Saturday, November 21, 2015

Random thoughts on freedom and interference.

Does freedom mean the right or liberty to do anything, anywhere and whenever you feel like? I don’t think. Remember the saying that the liberty of one ends where the tip of the nose of another begins. We are social beings and are bound, morally and legally, to respect societal norms. You can enjoy your rights as an individual as long as you are totally within your personal space but once you step out into the social set-up, you have to follow certain basic rules and ethics which must not be treated as an infringement of your personal freedom.

I am strongly against ‘moral policing’ which I believe amounts to taking the law into one’s hands. It is usually done by some groups that derive power from some source and consider themselves as apostles of culture and tradition. Such people need to be dealt with by the law enforcing agencies. There is a limit to which one can, as an individual or group, interfere in the matters that form part of another’s life. No one has the right to tell us what is to be done but at the same time we can’t claim that no one has the right to question whatever we do in public. To be precise, one must refrain from doing in public something that has to be done privately.  The question is not whether others are affected by a public act of yours; the question is whether your act tantamount to violation of social ethics.


We must learn to respect each other and must be adaptable to different opinions and must not try to force our views on others. There is a growing intolerance in the country and the world which need to be controlled and curbed but then being intolerant to intolerance or resorting to unethical means to protest is not at all a solution. Let us lead lives peacefully by respecting ourselves and others too; well knowing our boundaries and limits

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