Prohibition of expression, not freedom of expression..!

When society drowns in the abyss of slander, abuse and threats on one side, it gains power over the other. One party sees itself as great and powerful in contrast to the other party, which has nothing to support and protect against the arrogance of the first party.

When this happens, we enter the ringing phase, just as we enter the suffocating crisis phase. In the flood of irresponsible statements, comments and conversations that appear in various media or on social networks, which wear the guise of lectures, lessons or research, which are not characterized by the minimum standards of etiquette of social, literary and cultural expression in its various forms, such as legitimization killing, imprisoning, raping and attacking the “different”.

The importance of this comes from the proliferation of the phenomenon of irresponsible expression at multiple levels, including those claiming to be affiliated with religious, media, and even educational and academic institutions.

Underestimating, pandering and expansion for some has reached a level that warns of numerous dangers, of which perhaps the most severe is the contribution to the creation of safe environments for the growth of new forms of violence at all levels, starting with verbal and physical violence, rape, murder and disappearance.

This places people in the ranks of “polytheistic infidels” and among them “infidels of the book”, who mentions jinn, sorcerers and demons, and others manipulate facts from history at the level of textbooks prescribed for students, and there is no reference, censor or authority that takes what has been said and circulates seriously to answer, clarify and justify. In fact, some others, wearing their turbans, openly declare the right to capture non-Muslim women without disturbing the woman. Take this from irresponsible speech and hadith.

In the past, the ruling political system interfered in every small and big thing, until the lecture hall and classes became a dungeon run by student reporters and professional colleagues.

Today we walked to a different opposite, but no less bad than the first. Social media, whose influence has grown into a double-edged sword, has helped shed light on these social pests that are devouring society, bringing it closer to a forest rather than an oasis of intimacy, love, cooperation and peace among all people. who may disagree and disagree, but are wary of reaching a stage of struggle and constant conflict, which exposes the unity of society to serious challenges. In order to face such an atmosphere which is highly offensive to public morality and the prevailing moral system in society, it seems that we must evoke the evidence of the unwritten moral rules that have guided society through successive periods of time to turn them into a written guide to warn theologians, taffiqun and pedantry that freedom has limits that must not be crossed.

Individual freedom ends when it comes into contact with the freedom of another. As for collective freedom, in which some are exposed to entire groups, it requires a stronger response and wider authority because of the dangers it carries with it and threatens social peace.

It is one of the most important foundations on which a modern democratic society is based. There is no such open freedom without control and restrictions, because in this case it means disintegration, fragmentation and chaos, and even inevitably leads to crime and collapse.

The ethical system is social in nature and takes into account prevailing values ​​and norms accepted by consensus.

Take, for example, that modesty and the values ​​of coexistence and mutual respect are an important and cherished part of the prevailing moral system accepted in our Iraqi society, with the exception of the periods of turmoil, disintegration and confusion that hit it here and there. An ethical system is not necessarily objective, but it can include an important subjective aspect in which people’s feelings and emotions are taken into account, and what morally and habitually disturbs and satisfies them.

The moral system is part of the general moral system. Herein lies the challenge that must be answered. So are we with hatred, hatred and aggression or are we with love, intimacy and respect?

Are we with hatred and overcoming the other or are we with cooperation, stability and searching for common denominators? The ethical system is neither general nor universal, but specialized in nature, dealing with social groups and strata included in a certain social structure. At this level, we do not need to look at other human societies, but it is enough to look into each other’s eyes to see to what level we need to understand, commit and not violate each other’s rights in order to buy a measure of peace of mind and provide a medium in which the values ​​of positive interaction move away from suspicion, superstition, stalking and the quoting of “conspiracy” theories.

The negative atmosphere has escalated to the point where it is no longer possible to remain silent and overlook the many moral, normative and customary violations at a time when the world is racing against time to catch up with progress and prosperity and reap their rewards.

Democracy is not just the rule of the majority while the minority retains its opinion and beliefs. Democracy means that everyone is equal before the law and enjoys freedom of expression, press and assembly, protection from various violations of freedom of belief, lifestyle, opinion, right to choose, protection from arbitrary arrests.

It is also a system that seeks to enable smaller groups or minorities to have their voices heard, to enter into legitimate contests, and to build the capacity to enter into settlements that help them sustain and assert their presence, since their very existence is a kind of safety valve for protection of the entire democratic process.

All these rules require protection against irresponsible statements and expressions that provoke people’s feelings, shake their beliefs and undermine their moral standards. The intellectual and philosophical reference for democracy is that it equalizes all coexisting groups in society, gives them their rights and guarantees their individual and collective rights within the broad social structure. Democracy takes many forms, including economic, political and social.

For the latter, it means the victory of the collective conscience, represented by what the vast majority of groups and individuals agree on to achieve the common good. Social wealth in a democratic system is represented by the ability to gain acceptance, popularity and respect, while social poverty is represented by isolation, alienation and exclusion, individually or collectively, as a result of spending effort and energy on abnormal and distasteful sayings, statements and interpretations that alienate people and groups. and who lack familiarity. Nothing easier than inflaming feelings and making accusations like this arbitrarily and without personal or collective control.

Despite the interest of the traditional religious authority in Najaf to warn against such behavior, as stated in the last sermon on Friday, in which the representative of the religious authority Sheikh Abd al-Mahdi al-Kerbalai called for respect for the other, regardless of his type, shape, origin and races.

However, it seems that the advice and guidelines, even if they were frequent in the sermons of the religious authority, are no longer enough. People depend on other references that influence them, obey them, even fear them, such as laws and authorities, provided they lift a finger.

And moving the finger is not just about showing up and being at the center of events – even if that hasn’t happened enough – but rather about allowing the respective popular groups to make their voices heard and embody their will at the center of events. decision-making process. This will not be achieved without developing mechanisms of partnership and involvement, not at the level of the higher echelons, but at the level of the masses, who are the only ones who have a sense of what is happening and suffer because of it.

Iraqi society is a real, secular society, like all other human societies.

Therefore, he understands the justification of social life and respects its rules if they adhere to inviolable laws using the necessary abilities to protect and strengthen them and ensure their application with justice and equality in a way that guarantees the interests of all without exception.

* Quoted from Al-Mada newspaper.