Opinion Makings of a Mess

Two recent incidents where decency was conspicuously absent

September 15, 2012 03:34 AM IST First published on: Sep 15, 2012 at 03:34 AM IST

Which is more dangerous,speaking freely what you shouldnt or shutting people up when you mustnt? North Africa erupted over YouTube footage from an incredibly stupid movie attacking the Prophet and in an unusual twist to the globalisation tale,US diplomats in Libya became collateral damage. Meanwhile,in India,Aseem Trivedi was slapped with sedition charges for drawing unremarkable,obscure cartoons lampooning national institutions and emblems. Two cases of lack of restraint,no censorship where it was needed to keep the peace,and a crackdown where it was unnecessary. The makings of a mess.

Thanks to the 9/11 anniversary and the proximity to the US presidential election,Times Now read the Benghazi attack as a security affairs issue and fielded Maroof Raza,who threw up his hands and admitted that he wasnt up to speed on the matter. Why not? No smartphone? The inflammatory footage was right out there on YouTube. The trailer of the formerly obscure polemical film Innocence of Muslims is a whopping 15 minutes long. The extraordinary duration and the date of release suggest that it was cooked up in bad faith. Besides,it is aesthetically revolting. Even nuts who subscribe to its xenophobic ideas would be repelled by the idiom,as crude and direct as toilet graffiti.

In an interesting parallel on Times Nows Newshour,Sudhir Tailang denounced Aseem Trivedi on the very same ground: crude directness. He declared that the much-feted cartoonist is an attention-seeker. Political cartoonists cannot behave like Poonam Pandey or Rakhi Sawant,no disrespect to them, he said. Sudhir Dar agreed,in less colourful terms,that Trivedi had crossed the Lakshman rekha.

Meanwhile,the indifferent cartoonist in question had proved to be a vocalist wired for sound and fury. After allowing himself to be coaxed into seeking bail,he launched a whole movement for the repeal of Article 124A in about six minutes. His haste to travel to Mumbai to face charges had suggested that he was hustling to launch a political career. He had prepared for it. And the state,which had tried to put him away,was shamefully unprepared and ill-advised.

For all its crudity,the YouTube trailer had been prepared just as carefully. Trailers are teasers,but this one tells the whole story. Its about one-eighth as long as a full movie,fluttering like a red rag. Produced by a real estate developer in Southern California and funded by faceless Israelis,it is designed to provoke. Some of the history it depicts is absolutely fictitious. Elsewhere,it exploits historical relativism,judging early Islam by modern political standards. If the Old Testament were judged in the same manner,Jerusalem and Rome would rise in outrage.

Thanks to backup from CNN,Rajdeep Sardesai brought the Benghazi story back on course quite quickly. But even he cautiously said that the trailer was allegedly insulting,though it is just plain vulgar. Free speech is conditioned by the norms of decency,which regulate all speech,even everyday speech,and prevent us from making nuisances of ourselves. In both these cases,decency was conspicuous by its absence. Free speech must be defended with the unsparing logic of Voltaire,but not with the absolutist fervour of religion. Opinion makers should also insist that communicators behave decently and with restraint in their own interest.

For example,if the Aarushi murder trial had been covered with restraint,the Supreme Court could not possibly have favoured curbs on the reporting of criminal proceedings. Every new excess,every breakdown of self-control,makes the idea of external control,of censorship,more acceptable. The chaos created by misuse of free speech protections and governments ham-fisted responses endangers free speech.

pratik.kanjilal@expressindia.com