As the outrage over a new movie on Prophet Muhammad grows in
the Islamic world, I wonder how someone has the courage to create content that
is so imbecile and thoughtless. Why is someone playing with the emotions and
sensibilities of the millions around the world? Why don’t some of these creative
artists ever consider the social ramifications of their content before publishing
them? Why is everything that provokes a large section of the society simply a
matter of “Freedom of Expression”? I call it the Freedom of Axpression because
once it is out; it works like an Ax that first cuts human sentiments into
pieces and then becomes an actual tool for retaliation.
Not so long ago, the celebrated author Salman Rushdie was
stopped from joining Jaipur’s literary festival as certain sections of India’s
Islamic society were against his inclusion. By making a mockery of Islamic
faith through a small passage in his book, The Satanic Verses, he had caused
deep anguish to millions of followers of Islam worldwide. After his ouster from
the festival, he had accused the Indian government of bowing down to the fundamentalists
and not protecting the rights and sanctity of a writer. Mr. Rushdie, if India’s
problems were ever comprehensible to you, you’d have never made that statement
because India has been a victim of communal violence for decades and to stop
that at any cost doesn’t just make sense, it is the absolute necessity. To
revere a writer’s view in lieu of respecting the faith of million others is
simply foolish especially if it comes at the expense of vandalism and violence
in the society. There have been many other instances where artists (painters,
writers, cartoonists, filmmakers etc.) have instigated disharmony through their
art and it’s always branded as a way to express their creativity and freedom of
expression. So when a painter draws nude paintings of Hindu Gods or a cartoonist
draws caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, you know you are inviting trouble. You
don’t need a Phd to learn that.
I believe in freedom of expression because it’s essential for
addressing key issues and concerns plaguing our society. I also believe freedom
of expression should never be censored but time has come for individuals to
take moral responsibility for the content they produce and subsequently publish
for the general public. Asking YouTube, Twitter or book publishing houses to
review all the material before distributing would not be ideal because they
should never have the authority to suppress our views. It’s an individual’s
ethical obligation to avoid creating content that propagates resentment and
anger among people. If a certain belief system doesn’t work for you, stop
trying to ridicule it and rather focus on the one you strongly believe in. It
would create a better argument for the subject matter and encourage a healthy
and peaceful debate between different sections of the society.
