3 months is a really
a long time to keep away from writing. The reasons are many but the most
distasteful of the lot is the fact that BlogSpot was blocked on my institute
internet for a while. Censorship in India has been on the rise over the last
few years with intolerance becoming more of a norm than an exception.
There are several arguments that the promoters of censorship
use to justify their actions. Public safety and the influence of the pieces of
art to incite communal tensions are prime arguments and often seem to make
sense if the act of maintaining piece is considered to be a balancing act on a
knife’s edge. Other arguments used point to the influence that books have on
young and impressionable minds ‘whose mind should not be allowed to stray’, this
being a quote from an acquaintance of mine. This same argument has been used to
justify blocking content on the net by institutes and other authoritative
bodies.
We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship.
E. M. Forster
The flaw in all these arguments lies in the fact that they
assume that the individual has no sense of discretion and is swayed by
everything they read which is hardly ever the case. The rationality of the
individual is ignored while the decisions are made on what is to be blocked. This
is something that is to be considered furthermore when it comes to blocking
sites online since everything read on the internet is met with a good deal of
skepticism and further reading is done before a conclusion is reached by the
individual. Blocking a site irrespective of whether or not the content is
accurate lends an air of credence to the facts contained within and is
consequently counterproductive to the original aim of blocking the site.
Furthermore, blocking a site only means the mass moves to a similar parallel
site to voice their opinions and unless a ruthless 1984ish authoritarianism is
applied, there is no end to this.
Misuse of the anonymity provided by the internet is a known
fact and while countering it may not be easy, it is not reason enough to block
websites. Banning fire because it burns is not the way to go. Enforcing control,
establishing identity and teaching proper use of the internet is the need of
the hour.
On another note, my daily schedule has exceeded all bounds leaving
hardly any time for blogging, hence the lack of posts even after BlogSpot was unblocked
but random short posts like these shall keep coming in every now and then.
