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Rightwing trolls, gentle reminder.
1. Free speech isn't absolute, everyone has a right to complain — when Dinanath Batra had Wendy Doniger's The Hindus pulped through lawsuits.
2. Free speech must be absolute, don't question total lack of facts in x book — today.
Pick one, no?
1. Free speech isn't absolute, everyone has a right to complain — when Dinanath Batra had Wendy Doniger's The Hindus pulped through lawsuits.
2. Free speech must be absolute, don't question total lack of facts in x book — today.
Pick one, no?
An old trick in RW playbooks everywhere: create false equivalences.
It's important to address the differences between Doniger and the Delhi-riots travesty of a book.
Background on the harm done by religious offence laws + chilling libel laws: http://asu.thehoot.org/media-freedom/a-pulverising-surrender-7296
It's important to address the differences between Doniger and the Delhi-riots travesty of a book.
Background on the harm done by religious offence laws + chilling libel laws: http://asu.thehoot.org/media-freedom/a-pulverising-surrender-7296
+ By 2014, the religious offence laws in India had already become weaponised — shutting down Satanic Verses in one decade, and as Hindu nationalism rose, shutting down many scholars.
Also important: religious offence laws have been used by all faiths... http://ijustice.in/book-banning-shows-rising-hindu-nationalism-indias-election-year
Also important: religious offence laws have been used by all faiths... http://ijustice.in/book-banning-shows-rising-hindu-nationalism-indias-election-year
+ Typically as a particular power group rises to dominance, they use that power to their own advantage.
No surprise, then, that the right has in recent decades put more pressure on publishers/ textbooks/ authors/ films/ art than other groups; they are politically dominant.
No surprise, then, that the right has in recent decades put more pressure on publishers/ textbooks/ authors/ films/ art than other groups; they are politically dominant.
+ This case does not concern offence laws. It concerns ethical responsibility. A non-fiction book must be based on facts.
Any community has a legitimate right to call out both a non-factual text and demand action from the publisher — so long as they don't ask for a formal ban.
Any community has a legitimate right to call out both a non-factual text and demand action from the publisher — so long as they don't ask for a formal ban.
+ (Not a full argument, but I have to return to writing. I hope this brief summary helps; please read as much as you can on the history of free speech controversies and dilemmas since Independence, it's illuminating. Many actors from the state to political movements to citizens.)
+ This is not an abstract FoE argument. (Read @therealnaomib's threads.)
The Delhi riots, the hate speech from Mishra, others beforehand — that was real.
The fact that innocents are in jail: real.
There's no defending a book that pushes lies and a dangerous conspiracy theory.
The Delhi riots, the hate speech from Mishra, others beforehand — that was real.
The fact that innocents are in jail: real.
There's no defending a book that pushes lies and a dangerous conspiracy theory.
Spot on. @VakashaS on @BloomsburyIndia's failure to factcheck this book:
"A failure to do so means potentially endorsing and platforming a potential misrepresentation of facts about the most serious communal violence in Delhi in decades." https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/why-bloomsbury-withdrawal-delhi-riots-book-kapil-mishra-is-not-attack-on-free-speech
"A failure to do so means potentially endorsing and platforming a potential misrepresentation of facts about the most serious communal violence in Delhi in decades." https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/why-bloomsbury-withdrawal-delhi-riots-book-kapil-mishra-is-not-attack-on-free-speech
+ Well-meaning liberals (mostly centre-right, actually) falling headfirst into a classic "both sides", "balance" argument:
There were two sides to Kristallnacht. Discuss.
(Sorry, but fully exasperated at people who can't see how serious the Delhi riots/ RW cover-ups are.)
There were two sides to Kristallnacht. Discuss.
(Sorry, but fully exasperated at people who can't see how serious the Delhi riots/ RW cover-ups are.)
