With the great strides made by humankind on the technology front, surely the way we see, hear, read and basically communicate has become so much easier. The genius of the human mind has in fact enabled latest innovation to come to us. And even as this editorial is being written, technology genius Apple unveiled its “most beautiful product ever made”, the thinner, lighter iPhone 5. One of the catchphrases is that the latest iPhone has to be designed for the hand. It should fit in your hand, and be easy to send messages, type emails, and surf the web. So you see we are daily witness to the wonder brought about through multi-media technology and the equally stunning possibilities of the internet. Indeed great changes are taking place in the field of communication technology. But the question is whether the human mind has also progressed to be able to think less with emotion and more with logic and reasonableness. Perhaps it will fair to say that the mindset remains steadfast to our innate being—of my race, caste, creed, religion, self identity etc. And so even though the modern man or woman may be educated, professional, tech savvy and a global citizen, yet they are always looking inward to things of ancient, primordial or something that it rooted in the past. While it is not that there should be great concern with the way we think and act, yet it is becoming clear that technology has made possible the communication of the message through precision, speed, regularity and mass contact.
Now the question is what happens if the message (video, cartoon, news, opinion/blogs etc) is taken as offensive for certain community or religion etc. Is the proliferation of media technology (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, MMS etc) a clear and present danger to peace and harmony? How can the traditional media meet these new demands and challenges? Should there be a global framework to regulate the internet and is this possible? So these are the questions we can perhaps raise at this juncture. A few years ago we were witness to how a cartoon depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in a Danish newspaper leading to Muslims protesting across the Islamic world. The latest we hear is that demonstrators attacked the US embassies in Yemen and Egypt in protest at a film they consider blasphemous to Islam. The killing of the US Envoy to Libya was also linked to a mob blaming America for the film they said insulted the Prophet Mohammad. Clips of the Innocence of Muslims had been circulating on the Internet for weeks before the protests erupted.
It is obvious that in a global community where there is strong underlying currents of socio-religions-ethnic divide added with the fact that intolerance is becoming more pronounced and also the ease with which technology can be used to disseminate any message, there is an urgent need to revisit the popular often misconceived notion of freedom of speech and expression. No doubt this is an important guarantee of human freedom, yet we must understand that this is not a license to be insensitive or cause harm that may lead to violence and loss of lives. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a conference of police chiefs from across the country warned about how social media networks posed a new security challenge. The PM’s remarks came with reference to the use of SMSes\MMSes and web pages — carrying morphed images - by certain elements to trigger violence against people from the north-east. In an age of the powerful social media we need to balance free speech with the concerns and needs of peace and harmony between peoples.
