Let your words be a harbinger of global unity despite the diversity.

Democracy guarantees each citizen certain fundamental rights and duties. One such right of every individual is the freedom to speak their minds without any fear. I agree that this right should be respected and not curbed in any way, whatsoever. But does this freedom mean that you have the absolute liberty to hurt others' sentiments and shock their sensibilities? I personally feel, the biggest misuse of freedom of expression is its misuse only. We all should to be grateful to the fact that we are born in democratic and liberal countries, but with it comes certain responsibilities which should be handled more maturely and sensibly. We must be proud of the principle of freedom of expression, hence, wise enough to not put it to any kind of misuse, by using it as a weapon against others and spreading hatred, for e,g. by intensionally hurting people's ethos and provoking them.

The dos and don't s that come along with freedom of expression are:

• Gentility and civility or where are your manners dude? I am born free and as a free person I have the liberty to do anything I want to. I can ridicule a sweeper for his menial job, I can insult any religion, I can hurl abuses at an elderly man sitting next to me in the bus and tell him, he is standing in his grave. But will I do so?? Off course not. I am a civilised person, and I should empathize with others' handicaps, and not go about mocking people's weaknesses. If I do so that would clearly reflect my insanity. Just look at the impact of these lines, they trigger anger in you. If we always say anything that is in our minds, and overlook any kind of tactfulness in picking up the politically correct words and delivering them or we keep on forgetting our etiquettes, we would not just lose our humanity but also be responsible in turning our society into a battlefield.

   

• Repercussions or tit for tat- If you dared it, then be prepared for the consequences too. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. One big incident that comes to mind as I try to elaborate this point is that of a very renowned Indian artist MF Hussein, also called India's Picasso. He was the one who put the diverse and vibrant contemporary Indian art on the global canvass and brought laurels to the nation. But one controversial painting and his entire legacy was wiped out from India. He died far away from his homeland in exile.

   

• Avoid stepping on the threshold. A cup filled to the brim is most likely to overflow- Religion, identity, nationality, language and skin colour should be talked about in the most careful manner, lest your words lead to widespread and inextinguishable fire of hostility and resentment among the populace. The afore areas can create a very volatile situation if handled casually. With your close circle of friends, you are free to use wit, irony, contradiction or mockery but when it comes to public, you have to be really empathic towards their sentiments, so as not to spark up any hostility or controversy.

   

• Mitigate and not aggravate the problems or play safe but not villainous- The wiser is the one who doesn't add fuel to the fire. When witnessing an unpleasant scenario, freedom of expression used be used to simmer down the situation and not to boil it up further. We should try to mitigate the effects rather than speaking stupidly and regretting the day after. Be not judgemental and bury away all the prejudices.

   

In the words of a highly famed Indian actor, Aamir Khan, “ Violence is not only physical, it can be verbal and emotional too. When you insult someone, you perpetuate violence”. Likewise, when you write something, be wary of your choice of words. As an old saying goes- 'Pen is mightier than the sword', save your pen's ink for the genuine causes and not get swayed by the sudden gush of emotions.

I feel, freedom of expression is being more widely misused than used in the present times. Just because our constitution guarantees freedom of expression, doesn't mean we have the licence to offend and hurt, whomsoever we can lay our hands on. It's only going to further widen the schism or penetrate deeper into the skin of problems rather than healing the scars, thereby leading to psychological, physical and ethnic violence. Let's take the case of recent wave of Pegida in Germany. I truly appreciate the German govt's strong condemnation of Pegida, and all those who rallied against such sick concepts. If all the immigrants are shown the door (as per their demands), where will Germany stand? The country that somehow managed to swim through the enormously troubled waters and high tides post second world war, they want the country to drown deep into the trenches of idiosyncrasy and xenophobia once again. Instead of opening up their arms to foreigners, they want outsiders to leave the country. But like I said, it's just a handful of narrow minded people who support the cause, many more have voiced against Pegida in favour of immigrants. In general, Germany is trying very hard for its image makeover and it is in no mood to tolerate any such nuisance on its soil.

The problem area is not religion. The main fault lies in our mentality. Assuming, I am an atheist, and I am convinced that my western, rational, and science based thoughts or logics are superior to any religion, now I want to openly challenge and attack religion, and ridicule its followers. This is the major problem which triggers unrest. Our primary motive should be to safeguard the secular status of our state and society. Democracy also entitles you freedom to choose your religion or no religion. To argue that my beliefs are better than others and since I am an atheist everyone else becomes like me, it is nothing but another kind of fundamentalism. Practice your freedom of expression but with wisdom, so that, there is no remorse tomorrow. Use it to combat the real issues threatening our world peace and harmony, but don't turn this freedom into a foe of global integrity. Your freedom of expression should be aimed to unite and not divide people.