Some time back, I wrote a post about why the rights of minorities matter in any civilized and progressive society. The reason why I am so aware and sensitive towards the rights of minorities is because I find myself representing a minority opinion wherever I go. I am not affiliated with any particular religion, group, philosophy, or political party, I prefer to be an independent voice. I see that people are very polarized about their views; people are either pro-gay rights, anti-war, pro-poor, pro-choice, or anti-gay rights, pro-war, anti-abortion (pro-life); people love to compartmentalize everyone, and there are stereotypical definitions of conservative and liberal. People conveniently divide themselves based on whatever argument suits them, you are either with them or against them there is no possibility of a middle ground. You are either liberal or conservative, either communal or secular, it is about which side you want to choose and not about which ideas or principles you support. People treat others who don't support their own views or ideas like enemies, they often tend to fight based on party lines not based on principles. The word "bipartisan" only exists on paper.
I personally find some good ideas with every political party or ideology, but often, they are not willing to work together to implement these ideas for the betterment of society. This makes me a unique minority, when I am arguing or discussing with liberals, they think I am a conservative person, and if I am discussing something with conservatives, they think I am a liberal. Because of this, I call myself a unique minority and very well understand why it matters to protect their voice. No matter whether we agree with their opinions or not, no matter if we are comfortable with what someone saying or not, any civilized society needs to protect the voice of dissent. They need to create and maintain an atmosphere where everyone is comfortable in sharing their views and concerns. One should not confuse this with minority appeasement, that is an altogether separate issue. The minority doesn't need any extra favors they should be given equal rights and space, that's all, no more no less.
For any majority it is easy to crush any voice of dissent, it is easy for them to intimidate the minority just based on their strength in numbers. This is why it becomes the responsibility of the majority to create a conducive and healthy atmosphere where everyone from the minority feels comfortable as only the majority has the power to do this. It is quite natural for minorities to feel insecure if the majority or even part of the majority shows any hostile attitude towards them. Fortunately, so far, I happen to live in societies where dissent was never suppressed, of course, there was criticism, resistance, and ridicule which is expected, but so far, there is no physical threat to me for expressing my views and objections. But when I see people threatening others just for expressing different lines of thought even on places like social media, this makes me wonder why there is so much hatred for dissent? Why can't people discuss and debate rather than threaten each other? I hope the importance of having voices who object or criticize is not forgotten by people who are in power, I remember how people like Jawaharlal Nehru gave so much importance to listening to the other side that didn't agree with them. I hope this culture and attitude of encouraging dissent stays or rather steps up to the next level rather than moving towards majoritarianism. This is why I speak in favor of minority's rights to raise their voice, I speak in favor of discussion and debates rather than forced obedience. Let's hope that the world still believes in moving together rather than moving in the direction of majoritarianism.
I personally find some good ideas with every political party or ideology, but often, they are not willing to work together to implement these ideas for the betterment of society. This makes me a unique minority, when I am arguing or discussing with liberals, they think I am a conservative person, and if I am discussing something with conservatives, they think I am a liberal. Because of this, I call myself a unique minority and very well understand why it matters to protect their voice. No matter whether we agree with their opinions or not, no matter if we are comfortable with what someone saying or not, any civilized society needs to protect the voice of dissent. They need to create and maintain an atmosphere where everyone is comfortable in sharing their views and concerns. One should not confuse this with minority appeasement, that is an altogether separate issue. The minority doesn't need any extra favors they should be given equal rights and space, that's all, no more no less.
For any majority it is easy to crush any voice of dissent, it is easy for them to intimidate the minority just based on their strength in numbers. This is why it becomes the responsibility of the majority to create a conducive and healthy atmosphere where everyone from the minority feels comfortable as only the majority has the power to do this. It is quite natural for minorities to feel insecure if the majority or even part of the majority shows any hostile attitude towards them. Fortunately, so far, I happen to live in societies where dissent was never suppressed, of course, there was criticism, resistance, and ridicule which is expected, but so far, there is no physical threat to me for expressing my views and objections. But when I see people threatening others just for expressing different lines of thought even on places like social media, this makes me wonder why there is so much hatred for dissent? Why can't people discuss and debate rather than threaten each other? I hope the importance of having voices who object or criticize is not forgotten by people who are in power, I remember how people like Jawaharlal Nehru gave so much importance to listening to the other side that didn't agree with them. I hope this culture and attitude of encouraging dissent stays or rather steps up to the next level rather than moving towards majoritarianism. This is why I speak in favor of minority's rights to raise their voice, I speak in favor of discussion and debates rather than forced obedience. Let's hope that the world still believes in moving together rather than moving in the direction of majoritarianism.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
Link:
1. http://selfrealization-vinay.blogspot.com/2014/09/why-rights-of-minorities-matter-in-any.html
Link:
1. http://selfrealization-vinay.blogspot.com/2014/09/why-rights-of-minorities-matter-in-any.html
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