The point being made (quote from Henderson) is: people answer the question they want to answer rather than the question that was asked. This is especially the case for left brain-right brain type of questions. It is easier to respond intuitively or emotively to a question rather than rationally. Structured, quantitative or rational questions are replaced by a near equivalent heuristic in one’s head. This applies to economics questions (Caplan’s post has several examples) or political ones (Henderson).

Henderson in particular points to how media uses the emotive equivalent (in the example he quotes, the question of profanity on television) and changes a first amendment freedom of press question into a personal values question. Of course that is the United States, where the first amendment has usually found strong support in the courts. He does cite John Roberts (chief justice of the US Supreme Court) similarly framing the question in a heuristic fashion that seems to suggest he is on the side of diluting freedom of speech.

Here in India though the government and the courts have generally never been shy in placing restrictions on free speech. Indeed the constitution itself has been amended (first¹ and sixteenth amendments notably) to restrict free speech in the name of security, public order, decency or morality, defamation, etc. And who is to determine what is decency or morality? Where does restriction in the name of decency end and censorship of political speech start?

In the same context the ongoing dispute between the government and major websites including Google and Facebook is a case in point. The government wants these websites to censor their users’ posts. There are some lawsuits in Indian courts on the same subject. On the internet, no one forces you to read any website. There is an active participation by the viewer by clicking on web links to get to the content. If you do not like the article in question or the website in question browse away. No one forces you to go online. If you choose to go online and get offended, you have only yourself to blame.

The same applies to offline content. Don’t like a television channel? Stop watching it. Don’t like a newspaper? Stop your subscription. Choice is available and it is up to the user to decide what he consumes.

Democracy is hard won and liberty is an integral part of democracy. My freedom of speech and expression is as important to me as your freedom to take offense. As they say in a democracy every one is entitled to his or her opinion and is entitled to express it. However no one is forced to listen to another’s opinion. The road to fascism starts with abrogation of these basic democratic principles.

¹Ironically our First Amendment placed restrictions on free speech while the US First Amendment was part of the Bill of Rights that guarantees certain freedom to US citizens.

P.S. This article started from mental substitution and ended up as a rant on liberal democracy. I don’t know how.

A quick excerpt. Read it for a nice morning laugh. And if you are a real tam-bram, you are probably reading this over a nice steaming cup of filter coffee. Enjoy.

For ages now,the Hindi film industry has assumed that all the four Indian states close to the equator speak the same language.That everyone in Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Kerala,is,in fact,a Madrasi.So,consistently,it resorts to extreme caricaturism or hackneyed hearsay every time it wants to portray this mythical Madrasi figure.That is why the Tamilian on the big screen in Hindi cinema is never subtle or understated.He is,for the most part,the man with the ridiculous accent,given to saying Saar, Baas or Aiyyo and cracking bad jokes in a lungi. So,when I bought tickets to the film on the first day,I hoped secretly that SRK would break these ridiculous stereotypes.

Alas,it was no different

3. The Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow

2. Lady GaGa – Poker Face

1. The Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling

This site has a listing of the top 10. All of the top 10 are very recent hit songs. Even Kesha made it on the list!

How does that happen? Perhaps the growth rate of itunes is so rapid that the newest hits are automatically the best selling ever. Perhaps the buying public are teenagers and they listen to these songs the most. Perhaps in ten or twenty years we will hear Tik Tok on the radio and think back to the good old days when music was good!

A fallout of the digital age is the shrinkage of time between fads. A decade or so back, movies used to run for several weeks. 100-day runs were reasonably common. These days the movie has gone to TV and DVD within 100 days. The rare blockbuster like Avatar plays for a couple of months. Part of the reason for this is the explosion in available media for consumption. The Economist has got the data deluge on its cover this week (have not read it yet). So there is utter fragmentation of the viewing public. Niches have become easier to fill. For example, smaller movie theaters don’t mind showing offbeat movies that appeal to smaller audiences as compared to the larger auditoria. Equally it is rare for a “cross-cultural” movie (or album or book or …). Perhaps the Black Eyed Peas and Avatar are examples of these breakout cultural examples?