Nothing Worth Saying is Inoffensive to Everyone

Johann Hari responds to the riots, outcry, and the hysteria in Kolkata around his earlier article:  Stand up for the Right to Criticise Religion.

The answer to the problems of free speech is always more free speech:

[. . .] You do not have a right to be ring-fenced from offence. Every day, I am offended – not least by ancient religious texts filled with hate-speech. But I am glad, because I know that the price of taking offence is that I can give it too, if that is where the facts lead me. But again, the protestors propose a lop-sided world. They do not propose to stop voicing their own heinously offensive views about women's rights or homosexuality, but we have to shut up and take it – or we are the ones being "insulting".

It's also worth going through the arguments of the Western defenders of these protestors, because they too aren't going away. Already I have had e-mails and bloggers saying I was "asking for it" by writing a "needlessly provocative" article. When there is a disagreement and one side uses violence, it is a reassuring rhetorical stance to claim both sides are in the wrong, and you take a happy position somewhere in the middle. But is this true? I wrote an article defending human rights, and stating simple facts. Fanatics want to arrest or kill me for it. Is there equivalence here?

The argument that I was "asking for it" seems a little like saying a woman wearing a short skirt is "asking" to be raped. [. . .]

Read the complete piece: Despite these riots, I stand by what I wrote

Muthalik Realises the Cost of 1500 Sarees is Prohibitive . . .

This guardian of Indian Culture is planning to file defamation cases against the senders of "panties parcel."

Earlier posts: 

A 1,000 Sarees for a 1,000 Chaddies

Pink Chaddies for Valentine's Day

A 1,000 Sarees for a 1,000 Chaddies

This February 14th, I had said earlier, is going to be one interesting Valentine's Day.

In response to The Pink Chaddi Campaign, rediff reports  Sri Ram Sena's Muthalik will send sarees to the women who send him and his Sena chaddies.

Muthalik, in keeping with the traditions established by his Sena has said that women "should debate across the table instead of resorting to such gimmicks."

I agree with Muthalik. Gimmicks are best left to Muthalik and the "boys" of his Sena. Meanwhile the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women should invite Muthalik to debate if pink sarees are appropriate return gifts.

And people, this is a rediff report, how can you give the messageboard comments a miss?

Pink Chaddies for Valentine's Day

If you have a pink chaddi (or are willing to buy one), take part in The Pink Chaddi Campaign and send it on to the Sri Ram Sena.

If you don't have one, not to fret, you can join the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women on Facebook. 

Of course, you can join the Facebook group as well as send a pink chaddi to Sri Ram Sena.

Pink chaddies and Pub Bharo on Valentine's day . . . you have to say this is going to be interesting.

Link via: India Uncut

Our Future on a Hotter Planet

The Earth could be more than 6 degrees celsius hotter than it is today within another century. Just how bad is this for us?

Mark Lynas examines the perils of a warmer earth in his new book on global warming: Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet.

Why the Artist Didn't do a Chocolate Muhammad

Sweet Jesus! It would have been a career killer.

Why Biofuels Could be an Environmental Disaster

George Monbiot contends biofuel is worse for the planet than petroleum.

Why we Need Hardline Religious Leaders. . .

Some hardline Muslim clerics in Australia are encouraging their followers to cheat the tax system because they consider paying income tax contrary to Islamic law.

Now, will some right-thinking religious zealots (of whichever religion) in India stand up and do their religious duty? I am willing to renounce atheism and accept and pray to whatever god it is that you want me to.

The Pawar--Ponting Controversy

If discussions in Mumbai's local trains are a barometer of what's recently in the public mindspace, the behavior of the Australian Cricket team at the end of the presentation ceremony for the Champions Trophy is what's foremost in the minds of these commuters at the moment.

Overheard from one such discussion yesterday night:

"Ponting and the others should thank their stars that it was Pawar and not Thackeray."

And today morning, a snide comment, on Tendulkar's reaction to the incident:

"Sachin has at least ensured he won't get dropped from the team till Pawar is around."

Theater of the Absurd

A small time Bollywood actor, Naeem Khan, has petitoned a city court seeking a ban on Hindi film Omkara for its vulgar dialogues "which deprecated the mind of the audience and Indian culture."

Naeem Khan also takes offense at the use of the word "Om" in the title of the film.

And Hindustan Times reports (I can't find the link to the story on their site) in today's newspaper:

Khan has stated in his petition that before the film begins in theatres, the national anthem is played. Soon after, the film begins with the actors using bad words, which is defamatory.

Culture, religion, and patriotism. Khan has covered all bases. How do you think will the court rule?
Note that this is the judiciary that has banned TV channels from screening A and U/A rated films.

We Shall Overcome (Maybe) . . .

According to this rediff report, Amitabh Singhal, a spokesperson of the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), has said that the blockade on blogs by various Indian ISPs will be lifted in another 48 hours.

Apparently the ISPs would have to tweak their Domain Name Servers (DNS) in a way that they block only the sub-domains DoT wants blocked while allowing other blogs to be accessed as before.

I hope this news is true.

For the moment I am willing to accept this partial upliftment of the ban. Ideally I would like all the sites to be free of censorship -- even the ones that the Government feels are inflammatory and against our nation's interests. Blocking these sites will not help much. If these sites are accessible, at least bloggers and readers can counter the "dangerous" rhetoric on these sites. For such arguments have to be countered by engaging these people in a debate and countering their ideas with logic, rationality, and understanding. Blocking these sites won't make the problem go away. Rather we the risk of festering a wound instead of trying to cure it.

And face it: By blocking websites, by refusing to acknowledge the "other," by censoring thoughts and words that are unpalatable to us, aren't we at risk of falling a victim to the same separatist hatred that some of these sited are advocating?

So people, 48 hours it is. Let's wait and watch.

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My earlier posts on this issue:
Blogs Blocked (workaround link) and What's Missing From our Lives (workaround link).

What's Missing From our Lives

Just came across this on The Hindustan Times:

"Officials" have this to say in defense of the decision to block blogs:

We would like those people to come forward who access these (the 12) radical websites and please explain to us what are they missing from their lives in the absence of these sites.

What am I missing? How about:

• I am missing reading a number of blogs that have some of the best writing that I have ever come across. Or is it that the government expects us to read only their circulars?
• I am missing the freedom to go online and read whatever catches my fancy -- and yes even if it is something radical, anti-India if the argument has been logically and excellently made. And no, that doesn't mean that I get influenced by these "radical sites."
• And since I spend a substantial bit of my day on reading blogs, my life is suddenly bereft and empty (well actually nothing that dramatic, but it is irritating to workaround the ban to access the blogs I want to read).
• I am missing the feeling of living in a democratic nation. I know the government controls a lot of my life in ways that I probably can't even fathom but this is too intrusive. I hate this big brother approach. I hate to grouped along with nations (Pakistan, China, the Middle-East nations, Ethiopia . . .) that censor the Internet.

That quote just confirms what I said earlier. Whoever thought of this and authorized the ban is so incompetent, clueless, stupid, dim-witted, and idiotic that the mind boggles.

And I hate to have a government of dolts.

update:
The Protests By Bloggers page on the public wiki is now available here.
Any lessons to be learnt from the ban on blogger? Quite a few.

Blogs Blocked

At least the blogspot ones are. And the ones hosted on geocities and typepad as well. Soon it might be the turn of other blog hosts too. And this evidently is on the orders of the Government of India. The gag has been put in place because apparently, terrorists are now using blogs to communicate.

When I received an email from Mridula, I thought that it was just a temporary ISP glitch. (Ban in India? For us Indians these sort of things happen only in Pakistan or China, but a gag on the Freedom of Speech in India -- never.) Moreover, whoever I contacted confirmed that blogs were accessible. However it looks like some ISP's were just slow in implementing the gag order. I came online a while ago to catch up on my blog reading, to find that not a single blogspot blog is accessible through my Sify broadband connection.

I would like to know which incompetent, clueless, overbearing fool ordered this gag. Doesn't the government have anything better to do?

And it is all so irritating, frustrating, and pathetic.

I can access blogger. Which means that I can log into my blog account, write a post, edit it, if I feel like it -- color the text, change the font style, wonder if the government doesn't have any serious "governing" to do, and while I am it -- call the government overbearing, foolish, clueless, incompetent (might as well add stupid, dim-witted, and idiotic to the list), and then publish it.

But I can't read my own post on my blog without resorting to what seems like underground resistance.

Bloggers have already banded together: there's a bloggers' collective on Google groups. A wiki: Bloggers Against Censorship has come up that lists the ISP's that have blocked blogspot and typepad. A page very helpfully lists various workarounds so that people can still access blogs. And of course a page that lists bloggers who are at the picket line voicing their protest.

If you are a blogger please write a post and join the protest. And if you are not a blogger, join the protests too -- email your friends, talk to your neighbor -- spread the word. Stop this policing now.

Or before you realize it we'll be back to typing letters in triplicate because some idiot in the government might decide email too needs blocking.

And it would mean that for once the terrorists have won. We can't allow that to happen, can we?

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Here's a quick list of workarounds:

Use a feed reader -- I use Sage which comes as an extension for Firefox browser. But I guess any feed reader (Bloglines, Google Reader) will work as well.

Use http://www.pkblogs.com/ -- this is a Pakistani website that came up when the Pakistan Government had blocked blogspot. This works fine but is a bit on the slower side.

Use http://www.shysurfer.com/ -- allows anonymous browsing and is quite fast.

There's Always the Book

The Information & Broadcasting Ministry has temporarily halted the release of The Da Vinci Code.

Meanwhile, the government of Goa, having nothing better t0 do, has passed a resolution seeking a ban on the film.

As always the one who protest the loudest are heard.

Never mind. You can always read the book. It is not banned. Possibly the protesters haven't noticed it yet.