There is no such right. There is the right to free speech. But you’d be a fool to use such privilege to spew bile as much as having a beautiful house and burning it down.
I speak of the damage to India’s reputation by the words of Nupur Sharma who said words deeply offensive to Muslims about the Prophet Mohammed (peach be upon Him).
Why would you do that? Why would you seek to cause offence? Comedians do, that’s their job. I’d rather they did not make offensive jokes about my faith, just as I’d rather Charlie Hebdot magazine in France did not make offensive jokes about Islam.
To what end? You think mocking people’s most revered beliefs will achieve what? It will make you feel stronger. Make you feel better? A dopamine hit? You know what happens when you attack people’s identity? They don’t change their mind? They double down. You end up having the opposite effect. Research shows it.
Then there is the ‘how would you like it?’. Or the ‘yes but Timur the Mongol killed thousands of infidels.’ Seriously? Focussing on the here and now the greatest danger to India and Indian democracy may well be the well-meaning idiot who thinks they’re a patriot.
When I worked in the US Congress, I asked the Minister Political at the Indian Embassy, “all these Congressmen, spewing hatred towards India on the debate on aid. What are you doing?” She said, the problem was the number of Indians in America supporting the aid package which gave an opportunity for Congress to have a debate and spew bile. They’d rather the well-meaning people didn’t take it on themselves to be so helpful.
Returning to offence. Should I be outraged? Yes, I am outraged that someone has offended over a billion people, (make that two – the global Muslim population and the population of India) that they’ve fallen into a trap where India’s enemies can say “I told you so”.
What a prize idiot to cause so much harm needlessly to so many. Words that could have been used for good. Yes you can say ‘fringe’ and she is suspended and probably in fear of her life now. And of course all political parties have fringe elements. I’m sure the Labour Party has antisemites and islamophobia and so do the Conservatives. But none of that excuses idiocy.
Hope we will learn to use our right to freedom of speech, just as carefully as Americans should use the right to bare arms – with extreme care and caution. Be a beacon of bringing together not sectarian separation, of building bridges not destroying minds, of living in the here and now of lifting up not putting down.
And if you really want to help – do an IQ test first and sit out getting involved if it comes up ‘Stupid’.
