By: Levi Gennett

Levi Gennett — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 06:04:35 +0000

It is also necessary that there must be a reasonable nexus between the restriction imposed and the achievement of public order. In

By: Ushamrita

Ushamrita — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 08:33:08 +0000

And, if free speech should have a free run, lets begin with the comments section of blogs. 😉 The day we can deregulate/un-moderate the comments section of our personal or official blogs, that’s the day when “free speech” in the absolute sense would have truly arrived on Planet Earth!! 😀

By: Ushamrita

Ushamrita — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 08:24:53 +0000

Sanjay, you’ve taken a lovely, measured stance on what has transpired of late. Indeed, education, at its core, should seek to open up, not suppress. Voices of dissent are as welcome as voices of solidarity in a healthy democracy. As for the presence of ‘boundaries’ in matters of free speech, there ideally should be none, but that is an ideal case scenario. We live in a “rough approximation” of an ideal world. Therefore, all we say, do, think, believe, etc., etc., are, at best, rough approximations of what should be, or is, ideal. Therefore, in the absence of an ideal scenario, and working with rough approximations, one can, at most, expect a degree of sense in even the mindless protests done by over-enthusiastic students. I mean which ‘educated’ youth, in their right minds, would say things to incite feelings of hate/hostility? You have a problem with how the country functions? Sure thing, speak up, make your point heard, but have a sense of decorum when expressing yourself. Self-censorship/regulation is an art, or should we say science, a lot of us are yet to learn even the basics of. So, dear students, before shooting off with tirades & saying imbecilic things, bear in mind you have a basic education in the English language (along with a few more), and the brain to articulate coherently. Honestly, we expect the Government to shut up & allow small incidents such as the JNU incident to pass by under the garb of “allowing dissent through the fundamental right to free speech”, and then, we, the same ones, lambast the Government when a mountain is created out of a molehill. Is our consistent behaviour guaranteed? Or can inconsistent behaviour pass off as another constitutional freedom we are guaranteed? Agreed, the charge of sedition against a student leader is an extreme step, and definitely we, as a collective should speak up against it, and we are doing that. However, to allow a free run to students to talk in a reckless, unruly fashion saying it is their fundamental right to do so? When was the Fundamental Right to Free Speech ever an ‘absolute’ right? You have the right, but this right is relative to many more parameters such as time, place, situation, and such like. An ideal world is the only scenario in which one can expect an absolute measurement of life. Unfortunately, for the imitation of the ideal world we currently inhabit, relativity is a way of life we had better accept. For that’s the single realisation that will enable us to be rational thinkers, citizens of a healthy democracy who make the effort to truly educate themselves & therefore, build informed opinions & tolerant temperaments. Long way off, but this incident must serve as an important lesson to learn from.

Comments on: Free Speech Should Have a Wild Run

By: Levi Gennett

By: Ushamrita

By: Ushamrita