Selective Freedom of Speech: Driven and fueled by Mob sentiments

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” ― George Orwell

“Hypocrites get offended by the truth.” ― Jess C. Scott, Bad Romance: Seven Deadly Sins Anthology

Very delicate issue, freedom of speech!!! Freedom of speech doesn’t have a price tag and yet it can be very costly under certain circumstances or in the world of hypocrites. We often tend to portray a saga of greatness for our own country just because we want to prove our greatness; by doing it we hide the real issues under the carpet.

My question is to my own self and others – “Why”? My heart is sitting in a class of a primary school and just because it has a daily habit to raise hand, it does this time also and I allow it to answer for obvious reasons. Very simple answer is our typical mindset, our rigid mindset, our hypocrite mindset, our showbiz mindset. What we do when some guests are coming at our home or in festival days? We hide all stuff under the carpet or in cupboards and trying to show we are in the best part of world. Just because it is hidden, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. 

Similarly if anyone hides or suppresses what he/she wants to tell people what they don’t want to hear, it doesn’t mean that truth doesn’t exist. To bring truth on the Page 3, “Freedom of Expression” has been considered as a fundamental right for in democratic country. If that right is not given then don’t announce your country as a democratic one. Definitely government has to take it to its chin always for not being able to protect that right of any citizen. Democratic government has failed most of the time to protect that fundamental right of citizen by watching the circus happening in routine life of a common man as if they have paid to watch the “Tamasha” whereas their duty is to stop that “Tamasha” because they are paid to do so. 

Freedom of speech does not protect you from the consequences of saying stupid shit and it should not; but what will happen when it represents bitter truth that we don’t want to showcase? By surrendering to a mob aren’t we creating a situation where dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter? Not to speak one’s thought brings back the worst time in memory before independence; even at that freedom fighters were jailed for expressing their thoughts. The cardinal reason why people get on with their lives even when they suffer is there is threat to life and none is there to save them. Judiciary is slave of political system and trials and considering the popular opinion of common public, common human being avoids those situations and suffers.  

I wish there is a world where anyone can know the truth and speak their mind with freedom without having to fear for their lives.

There's a way to do it better - find it. But who will tie the bell in the cat’s neck? Who wants to take on the government?

Make no mistake, it’s very easy to shoot the gun at the authorities and telling them they are not doing what they ought to be doing; by doing it, aren’t we escaping from our own responsibilities? Not just India, lot of countries have been driven my sentiments of mob; but counter question must be “Do the mob have any sentiments?” In childhood, one of our teachers used to say, “Mob has no mind & no logic; if you are a part of a mob then your intellect and wisdom are diminished due to the so called sentiments”.  Is it so difficult to curb the sentiments of a mob and the irony is when to curb those sentiments illegal and non logical actions are taken by authorities in panic? Isn’t it a classic example of average performance by the people who needed to perform better because they are paid to perform that duty? 

Taking all this into account, let’s drill down to the core issue; who are the part of mob? Ans - Citizen of country. Why they are part of mob? Ans - Uncontrolled sentiments.  Why uncontrolled sentiments exist? Ans – Rigid mindsets. Why Rigid Mindsets? Ans – Less power to see the situation from different angles. Why? Ans – Limited knowledge or narrow understating and no power of proper interpretation. Why? Ans – lack of education why? Lazy attention by teachers and parents and creating a world that is so unreal. Why? Ans – Showbiz of parents. How this chain of events is responsible? Ans – Some from that mob are the part of mob in parliament. What they do? Ans - IT Act amendments 2008 were passed by parliament without discussion and with no research (Courtesy- Rahul Kanwal). So what? Ans – Bizarre cases of FIRs against people who haven’t damaged the impression of democracy; they just tried to feel the air of democracy and in the end fear of mob has shown them the door.

Freedom of Speech comes with responsibility and no doubt about it but there are plenty of cases where it has been raped and abused like never before on public platform by powerful people and they are roaming freely but common man can’t do that. Freedom of speech is the right of powerful people and hence the definition of democracy has become “of the powerful, by the powerful, for the powerful” and not “of the people, by the people, for the people”. Now let’s not jump to the conclusion by inconclusive facts; we common man are also responsible. In the era of social media, we express our opinions with hostility, knowing that by abusing others we can get away and still we impose our thoughts on others. As a common man, we don’t have the mindset of “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” We want to impose our thoughts and somehow it has also played its part in the wagon wheel of problems democracy faces. 

At times, I think…We the people are responsible for creating all chaos by not taking care of our children on what is right and what can be made right; we create powerful people and then blame them for murder of democracy; we can’t kill our mindset which is driving the Selective Freedom of Speech vehicle which is fueled by Mob sentiments; we don’t go to polling booth to cast a vote and then we want to create a perfect world in tea table discussions and represent ourselves as the true fighter of the drama of democracy.

Root causes are left abandoned and we want to solve the issues without knowing what is happened behind the doors. We just want to shut the doors and talk. 

When we will do our bit in a small way to make the system good and to create a better society? Is it even possible in this virtual world where reality is hidden?