My God!! That's offensive!

I live in a utopia. My conversations are one of an aristocratic tea party, polite. My words are humble and politically correct. So are my thoughts. There is no wry smile; no innuendo, no wit and god forbid if I get creative, I don’t mean to offend. There are no puns, no rolling of eyes, no sarcasm and none of the truth. The sensibilities are paramount with a surcharge of please and pardon me. You may be wrong but I must let it slide by saying “excuse me! Could you please verify the fact once more, if it’s not too much of a trouble for you, for I think you may have come to a not-so-right conclusion. But pardon me if I seem impudent, I didn’t mean offence.” Yes it’s fun, it’s charming, the society is electric, and the ideas are stimulating. I don’t offend you and you don’t offend me, I respect your opinion and your right to have one, you do the same for me. This is my utopia. Help me!! I’m dying in it.

If I have the freedom of speech, do I have the freedom to offend? And do you have the right to get offended? The answer to both is a simple yes. The line is drawn on sand here. Indian laws restrict freedom of speech if it is defamatory, if it compromises national security or if it stands against public order and morality. There is no mention of it being curbed if one gets offended which should be distinguished from libel. So if I am stating the truth, exaggerating stuff to an unbelievable level, and saying things without the intention of defamation or being immoral (who decides it by the way?), do get offended! How you react is a different matter altogether. If I am being verbal, argue with me. Don’t come with a gun to shoot me, don’t throw me behind bars. If you don’t like my work of fiction, come up with your own work of fiction which counters my point, don’t ban my book. If you don’t like the script of my movie make a counter movie, let the audience decide which they prefer. If my paintings hurt your delicate sensibilities, paint out your anger, make a masterpiece to prove me wrong; don’t throw me into exile. If not then you are wishing for my utopia, you are welcome to be a machine in there.

George Orwell: Freedom is the freedom to say 2 + 2 = 4. Once that is granted, everything else follows.

Salman Rushdie: The right to offend is not about humor. It's not about anarchy. It's not about what I feel like doing, without consequences. Believe it or not, it's about defending the right to tell the truth -- which is necessary for progress of society.

These two ideas are put together define the essence of freedom of speech. I’m not good enough with words to forge that simple statement that comes out of synthesizing these ideas but here’s the thing:

a)Before you get offended, realize this – do you really feel offended based on facts or just because someone    told you be offended.

b)If I offend you, offend me. If you use force, realize this that I can counter in the same way. Let’s be        co-planar then.

c)Being louder doesn't mean you are right.

d)Being in majority doesn't mean you are right.

e)Being self-proclaimed arbitrator of order and morality doesn't mean you are right.

f)Evolve your tolerance and maybe your views.

g)I don’t give a shit!!!

So being offensive is being human, being offended is too. The satires, jokes, comic strips, movies, plays etc. are meant to entertain, reflect and provoke thoughts. If you are raising your weapon, there will be self-censorship among writers. If you are picketing cinema halls, there’ll be another century of mindless cinema (copies of copies). Artists will escape, comedians will cry, scientists would be lynched and we will see my utopia crystallize.

Be human, offend sometimes, and get offended sometimes but can we just keep it on the mellow side (or even that’s offensive?).