penguins. I copy-pasted that information on them from the “Defenders of Wild Life.” After reading about the probe against Hürriyet Daily News Editor-in-Chief Murat Yetkin over an article he wrote on the massive graft investigation - in which not only the usual suspects (politicians) but the even-more-usual suspects (bankers) were implicated - I decided it might be wiser to write on penguins, rather than on the grotesque vandalism poured onto workers and demonstrators during May Day.

After all, did not the media, scared of the wrath of the absolute ruler and his political clan, prefer to air penguin documentary instead of reporting the Gezi incidents last June? That shows that there is a link between penguins and resistance to brutal, excessive use of force by police acting on orders of tyrannical and power-obsessed rulers. Indeed, writing on penguins might achieve two aims with one article. While on the one hand the writer might be involved in a social awareness project by drawing attention to the plight of penguins. He might inform people, for example, that emperor penguins breed in the coldest environment of any bird species, that air temperatures may reach -40° (F/C), and that wind speeds may reach 89 miles per hour (144 km/hr). On the other hand, it might save the writer from persecution, helping him avoid being questioned by a prosecutor because he/she indeed reported on massive alleged graft.

But what will happen if all newspapers, TV news bulletins, news portals decide to concentrate on penguins, polar bears, deserts and the Bedouins of deserts, rather than on what’s happening in front of their offices? Would such an approach be compatible at all with constitutional right and liberties, such as the right to have access to free information, and the freedom of the media? The chief might not object at all if the entire media dives to hunt under the icy waters, but can the entire people, all the time, be convinced that this is a “penguin land,” full of penguins that are required to raise at least three offspring?

Oh la la… We have a problem there! Penguins are peaceful birds, so noble that God gave them a distinct tuxedo-like appearance, but king and emperor penguins lay one egg while other penguin species lay two eggs. Can’t they change behavioral patterns and lay three eggs? If the absolute ruler wants it, why should they not?

I must read more on the life of penguins. Do they have May Day? Do they have wild celebrations during which uniformed penguins ruthlessly beat, gas and offer free showers to other penguins? Do they have a working penguin class? Do they elect their absolute rulers through a democratic process, or do they apply the survival of the fittest principle?

While Kızılay, Taksim and many other squares of the country were made inaccessible, police used horrendous force on demonstrators, and while the tall, bold, bald man with huge black eyes asked his subordinates to convince Uncle Sam to send back a nasty cleric, somewhere else penguins were diving for food to survive…