The concept of freedom

Freedom from fear is the freedom

I claim for you my motherland!

Freedom from the burden of the ages, bending your head,

breaking your back, blinding your eyes to the beckoning

call of the future;

Freedom from the shackles of slumber wherewith

you fasten yourself in night's stillness,

mistrusting the star that speaks of truth's adventurous paths;

freedom from the anarchy of destiny

whole sails are weakly yielded to the blind uncertain winds,

and the helm to a hand ever rigid and cold as death.

Freedom from the insult of dwelling in a puppet's world,

where movements are started through brainless wires,

repeated through mindless habits,

where figures wait with patience and obedience for the

master of show,

to be stirred into a mimicry of life.

Rabindranath Tagore

“People like Bal Thackarey are born and die daily and one should not observe a bandh for that.”

Does this remind you of something? Sadly this is not the first instance of it and even more grimly, wont be the last one. However, it is certainly the one to make it to the headlines in recent past.  

This post is inspired from a host of recent uproars in India and elsewhere, wherein small and large things, here and there, keep offending people for reason or lack of it. It’s like they are looking for an excuse to get offended. Taking offence is the new cool now days. I think, even if not entirely on the big stage, but nearby us, we know people who are just looking for a pretext to get offended. But this post Is not about them. I am not going to waste a blog entry on such people. But this entry is about freedom and how I perceive it. (If you do get offended by this post, then it has served its purpose. :D) 

What is Freedom? I think I cannot explain it in anyway better than already done by the Nobel laureate in the majestic lines above. However, sadly that is not what freedom stands for now days.

I think in a free country, an individual should get enough opportunity to exercise his individuality and to grow into his distinct identity. This means he should have the freedom to choose what he should read, write, watch, listen and say unless he is intruding into someone’s personal space. That is a broad and subjective definition, you say?  Well, not really. Think about it. I can write anything and everything I wish to convey via this blog and if you don’t like what I write, you can always skip it. However, if I am making any baseless claims that explicitly concern you (and only you) and I have no concrete proof of it, this means I am intruding in your personal space and you have the right to feel aggrieved about it. So what would you do? Come and talk directly to me, we can settle our differences and a common consensus can be reached. If I don’t retract my stance, you can call a small group meeting where other people can jump in with their opinion too and might convince me. Or you for that matter :P. Still unsatisfied this can be settled on a bigger stage, say a bigger gathering or last but not the least, serve me with a legal notice or a defamation suit. Alternatively, you could start with burning my effigy in public and have a rally or a procession against me, without doing any of the above, if you are in India, that is. Small matter if the objection is valid or invalid, you will have those fifteen minutes of fame.

“

The best way not to be offended by a book is to close the book.

 -Salman Rushdie

”

However, why do we get offended? Are we so short of tolerance, so boosted in our ego or so insecure that anything anywhere is viewed as intruding our personal space? This becomes even more asinine when there are objections over the movie’s content. If a central regulatory authority has passed it, that has deemed it viewable for those who want to view it, why would others go ahead and decide that it should be banned because it offended them? It is perplexing. As an individual, I am entitled to make my own choices and want to do so rather than someone else making the decision based on his whims and idiosyncratic tendencies. If a book offends you, don’t read it. Don’t like a movie, stop watching it. And so on.

“

People always make the mistake of thinking art is created for them. But really, art is a private language for sophisticates to congratulate themselves on their superiority to the rest of the world.

-Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes)

”

I believe that to grow as a society, as a civilization and as a culture, we need to be tolerant enough so that others living here can express themselves freely.  We aim to be a utopian society but are behaving like a dysfunctional one. To understand that the world does not begin or end around us, and that other people also have their freedom to articulate what they feel and think, is a primary requirement for each of us out there.

In addition, we must be sensible enough not to respond to people who try to provoke others into these rallies and demonstrations too. If someone is offended, his peers must calm him down. Well, I am drifting onto the mob-mentality but that a topic for another day and another entry. 

Please do give me your feedback in comments. Signing off with another poem obtained with a generous web search.

 Freedom Of Speech

Please, don't chastise or stone me,

Or force me into a fiery grave.

Instead, let me present my views freely

To those who are steadfast and brave.

Let my words echo across the land,

A right that we value and hold so dear.

May my words be uttered without reprimand,

Speaking emphatically free from fear.

Joseph T. Renaldi