Freedom of Speech and Other Worlds
The reason we have freedom of speech, and human rights, is the result of historical forces, which are not well understood. Recently, in fact, a cartoon that depicts the prophet Mohammed as a suicide bomber has caused an uproar. My purpose is to explain why we have freedom of speech.
First, religious views are in a state of flux, so too, is scientific knowledge. There is no one Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and so on. Wars are fought between Catholics and Protestants, Sunnis and Shiites, and so on. In fact, in every body of knowledge, like the Islamic cannon, there are orthodox and heterodox views (e.g., Shah Hussain, a Sufi mystic, denied that the prophet Mohammed was even necessary to the Islamic faith.)
Second, as John Stuart Mill argued, in On Liberty, we must allow a diversity of opinion, even false ones. If there is truth, then we must believe that, as it says on the seal of India, from Ashoka, "Truth alone prevails." Furthermore, history allows us to confirm that the repression of freedom of speech hurts the most vulnerable elements of society.
In the west, it is from the lessons we take from the trial of Galileo (who was put under house arrest for unorthodox views) and Bloody Mary (who killed Protestants, for heresy), that we have achieved the tenets of civil society: disputes must be solved by dialogue and tolerance, not violence.
Canada is a destination for immigrants looking for a better life. Ironically, the idea, that Islam is linked to violence, is protested with threats of death: which only confirm the criticism. We need to understand that threatening people's lives is not equivalent to saying something that we disagree with.
In conjunction with a medieval honor system, and psychologically, driven by a post-colonial inferiority complex, there is a desire to defend religious, national, or ethnic pride. Though we must be sensitive to people's hurts, we must not allow self-righteous thugs to eclipse our worlds.
First, religious views are in a state of flux, so too, is scientific knowledge. There is no one Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and so on. Wars are fought between Catholics and Protestants, Sunnis and Shiites, and so on. In fact, in every body of knowledge, like the Islamic cannon, there are orthodox and heterodox views (e.g., Shah Hussain, a Sufi mystic, denied that the prophet Mohammed was even necessary to the Islamic faith.)
Second, as John Stuart Mill argued, in On Liberty, we must allow a diversity of opinion, even false ones. If there is truth, then we must believe that, as it says on the seal of India, from Ashoka, "Truth alone prevails." Furthermore, history allows us to confirm that the repression of freedom of speech hurts the most vulnerable elements of society.
In the west, it is from the lessons we take from the trial of Galileo (who was put under house arrest for unorthodox views) and Bloody Mary (who killed Protestants, for heresy), that we have achieved the tenets of civil society: disputes must be solved by dialogue and tolerance, not violence.
Canada is a destination for immigrants looking for a better life. Ironically, the idea, that Islam is linked to violence, is protested with threats of death: which only confirm the criticism. We need to understand that threatening people's lives is not equivalent to saying something that we disagree with.
In conjunction with a medieval honor system, and psychologically, driven by a post-colonial inferiority complex, there is a desire to defend religious, national, or ethnic pride. Though we must be sensitive to people's hurts, we must not allow self-righteous thugs to eclipse our worlds.
Labels: Freedom of speech, J.S. Mill, post-colonial politics
posted by Anoop Gupta at 01:09
1 Comments:
Congratulations! You raise some pertinent issues regarding the freedom of speech and expression in the present day world, and do so with conviction. Clearly, the freedoms that we enjoy in the liberal societies have a history, culture and context. So many people have toiled hard to attain these freedoms, and many more have perished protecting them. It is our turn now to stand up against those who seek to silence our ideals and rubbish our values. You seem to stand up, you deserve praise!!
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