Dissent is Democracy

Dissent is Democracy

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Legend has it that the Lord Shiva decided to test the integrity of the famous poet of the Pandya court, Nakkeerar. The Pandya King had announced a grand reward for any poet who could give an answer to a personal confusion of his, through verses. The Lord composed a poem and sent it through a poor and greedy poet, who could claim the verse as his own, and thus, the reward too. The King was pleased with the poem and was about to hand over the reward, when Nakkeera stopped him. The verse was falsehood and hence could not be awarded, was his argument. On hearing this the Lord himself appeared disguised as a poet. He argued with the critic on the merit of the verses. And when the critic refused to budge, He is said to have threatened to open His legendary Third Eye to burn the poet to ashes. The poet is said to have stood his ground with the famous proclamation: Even if You open Your wrathful Third Eye, a fault is a fault. 

This is the tradition I identify myself with. And that's why, I consider dissent to be the most democratic and progressive of expressions.

The earliest dissenter must have been Satan himself. 

It was his partaking of the fruit of Knowledge from the Tree of Life that made God expel him from His domain. In retaliation, he tempted God's most favorite creation, Man, with Knowledge. Man accepted it, and was subsequently expelled. 

With knowledge comes unrest, disorder and in its extremity, chaos. That was God's curse to Mankind. But it is this constant questioning that has brought about the cerebral and material progress of humanity. The DNA of dissent must now be firmly embedded to our race. And this is what keeps us a level above the rest of the animal species. 

Every period of unrest caused by dissent has had a purgatory effect on mankind, making us a better generation than the previous ones. 

So, dissent is progress.

The plethora of revolutions and counter revolutions that heap history, have this single word as their ignition spark. 

This word is a threat to any established order. That is why in spite of a purported adherence to democratic values like individual rights and freedom of expression, even the most seemingly fair state tries to keep dissent on a leash. 

This is common to any power structure. Right from God's kingdom to the basic human social and political units, dissent is discouraged. In families we have the controlling heads imposing themselves on the rest of its members. The more powerful the head, the more strict his/ her imposition. Any foreign idea is plucked off as its sprout is noticed. 

If this system of intolerance was followed in toto, in letter and spirit, then we would have been still in the original paradise, and the world would have been a breed of content cud chewing humanity, just going through the three basic needs of survival - birth, copulation and death. 

Knowledge is unrest as opposed to the adage that ignorance is bliss. But it is this periodic bouts of unrest that has brought in better ideas, better values and consequently, better societies. That is the basic idea of evolution - a refining of the individual and the social grouping, that happens with every new generation. 

Conformity is stagnancy, and stagnancy is death of the race. Nothing grows in that state. Nature has it that no race can last for long in a frozen state. 

The more democratic a society is, the more varied its thoughts are. The more varied thoughts are, the more advanced races become. It is an obvious truth that in every generation it is only the dissident few who have outclassed the conforming majority, and taken civilization a step forward. 

And so it is the civilizational  responsibility of every confirming individual to encourage the growth of new ideas, new perspectives that might be in total contrast to the existing norms and beliefs. 

To conform is herd, to dissent is human.