With great power, comes great responsibility. And with great responsibility comes a greater sense of awareness to use it.
While the advent of social media has largely contributed to networking, the menace of hate mongers, political clashes and bigots have made it more biased than neutral. Back when I was in the eleventh grade, I only used to write poems about fiction and romanticism. Then an entire fiasco of ‘nationalism’ got a grip over the entire nation and I found people biased or inclined towards a particular point of view without even knowing why they supported it.
It was not only about the students’ protest, rather it scarily included all major topics of society. Be it Naxalism, the Kashmir issue or the abuse of AFSPA in certain regions, in almost every case I found people having a very manufactured point of view that largely looked induced by people in power.
I knew that I couldn’t bring about a change of a gigantic proportion all at once. However, I could at least do my bit by letting people know the fact of the matter and then getting them to decide. I started writing on political issues that I had complete knowledge about. Slowly and steadily, I kept following sources of information that were neutral and unbiased.
Not that I didn’t face a backlash. I did. There were firm supporters or rather bullies who believed in abusing rather than fact-checking their own claims. More than often, I felt like quitting and without trying to make it sound like a cliche, I must say it was getting too heavy for me. But every time I decided to quit, an image of a tribal girl being exploited, an innocent man being killed because he tried to bring about transparency, came right to my mind.
I started believing that it was us who were indirectly responsible for the innocent humans suffering in any part of the world because keeping quiet always encourages the abusers.
Having a different view of a particular issue or endorsing an unpopular opinion has been strenuous and a lot of times it has cost me people who have walked away. However, the thought of ‘One World One Family’ has kept me going.
Every citizen in this country has been granted fundamental rights by the Constitution of the land and by articulating my thoughts and vocalising my views, I believe I am inherently utilising them.
Speaking up not only helps you make life better for your fellow human beings but also helps in building an equal and pluralistic society, in the long run. It’s been two years and I have been writing and in spite of all the hundred reasons that have implored me to quit, I have stuck to that one reason that made me keep on trying-
“The silence of a gentleman costs the world more than the atrocities of a tyrant.”
I hope more and more people come and speak up because once the youth of the country starts speaking up and learning issues that affect the nation, nobody can hinder our progress.
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