We endorse the sentiment articulated recently in a joint statement by 150 authors, academics and journalists that restriction of free speech, whether by a repressive government or by a counterculture demanding uncompromising fealty and conformity, erodes democracy and harms the subaltern. Thesignatories include author Salman Rushdie, linguist Noam Chomsky and Harry Potter creator J K Rowling.

In the era of social media, where arguments are short and emphatic, nuance is displaced by arbitrary certainty and intolerance of dissent. The result is to coarsen the public discourse and polarise, rather than inform, opinion. The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other, says the statement. Political correctness is not merely a cringeworthy fashion but also an instrument of censorship. To attribute to some value or sentiment a quality of unquestioning inviolability and then to damn anyone who dares to disagree even tangentially is an attack on the freedom of expression. Whether the tactic is deployed by those on the political right or those on the left, the result is to curtail reasoned debate and shrink the realm of public clarity. Womens rights, race and skin colour, nationalism, religion, leader worship the number of subjects, differences on which at the level of ideas can swiftly transform into violent confrontation, keeps growing.

A statement issued by some individuals, however accomplished and however respected, will not, by itself, bring about a diametrical shift in the temper of the public discourse. But the discourse is richer for incorporating this caution and appeal to reason. May reason prevail.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Economic Times.

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Where the mind is without fear - Economic Times