“In an age of plentiful speech, it’s important to know when to speak, and when to stop”

This morning while browsing through the editorial page of The Times of India, I was quite star-struck. Not because the article mentioned the analogy of events encircling around the different treatment of Prashant Bhushan and Biman Basu over their speech; the former one on Twitter, and the latter in the Parliament perhaps; but because the article emphasised on getting to know when to place one’s opinion and when to stop.  

Now, this was pretty diabolical, if not anything. I beg your pardon for the use of my language, yet the circumstances denote so. Talking objectively, this article had really knocked some sense into me, and the conclusion got me thinking deep. So deep and intense that I could barely stop myself from penning this piece…

My headline begins with the same, and nothing would make me happier than mentioning this again. “In this age of plentiful speech, it’s important to know when to speak, and when to stop.” Hmm , this’d require some logical thinking, and execution as well. By calling it, “In the age of plentiful speech”, does the author mean to say that these days everyone holds an opinion on everything? Well, can’t really say that it’s very far from the truth. Consider Twitter as a relevant example. At the time of writing this article hashtags like #PagalKangana, #ArrestRhea was doing the rounds. Point is how are these hashtags substantiated? Isn’t it wearing an imaginary quasi judicial hat? 

The other day, an acquaintance pulled up a video by a YouTuber where she engaged herself in giving a detailed description about the tete-a-tete between journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and Rhea Chakraborty. I am presuming that she got so engrossed into the video, and so active while grilling the prime accused, that she failed to realise that the last name of the journalist is ‘Sardesai,’ and not ‘Desai’, which she kept using deliberately through her video.

Question is what sort of information do you actually count on? How do you know that the information reaching to you hasn’t gone through a rigorous process of gatekeeping? Also, if you spot fake news, or deep fakes for that matter, do you speak up, or do you stay mum, as there are plenty doing that already?

Analysing the second part of the columnist, “When to stop”, yeah, this certainly holds some sanity. Till date when societal beliefs get so deep rooted within individuals that they put the blame on an entire community while making statements, trolling, and reaching the heights of communism, you can’t help but just take a deep breath. A pause perhaps. 

And, just let things be, let people be, and silently chant the words of Rumi, “Listen to silence, it has so much to say.”

Here's the link to the editorial:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/contempt-in-the-social-media-era-public-commentary-on-the-court-is-proportionate-to-its-own-oversize-role-in-governance/