Fatwaitis Also Known As The 'Offence Virus'

[ghulam muhammed]

THE OFFENCE CALCULATOR
- A disease of the mind, and how to eradicate it

Many of us have been living with Fatwaitis for a long time now. Fatwaitis, also known as the ‘Offence Virus’, entered humanity’s bloodstream around 1988, about six years after AIDS was discovered, and has proved to be an even more dangerous disease. In fact, we are closer to eradicating AIDS and overcoming many cancers than we are to getting rid of Fatwaitis. The Offence Virus is replicating and mutating rapidly in different human societies faster than we can counter it. Even as we search for antidotes, more and more people are falling victim to the tentacles of the dread disease.

The thing is, Fatwaitis is a tough enemy. It is not a physical disease, it’s a condition of the mind and spirit. In this, too, some people are, in a sense, what you might call ‘innocent’ victims, while others are ‘carriers’, a small minority of ruthless people who deliberately carry the virus and infect others, sometimes hundreds of thousands of others, without any pity or care.

Who Reaches for Violence when an Offence is Claimed? Hate Speech is dangerous because it demonstrably leads people into attacking other people either physically or socially. Similarly, when looking for Fatwaitis, look out for signs of violence — who is threatening violence, who is exhorting people to become martyrs, who is implying that riots and arson will take place if their demands are not met? A book or film or a painting that offends someone does not demand physical violence. In fact, the book, film or painting is a non-violent, passive, thing (you can shut the book and throw it away, it won’t bite; you can walk out of the cinema, you can walk away from the gallery, neither the film nor the painting will follow you out) and it is the ‘protests’ that often threaten violence or are actually violent. So one classic symptom of Fatwaitis or OV is that a passive product, usually some sort of artistic or scholarly product, is labelled as having offended some group and then this offence is used as a license for violence by that group. The disease runs on a sick tautology: I have the right to be offended = I have the right to be violent if I’m offended.

Who Profits when an Offence is Claimed? A wise friend once told me: “After any riot or terrorist attack, always look to see who profited from the incident. That will usually indicate who caused the riot or attack.” Similarly, when looking to identify and cure OV, always look to see who gained an advantage from a group being offended. So, when Rushdie was stopped from coming to Calcutta did the city’s Muslims suddenly find their lot improved? New schools for poor Muslim kids? Sanitation for the slums where Muslims are in majority? No. The people who gained, or might imagine they gained were the ruling party. What did they gain, exactly? They gained the right to say “Look, we care about Muslims, we stopped Rushdie from coming to Calcutta!” Have we seen this kind of calculation before? Yes, when the Left Front stopped Taslima Nasreen from returning to Calcutta in order to pander to the same voters’ sentiments. A minister in the TMC apparently told a journalist, “Thirty per cent of our voters are Muslim. There is no way we will let Rushdie come here.” Again, a tautology: If you are a Muslim in West Bengal, whether you read novels in English or not, you will be offended by Salman Rushdie. If you are not offended, we will ask you to be offended. Then we will stop the bad Rushdie and show you how much we care about you.

Similarly, who gained when M.F. Husain was driven out of India? Poor Hindus who had never set foot in an art gallery? Nope. The VHP and the BJP who could say, “We defended Bharat Mata!” Who gains when people chase Ashis Nandy with an FIR (when a massed, loud derisive guffaw would have hurt old Ashis-da much more)? The Dalit leaders who can beat the drum and say, “Look we stood up like lions for Dalit rights!”

Isn’t Religion Special? Shouldn’t we be Extra Protective of it? No. People have made fun of religious figures — whether mythical figures or actual historical figures — ever since those figures came into being, and people have a right to make fun of or insult these figures. Also, the moment you practise a particular religion you are, in a sense, denigrating all other religions. If you say “There is no god but my god,” you are insulting and dismissing the gods of others. So, if you have a right to practise your religion, then others have a right to practise their belief, or to not practise any religion, and that right includes dismissing or insulting figures you may hold sacred. If you actually believe in your deity or your saints, if you actually believe in an all-powerful being, then let that being or that prophet or that son of god, or that Maha Godddess take their own offence. If someone’s spitting at the sky, let the sky answer back. Who are you, an ant, to play bodyguard to Mount Everest?

When is a Good Time to Start Fighting Fatwaitis? Now. Because the more we let the disease spread, the harder it will be for future generations to eradicate.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130217/j ... zIKqmeKBLN