‘I Am Offended by This Class Divide’

 

People keep telling me I should ‘filter’ what I say.

Perhaps, my mouth spits words

That may come off as harsh to many,

Amusement to some and bewilderment to most.

Even the close ones tell me out of concern.

Perhaps, I was born with a razor-sharp tongue

Or, perhaps, it is my loony brains wrapped up in my skull.

I know how paradoxical I might sound with what I am about to say

But I have come to terms with being quite nonchalant about it now.

Because, I do care.

Thus, I am vocal about the things that keep me awake at night.

I am sorry if you get offended by my words

But I have gotta do this,

Because I am offended.

I am offended by this class divide,

This nasty casteist society,

This constant injustice…
Which is like this pandemic-
Perpetual.

That it is almost becoming a ritual.

The rightist keeps going extreme right

And the leftist keeps promising an equally rigid ideology
(All of Orwell’s pigs are here now)

Is wanting an egalitarian society too much?

Too much for you, who keep wanting me to shut up?

I cannot shut up about those basic human rights,

Poverty, this economic turmoil in the country,

I cannot stop ranting about this catastrophic state of existence.

I cannot undo what has already been done

Or turn a blind eye to the billions who are bereft of basic dignity.

Do you know what filter really means?

As a noun: “any substance used to remove suspended ‘impurities'”;

And as a verb: ‘to slow or partially obstruct the passage of’.

There is it.

FILTERS.

Instagram got it all wrong.

When I talk, I am obviously expressing myself without any of these “filters”,

Therefore, my speech has been perceived from different angles;

However, as a courtesy, please stop asking me to “filter” what I say

Because, no matter how “impure” a word I am about to use-

It would be straight from my cerebral to my mouth,

The complete truth of a matter…
From the experiences life lets me live…
From nuances of this mysterious world…
But, even when I am saying this :
Be careful not to be fooled
Because what I say might not be the absolute truth
Even if I must be credible,

Because I am skeptical about the idea of an ‘absolute truth’.

I express what I feel through words.

Other people do it through a painting or sculpting.

This is what I do.

I write.
I tell stories.
At least from how I see it.

It is straight from the area of my brain which makes my heart the way it is~
Emotional. Raw emotions that need an outlet.
They are tiny streams that form rivers and merge with other rivers
Of course, to finally join the sea.

But that’s the whole point of ‘Freedom of Expression’
Isn’t it? And what about “Freedom of Speech’?
But that’s the problem with absolutism right there-
A fallacy.
It is certainly flawed like us humans
But possible.Yes,possible.
A possible solution may just be
An instrument of a mass mental cleanse-
By unwrapping the dirty covers
To lose all inhibitions-
To be open to the act of understanding
And knowing, to unlearn all those
Conditioned lessons that fit only to suit some
Because…
It becomes worse;
Thanks to the pseudo camps
Where they breed ignorance
Run by wolves who run the world

And, they say it is “impolite” to interrupt.
How sinister,
Callousing these thoughts to the vulnerable…
We can keep being “polite”

Yet, still think nasty thoughts anyway

And if we keep filtering whatever we say,

Can we trust anyone any longer, anymore?

Being honest and being vocal is about building trust

And building deeper relationships.

And like Spidey said,

“With freedom, comes big responsibilities”.

Hope we can see the difference between ‘filtering’ what we say

Versus ‘taking responsibility’ of what we say

Because we owe it to ourselves,

A new evolution

Which shouldn’t necessarily be a revolution.

We owe it to ourselves-

A transparent society,

Where it would be easier to kill the enemy in daylight

So that we could sleep well in the nights.
And the ‘enemy’ here has a name.
It isn’t our neighboring countries,
With whom we wage wars at or are in war with
Its name is ‘Ignorance’ – that’s our real enemy;

Therefore,

Please stop begging me to ‘filter’ what I say,
Stop threatening me to ‘filter’ what I say,
Quit manipulating me to ‘filter’ what I say
And better stop ordering me to ‘filter’ what I say

Because I just won’t.