Free-speech comes with a cost, in India and America alike

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As an Indian we take full pride in the fact that America is aggressively adapting India’s rudimentary mentality. This must be the first-time America has adapted something that is Indian, last time being when The Beatles contained peace as a result of their trip to Rishikesh which is known as the Yoga capital of the world.  Except for censorship, America is known for a lot of things other than Statue of Liberty and Hollywood like, racism, for being a bully, for oppressing the powerless, the list goes on.

Here in India, with Netflix, we thought the censorship has come to its end as the web is believed to be a free-space. A similar thought prevailed in the entire country alike that the demon called censorship cannot spread its choppy wings towards the content created by hardworking creative individuals. But just about when you were finished watching Sacred Games and thought, oh how wonderful! Thank God for Netflix, you get the news that people are asking it to be banned because of nudity and the harsh language used. In case, you hadn’t heard about that, before the anger builds up inside you, let us tell you that our lovely Uncle Sam is totally with India on this. Just the grounds are bit different, and the show is different.

Sacha Baron Cohen, famous for his movie The Dictator has been on the receiving end of a lot of cases because of his show ‘Who is America’ which is political satire mockumentary. Sacha, known for creating incredible characters on screen appears in this show as various characters. He interviews big American names with the objective to expose their hypocrisy.

This show was shot secretively over a year and it “explores the diverse individuals across the political and cultural spectrum, who populate the United States”. Now, the moneymen in States are suing Sacha and filing cases against him because ‘he tricked them into giving an interview that is now being used in a totally different context.’

This show has received a mixed response from the critics and the audience. But Sacha is being thanked for giving what America needed right now. The impact that the show has had is incredible. Jason Spencer, a Republican state representative from Georgia, was seen using racist the N-words. Because of which Jason Spencer had to resign.

Looking at the persisting political tension across the globe, free speech is as detrimental to the legislators as it could be. Voices need to be shut so that the office-bearers can keep their chairs safe and names clean. And censorship keeps the voice from being heard. And if you think censorship is an exclusive Indian thing, think again.

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