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08:47 PM
Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
April 24, 2014
Two thoughts to consider. If you cannot put your words where your mouth is, are you a coward? By that token if you do not practice what you preach are you a hypocrite? We see this compromise in expediency in ourselves and in others, including those we hold in esteem.
Is silence less than golden when it becomes the camouflage for consent? You are silent because you haven't the gumption to open your mouth and say it like it is. It is our sanctuary and we gild it with gold paint because it becomes more liveable…we don’t want to see the mould on the walls.
Later, you explain to yourself that you had no choice, you wanted to speak but the time was not ripe, the occasion was wrong, you were afraid the boss would be offended. Tacky little excuses that are reflections of sheer funk.
There is no later. Either you stand up for whatever or whomever you think deserves support or you crawl away into the shadows and rationalize your piteous vanishing act for what it is.
We have given silence so much virtue, made it sound strong and introspective, as if the void in speech was evidence of great character and deep infection. It is also the most insidious response to the miscarriage of justice. How many times we have sat there in official conferences allowing the fate of someone to be sealed because we preferred the sanctuary of silence? Why indict ourselves with words?
And as often as that we have been party to slander against our friends, unable to defend, not in any dramatic ‘defend the bridge at all costs’ way but simply to open our mouths and say, that is unfair and untrue and unacceptable. Instead, we have flinched and lain low, sssh, let others fight their own battles, why get involved, our silence being more vicious an indictment than our speech. Especially when those on the firing line are people we pretend relationships with.
It is incredible how we can always explain away our gutlessness.
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
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