The corner stone for any civilized society is free speech and dissent. The right for the citizens to express themselves orally, it critical for information flow and decision making. If the fundamental rights like free speech, freedom of press, freedom to protest and right to an attorney are suspended, then you end up in an Orwellian society or a dictatorship like North Korea. Much like the labour laws, these rights have been introduced after immense struggle against the monarchies and theocracies of the past. I feel the present generation is frivolously giving it away to save themselves from being offended.
The famous comedian George Carlin, once came up with the seven dirty words which no one uses in the media. Some radio listener decided to get offended by it instead of changing the channel. As result, George Carlin fought a high profile legal battle for a year and finally won it.
George Carlin – Seven Dirty Words Youtube Link
Recently you hear instances of people protesting against others with whom they do not essentially agree. The one for me to remember is people at UC-Berkeley blocking Milo Yiannopoulos from talking in their campus. As much as I am for people protesting, this is not an equivalent situation. Instead of protesting against Milo, an idiot with little scientific knowledge on most subjects, one should focus on showcasing his work. This would bring his bigotry, xenophobia and racism to the front. By preventing him from talking, people have given a bigger forum for him to play a victim. The protesters have lost the opportunity to make the organisers listen to Milo and realise their mistake. The way I would protest this is by making Milo speak, and doing things outside that would drive him and his supporters insane, like showing their love for other human beings, supporting minority rights etc. These are two instances spread of 4 decades of how both the left and right behave. This is a very dangerous trend.
This insanity is not just limited to the United States. One can take plenty of example of the same globally. The furore in the Muslim world over cartoon and a badly made movie on Prophet Mohammed, is another example of stupid reactions preventing freedom of expression. I see that a lot in India, where artworks get banned to prevent people from getting hurt. Any public speech against a movement is brought down by a series of litigations which, will last your life time. Countries like China and North Korea just prevent freedom of speech under the disguise of treason.
I was once sent out of a government building in India, because I referred to a government employee by her name, instead of her role. Apparently in their context, it is not offensive for me to use someone’s name. My point was, if you don’t want people to call you by your name, why do you need one. This is another growing epidemic. People getting offended for everything that behaving like a child. There is no boundary on what will offend people and it is not for the offender to get into their mind to find it out. If you are offended, you should find a way to address it. India lost two of its greatest artists because of this sick attitude, one was painter M.F. Hussain and another was writer Salman Rushdie. The former was to appease offended Hindus and the latter was for Muslims. Art has the power to push boundaries and if people don’t like it, they have an option to walk out.
In Summary, free speech is paramount for opinions to come irrespective of whether they are acceptable or not. In the recent years the left have become more critical of dissent than the right, in the quest of equality and pluralism. It is important to note that what we have today is a result of people who have risked lives for such fundamental rights. It is easy to give them away and land in Orwell’s 1984.
Demystifying a skeptic's world 