It’s a strange democratic setup that we live in. for the record books, we are the largest democracy of the world. Our constitution promises us several rights. One of the most prominent one is the Freedom of Speech. This freedom implies, that an Indian citizen has the right to air his/her views without any compromise. We have prominent dailies, some 70000+ number of newspapers in almost all regional and national languages, 24×7 news channels airing different views and numerous live examples that will make you believe of our Right to freedom of speech .
Not that it isn’t true; we do have a fairly better understanding and implementation of this system in place, of course. And we do have a variety of views on the political or cultural sphere, where everyone is allowed and they enjoy the freedom of free speech. At least comparatively, we do have a better system than others.
But, (yes, there’s always a But when it comes to the magnitude of a country like India), the natural instinct of the people over here is almost otherwise. Maybe it is ingrained in us through generations of hard work and “ teaching”, where in a family we are asked not to Answer our elders back with argument as it amounts to disrespect, we are told not to disrespect or disagree with our teachers as they know more than us, we are even told never to say NO when a boss asks to do something as that might hamper your chances of a promotion and likewise many instances where our superiors, colleagues, elders, stop us to do things the unconventional way.
The Road taken is always preferred rather than exploring the Road that was not taken.
To this point, where one needs to keep their worldly possessions, relations, would-be prospects, etc is to some extent justified. Justified to suit their excuses, which they give.
The problem starts when one translates these habits, acquired to justify their requirements, into the domain of national, cultural, religious issues. For some, it is completely fine to stay aloof of all the happenings and even with knowledge of it all, staying mum on those issues. This staying mum policy is specifically increasing on conflicting issues. Issues, where hardly there are prevalent voices supporting that cause or there is fear of being stereotyped or branded a rebel. Some do take a stand, but that depends on when he finds the support of likeminded people who are pitching out with their opinions.
On occasions, where even after knowing that there are things which are wrong, things about which one should speak about, things that should not be kept inside the closet of one’s heart but should traverse to your mouth and things that the world needs to listen about rather than an audience of your living room.
Numerous times, I’ve faced situations similar to these and am sure that I’ll continue to face them. For instance, raising my voice on the language–conflict in our college and how that is hampering the communication process raised lots of questions, but the ones’ suffering from the same never did that before me. Some, of course came out in support and some supported without making themselves public.
To my numerous blogs on Narendra Modi, where I never shy away from professing my hate towards him, to my outrage when people don’t stop hating CSK for its’ success, I’ve been vocal about it all.
Why should one toe the majoritarian view always? Some of the folks just take it for granted that only their view holds the supreme truth and anything other than that is plain bullshit.
I’d bullshit that actually.
When, it comes to being bold about your views, one should not look for avenues for support, instead of airing whatever that is in your mind to be heard by the people concerned, why should you just keep your thoughts simmering in the nest of your thoughts?
One other example which put lights into what I said above is, the mention of the Online Like Debate community. These communities of people have their views intact, but won’t comment on your views with that. Rather, would support the only one’s opposing it by liking their replies, but won’t say for the fear of spoiling relations, outlook, etc.
For me, people coming out in the open, airing their views, no matter how conflicting it is to what I hold, holds high regard. Reason being they don’t fear what they have in their mind and are okay with telling it, as well.
It’s time to be Bold and Stay Real, rather than sit back and Wait for the “right” time to say something.
This post was Written for Be Bold Stay Real contest at BlogAdda