Freedom of Speech and Expression

So in this earlier entry, I had picked up an article from mr Brown about school kids in Singapore being suspended for flaming teachers on their blogs! Again, from his site I discover that in the USA, land of free-for-all lawsuits but reduced civil freedom, a student sues his school for curtailing his Freedom of Speech and Expression and wins! Funny how laws are in different countries right?

Freedom of speech and expression has been deemed a universal human right for centuries now, restricted only by specific cultural norms of propriety or decorum, or even custom, rather than law. What happens when law must step in to regulate this, especially in a medium that transcends physical, geographical and cultural boundaries, ie. cyberspace? The law already has statutes for slander, libel and whatnot, but while there is a difference between facts and opinions, is there not an increasingly blurry, subjective space on what consititutes opinions on facts? Yup, I'm a bit late, what can I say? I'm talking about Gaurav Sabnis who has been served a legal notice by the IIPM for 'slandering and libelling' it (if those can be used as verbs). For your browsing convenience, I've linked his original post here and the JAMmag piece that started the controversy here.

Then all these super immature college students started contacting Rashmi Bansal, editor of JAM and another blogger Varna Sriram, and COMPLETELY hitting below the belt with insulting, personal, completely impermissible in any context comments about her sexuality of all things (what the hell does that have to do with the article that commented on their precious institution which is obviously in need of moral education and etiquette classes? Hey, isn't that beginning to be a staple in business schools and for executives now? Hey, we have high demand in India!). This is recorded and answered for the pieces of crap they are by Sepia Mutiny in its appropriately indignant post. DesiPundit did a fabulous and mindboggling job providing updates.

The best article, and most comprehensive, according to Sabnis, (who should know), relating to the whole issue, is by Mark Glaser.

Well, the whole point of this post for me was to debate freedom of speech and expression on the medium of the internet. I wonder if there ever was a lawsuit, if Gaurav and gang could use the newly-instituted Right To Information Act? Oh, this seems to be only for information relating to public documents. Hmmm. Hope I am never compelled to use it! Maybe the Information Technology Act 2000? In any case, they are on the right side of the law :)

But don't you see this happening, that the blurrier boundaries get, the less black-and-white and distinguishable right and wrong, good and bad, the more existential the crisis, the more uncretain the individual, the more unknown the territory, the greater the crackdown? Intolerance was identifiable through racism, which was based on fear and desire to conquer the unknown, which manifested in rationalised superiority, as well feelings of threat and defence, the imbalance of power in which relation was only the result of technological superiority on one side. The point is, earlier the binaries were clear: men/women, whites/non-whites, french/english, Brahmins/Shudras, USA/USSR etc. Now they're all foggy. Politics has pervaded all sorts of relations like never before. The media is controlled by the Government or corporations. Truth seems to be a more bitter pill to swallow than ever. Entangled in a quagmire of questions, the answers to which rarely satisfy, we are constantly in search digestible justifications. It puzzles us to think that the categories embedded in our minds through years of historical indoctrination through various biased individuals, may not be relevant anymore. Oh, are all Chinese not communists? Are all Muslims not terrorists? Are blacks Republican? Are you proud to be brown? My son has decided he is gay? My sister has decided to take a divorce? You're my best friend and you're going out with my recent ex? My wife is a born-again slut? My husband beats me to a pulp every week when he's drunk and has assaulted my daughter?

When things are not what we want them to be, we get frustrated. When we get frustrated we get angry. When we get angry we don't think clearly, and blame the person/thing/situation for frustrating us and shaking us out of our stagnating soporific world-view. We generally take actions to justfiy our own belief system. These stages aren't always successive and don't take the same amount of time. We either live in denial for a long time or resort to drastic measures to vindicate our stand. Whether the measure is right or logical or feasible or not. That's what IIPM seems to have done. That's what battered women and victims of situations should do. Unfrtunately they most often choose the former. IIPM chose to draw attention away from its exaggerated claims and instead threaten who it deemed its detractors with threats that will only have proved pointless and expensive for them if they follow through.

Our greatest fear is being considered an empty threat or an empty promise.

Wouldn't we all rather that they'd have diverted their resources to improvement of their facilities or more positive press coverage following the review? But then, Indian bloggers might never have discovered their unity, the power of the internet as a medium for protest, their gumption and their resourcefulness! Man the things they found! I think the internet has made a lot of traditional jobs redundant! While not as diligent and dedicated as some virtual truth seekers, I'm delighted to be a part of an online community doing what it likes it do. I quote from the above DNA link "Blogging is public regulation at its best. Both government and private enterprises should know they will be held accountable for any lies they tell, and will not be able to get away with deception.”

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WOW, look what I found on Sabnis's blog! This cool link to fabulous 55-fiction pieces! Sabnis' story is kinda factual, based on the desi Hangman of Singapore.