Someone, apparently a tolerant and liberal person, said on a TV show that he was for freedom of expression but "you cannot offend or hurt people". He then added: "This is not London or Paris or Amsterdam, this is India".
Someone, apparently a tolerant and liberal person, said on a TV show that he was for freedom of expression but "you cannot offend or hurt people". He then added: "This is not London or Paris or Amsterdam, this is India".
What we fail to understand is that freedom of expression includes the freedom to offend or hurt organized groups, hurt public figures, hurt all those who are in the positions of influence, hurt all those institutions which are powerful and influential, hurt our histories, our legacies, and our past. Freedom from religion is one such freedom, and so is freedom to criticize our culture, tradition and the nation. Freedom of expression cannot come in doses of moderation, like what the Indian Adults want us to believe. And that’s where we got our democracy wrong, making it immature, refusing to let our people grow. Freedom of expression cannot be defined differently in a nation or a city; it is the same in almost every country and nation, like the Theory of Gravity or the Archimedes Principle.
I believe moderations and exceptions will go away with time, will cause friction, will suppress certain people, make them second-class citizens, and might even allow for one section of people to target another. It creates a medieval society as time progresses. We cannot go on to say, ‘you are free to think and write; but you cannot do this and that, you cannot hurt him or them, you have to stay within these boundaries’.
There is a general consensus amongst many Indians that freedom of expression cannot be absolute, that it should come with some moderation. So the question is – who is going to enforce that moderation? The state? Or should it be self-restrained to be praticed by the society itself?
If we allow the state to enforce that moderation, the societies turn into autocracies. The people in power get to stifle the freedoms of common men. That's what communist countries do - those who are in power decide what people can say, do or watch.
The ‘freedom of expression with moderation and imposed restraint’ is a paradox in itself. The country ends up being autocratic given enough time. The American nation created by American Revolution became a successful democracy because they gave themselves these freedoms as near absolute. A contemporary revolution in France became a chaotic, bloody and retributive failure when it allowed the powerful state to decide which rights the individuals can enjoy.
The experience of many nations on this planet has made it clear that we cannot decide what expression we are going to allow and what expression we are going to curtail. If we start with the premise ‘freedom, but with constraints’; the question that arises is who is authorized to regulate those constraints? The state or the groups? Whoever is entrusted with that power, they will become autocratic eventually.
Now, people ask, ‘what about those speeches which clearly urge or encourage people to take up arms and target certain kinds of people?’ We have enough laws already in place to take care of such incitement; and therefore we require no extra laws to protect sentiments of religious groups. ‘Hurt sentiments’ should not be and could not be used as a pretext to shut up any artist, author, movie maker or any speaker.
What happens in India is that there are enough number of antiquated and medieval period laws coming from witch-hunting times by which almost anything you say or do can be considered ‘hurting the religious sentiments’ of one or the other group making the freedom of expression a ridiculous freedom which can be taken away by the state any time whenever a group of more than ten people come together to complain.
For me, India will become a mature democracy only when it gives the freedom of expression without constraints, without restraints without having to regulate moderation. The message for India now is, 'grow up, grow up, and grow up; and face the music! Face the onslaught of criticism like a mature person, face the ire, anger and vitriol of people inside and outside your country. Be mature, and let your institutions be critically examined, ridiculed, made fun of. Let your public figures be derided and spoofed. Be strong, and be a Leader!!!'....
