Freedom of speech is mandatory to develop mental faculties but there must be certain limitations in liberty of loquaciousness to control unbridled verbal diarrhea.
Freedom of speech is mandatory to develop mental faculties but there must be certain limitations in liberty of loquaciousness to control unbridled verbal diarrhea. Freedom of expression is the soul and spirit of democracy. But contexts and contents of speech are more important than meaningless discourse. It is the stuff and circumstances of speech that demand certain restrictions must be practiced to avert untoward incidents in order to struggle for establishment of lasting global peace in the world. In the European countries the voice of the people was so suppressed during the Dark Ages that hindered development of intellectual capabilities. Well-recognized scholars faced atrocities perpetrated by the Church clergy. Men of letters were considered adversaries of the seminaries. After the American Revolution of 1975 and the French Revolution of 1989 the western people demanded freedom of speech to safeguard their most cherished fundamental right. But, with the passage of time some irresponsible people abused this mental faculty to insult sentiments of other people.
The religion was considered by the West a major stumbling block for mental progress oh human beings. The spiritual grooming of human beings to make him fruitful member of the society was thrown to the background. They considered religion a root cause of wars and conflicts. They started insulting its teachings. Karl Marx (1818-1883), German philosopher said in “Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right” (1844). “Religion is the soul of soulless conditions, the heart of a heartless world, the opium of the people.”1 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher and poet said in The Gay Science (1882),“God is dead: but considering the state the species Man is in, there will perhaps be caves, for ages yet, in which his shadow will be shown.”2
The western secular democratic system promoted hideous atheists and agnostics. The actions of these Godless people have promoted violence in the world. The blasphemous novel The Satanic Verses of the author Salman Rushdie insulted the sentiments of the Muslims. More than one hundred people have lost their lives during protests since the publication of this sacrilegious novel in 1988. Ruhollah Khomeini (1900-1989), Iranian religious leader issued Fatwa on February 14, 1989 announcing a death sentence against this apostate and hideous atheist subsequent to publication of this novel. According to Fatwa, “The author of the Satanic Verses book, which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I ask all Moslems to execute them wherever they find them.”3
It is tragic that western countries honor those mucky people who insult sentiments of the Muslims. The awarding title of Knighthood by the British to the unbridled champion of irresponsible freedom of speech, Sulman Rushdie, provided opportunity to Ijazul Haq, former Federal Minister of Religious Affairs of Pakistan, to justify suicide attack to kill this one of the most repugnant and hated personality of the world. He said in his speech in the parliament, “This is an occasion for the [world's] 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision…The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body, he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the "sir" title”.4 His following quotation of Sulman Rushdie reflects his sullied disruptive disposition, “What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.”5
Similarly, publication and republication of 12 blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by Danish newspaper Jyllands- Posten on and several other newspapers countries resulted in vehement protests by the Muslims all over the world. Danish embassies in Iran, Syria, and Lebanon were set ablaze by the highly charged protesters. Several western hotels and other property were also burnt up. Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed Denmark's most terrible international crisis since WWII. The PM fully protected the nastiest act of the Jaylland-Posten and refused to see eleven ambassadors from Muslim majority countries, who were induced by the religious scholars to discuss “on-going smearing campaign in Danish public circles and media against Islam and Muslims”.6 The Danish PM refused to see the ambassadors. He said publically, “Even a non-judicial intervention against Jyllands-Posten would be impossible in our system”7 Several people lost their lives due to outbreak of untoward incidents during the protests.
Freedom of expression is a basic pillar of democracy but it should not be permitted to be abused by nefarious elements to insult others that can ignite clashes. Time and again eruption of conflicts on the basis of abuse of liberty of speech has thrown morality and peace in the balance. According to an African proverb, “The tongue is harder than the stick.”8Freedom entails responsibility while irresponsible use of liberty of loquaciousness can wipe out international goodwill efforts that are mandatory to ensure peaceful coexistence. The abuse of freedom speech has to a great extent contributed in the current spate of suicide bombing on religious and sectarian basis. A Chinese proverb reflects grave affects of abuse of knack of verbal communication in these words, “The tongue is like a sharp knife; it kills without drawing blood.”9
