I was arranging my thoughts on how to rebut YouTube's questionable faith in freedom of expression when the above speech, uttered so convincingly by Edward Norton in the "25th Hour", assaulted my eardrums and in the process left my prepared points of argument in disarray. As a non-believer, it's encouraging to hear such a provocative statement about Jesus Christ coming from a superpower nation that generally worships God.

I feel sorry for the believers. Or should I? The suggestion that their faith and beliefs are the mere result of the best and most elaborate hoax in the history of mankind surely could upset so many, but it would also inadvertently give strength to the faithful. The point is that no idea can stand, or should stand, unchallenged. We think, therefore we are.

Values have to be tested and tried. And also challenged and defended, of course. The controversial YouTube video clip, no matter how malicious the intent behind it, has opened a Pandora's box. The ongoing episode raises a lot of questions - about freedom and responsibility, about cultural sensitivity, about the rights of one person against those of millions, and about how far we should go to defend our values and how much we should let our values be tested for their own good.

We now know YouTube's values. Its owners won't tolerate footage of nipples and penises, and "pornographic" uploads have been removed on the grounds that they fall outside of the "community" norm. Yet a spokesperson for the website said that postings that ridicule or offend sacred figures revered by millions "do not violate our policies".

YouTube has the right to defend its principles, and so do Thais who consider anti-monarchy postings more obscene than pornography. "Freedom" tests everyone's tolerance, and freedom exercised without sensitivity or responsibility, or with malice, presents the biggest challenge of all.

Thai authorities lost this battle the minute the controversial video clip was uploaded. Ignoring it would have provoked a major local uproar, so they chose to block the website, playing nicely into the hands of those waiting to say, "See? This is what dictatorial rulers do." The spiritual link between Thais and the beloved King doesn't matter because nearly every debate on Net freedom has ended in a victory for the freedoms of the anonymous. "You" was Time's Person of the Year for 2006 and this powerful tide of democratisation is sweeping everything else aside.

The Internet gives freedom a new meaning. It's a freedom that you don't have to fight for and the fact that this freedom comes cheap and easy may help explain how it is being used. The person who posted the contentious video clip would cry foul about his or her rights being violated had it been removed, and this voice, as far as the global community is concerned, would be louder than that of millions of Thais whose right to worship their King was insulted.

Yet faith can either be undermined or reinforced under these circumstances. God has been questioned, mocked, scrutinised or provoked in numerous works of modern art. He still holds sway, despite people like me, and flourishing "freedoms". But is he "the same" as 2000 years ago? Absolutely not.

This is a new era and at the end of the day nobody escapes scrutiny and contempt. All institutions and entities need to flirt with chaos and threats at times in order to remain strong. I guess all we can do is let the flaws and merits of freedom wrestle in a soul-searching fight and move on. Thais love and want to protect His Majesty the King of their own free will, and this fact alone will ensure their values can withstand the assaults. As for YouTube, the controversy has brought its noble founding principles into question.

Freedom is nothing without responsibility. Did the YouTube poster "exercise" freedom or "exploit" it?

Let's just hope the video-clip incident is a learning curve, because if it's a precedent-setter this much-proclaimed stage for global "convergence" may degenerate into just a weird kind of war-zone. And we will be left saying the same thing as the Norton character in "25th Hour". After lambasting everyone including Jesus Christ to vent his anger, he cools down and admits: "No. No, **** you, Montgomery Brogan [himself]. You had it all, and you threw it away, you dumb ****!"

Tulsathit Taptim