Every intelligent, well-informed, law-abiding citizen knows Foe. He is revered by most, found unassailable by many, as He springs on them Hydra-like and even understood by a few. For the uninitiated, Foe is Freedom of Expression...and ironically Foe will prove to be my most valuable friend in critically analysing Foe, as any objection to my portrayal of Foe would effectively impinge on my Foe!!! So, as I was saying, Foe has many friends... I distinctly remember one from a well known college in Pune, who cheerfully sported a shirt that said (with an air of silent contemplation)..."Reality is but a Rorschach ink blot" And the face of the owner seemed to beam in the self evident correctness of the assertion and held a look of gentle sympathy and understanding for those, who had not attained the wisdom to spot this self evident correctness. (Although, how anything can be correct, whether self evidently or otherwise, when reality is an ink blot, was a question that used to baffle me a lot) During the three years that I spent in that well known college in Pune, a highly recurrent theme (even more recurrent than global warming) was "accepting that one's opinion is as correct as that of the other" This and similar statements were bundled together and tossed at unsuspecting victims, since these, apparently, embodied...the Freedom of Expression (FOE). If having an opinion has, as its inextricable component, accepting that the opposite is equally true, why have an opinion...or why call it an opinion, in the first place? Something like 'general consensus' would be a more apt description.
Does respecting Foe mean accepting, that we are all equally right? Even a moment's thought, after having shaken off their messianic zeal, would convince most Friends of the Foe, that this, in fact, is not true. Respecting the Foe does not mean believing that the other is right, but respecting his right to believe he is right! Could anything be more self evident?
Today, Foe is revered to the extent, that most of us cannot sleep soundly, if we have not uttered the sentence, "Of course, that's just my opinion...you are right too" about 22 times in a day. Is THAT freedom? If so, whose freedom is being safeguarded here?
"Self appointed guardians of Morality" have been facing relentless waves of opprobrium, even from the high school kid, who has never ventured beyond the Bombay Times. It's perhaps time, we subjected their equally overzealous counterparts,the "Self appointed guardians of the Freedom of Expression", to the same degree of scrutiny. They will, of course, have to respect our freedom to indulge in such an exercise!
