Faizan Bashir
Bigots amongt people irrespective of anything exist in most of the societies. Some claim their side to be the ultimate truth, whereas others have their own stuff to narrate. And, the process of refuting each other continues. One such kind of intolerance that has always prevailed in our societies is religious bigotry that often give rise to violence over the validation of one single that opposes the other. In the era of understandings where no such thing should happen, there are much hearings being heard about the plight where one deprives the other, supposes their beliefs as dogmas, & his as facts. The crux of the matter is that none wants to spare a moment to understand the other. And, what the fact is such unrelenting attitude only deters us from living well.
One such war of words recently happened within my society where a man was abused for being a freethinker who happens to pass comments about `Not Slaughter Animals’. He suggested that animals have sentience, & they are bound to feel physical pains unlike plants which have no sentience—nervous system. So, does not it behove a normal being to chose the latter as his food rather than cutting off the formers’ head, & eat thereof! Those who teach ethics & values from the holy pulpit of Mosque, Church would ever utter words like, “You deserve to be stoned to death, & tossed the corpse to hawks…” Such intolerance of mere ideas itself implies that we are static. We reside within something. It’s as though declaring that ideas shouldn’t be uttered before us.
The people who took exception to the remarks passed by the freethinker emit so withering sounds that I personally felt we can’t be humans. It hurts more when some of painful phrases were uttered by the freethinker that, “Ideas could be shared, everybody should be given a chance to give vent to his ideas – but I always have been bereft. I wonder at people for being so extreme and control freak to boot. Who has given them the absolute authority to obstruct one’s basic rights? I too deserve to express. I deserve!” “Whenever there will be some work outside my home, I wear a mask on my face. They have made my life tough. If one has a dogmatic belief, it should be debunked by rational means. Does threatening help? It leads us nowhere, & exacerbates the situation more” added the freethinker. I’m extremely sorry. I do not favour the one, & opposes the other. It’s a matter of intolerance which has eroded us since long. And, in fact exists in each & every sect of each religion/group. It’s often seen that mere difference or intolerance to others’ opinions at times leads/amounts to the clashes which itself is destructive in nature! I’ve specifically focused on what I recently came to witness. So, taking it otherwise would add only to the woes. What lacks is the cooperative approach! That’s what the essence of whole write-up is.
Anyway—to achieve harmony—there has to have some approaches from all the groups, religions. And, these approaches are comprehensive in nature. Suppose a man came up to you, & suggest some things (as we have seen from the above-mentioned narrative). As long as it seems good, genuine to you, accept. But, if it doesn’t go well with your mind-set, using abusive language, threatening to death etcetera must not be our approach. I, here, again reiterate that it only leads us to destruction…. It puts at first the whole concept of humanity down, & becomes a sort of impediment to progression.
(The author is a freelance . Views are his own)
