Basic Needs vs. Freedom of Speech
|
Freedom must be given judiciously to appropriate person. It is said, "freedom is our birth right". Absolutely Right! The implication is tantalizing. We have freedom to take bribe, we have freedom to oppress poorer, we have freedom to abuse power and money, we have freedom to support corrupted officers and ministers to get a gainful position, we have freedom to sell life saving drugs and food-crops at higher costs in black market while millions of children are suffering from diseases and mal-nutrition. We have freedom to be greedy to lick the leftovers of America forgetting our cultural heritage! Oh sorry again, Dude! We forgot our hereditary culture after 900 years of slavery, so why bring it again – again it's our freedom.
The basic question is – do we know the meaning of freedom, do we know the scope and range of its usage! If we take an average estimate of psychological response of common people, we can see that most of us are very much outrageous. We try to smash others whoever may appear in front of our path. We apply freedom to kill without any judgment. When this type of event occurs, the word "freedom" becomes malicious. What I feel is that, a total freedom is a heavenly abstract concept, while public must have limited freedom and they must be controlled by some unified law of the country. This does not mean freedom is withheld, but this is essential to provide a secured modern lifestyle. Next comes the word "freedom of speech" which is really great ammunition. If you think past to seventeenth century and wander near Venice in Italy, you can feel the meaning of "freedom of speech". I was talking about Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice". Shakespeare placed an example where Portia demonstrated that "words have a lot of power" by enunciating the glory of mercy. It just shows that the idea of freedom of speech has been in the air even since seventeenth century. Like its superset -- "freedom", "freedom of speech" is also a person dependent concept and should be restricted depending on place and time. A student must not use slang with teachers in school or college or with parents. A guy has no right to tease a girl with slang. A newspaper can't publish wrong information to ignite the soft sentiment of public. Now, most will confess that for first two cases, freedom of speech should be applied in restricted sense while for the rest it is very sensitive issue. The situation is also vital in offices. If a subordinate staff points out the shortcomings of his/her superior, in most cases, the boss does not have guts to accept the judgment of the subordinate staff. So, a subordinate staff has to keep mum. This reprimanded staff has no freedom of speech. We digest it as we have to earn bread and it's life! Also, for media, "freedom of speech" is a burning issue. Usually, it is observed that the ruling government forces the media like newspaper, TV or radio to suppress the news regarding faults of government. It is also observed that if any news agency tries to expose some hidden facts of corruption, government use forces to ransack the agency office, to beat the agency officers etc. This is specially observed in third world countries where human right violation is just an idea in pen and paper. In developed countries, we find that there are lots of NGOs fighting for human rights violation, fighting for establishing the freedom of speech. They know the scope and range of each topic. Unfortunately, most of NGOs working in developing countries are for siphoning income to save taxes, to take foreign trips for international conferences. They take one visit in a year to some remote village with reporters and take a mud-clad child on the lap and publish it in some major daily. Majority of people are still in distress. They need simple food, some basic medicines, one or two pieces of clothes and little bunches of straws to thatch the roof. Their hunger, their cry for the medicine does not understand freedom or human rights. They don't want to know what is GDP rate or what is dollar conversion rate. These words are suitable for very sophisticated city life. We have no right to neglect the majority of our fellow countrymen. I feel that we have to ensure freedom to have food, freedom to have basic medicine and facilities for medical treatment for all of our countrymen. This is urgent for all developing countries. We can't prosper neglecting these majority people. In this context, if required, news media must criticize the government openly with proof. Media must also remember that proof-less use of freedom is a curse and must be nipped in the bud without any further trial. Media must not be playing under the claws of some particular group. It should only report the unbiased fact while it is public who will judge. Then only "Freedom of speech" will be really powerful. Any revolution can come by only fresh youth groups. The movement for freedom of speech can be stronger if all youth groups can revolt for it. Source: Alochona More |
Printable version
Back to top
