Be not silent now...

We claim the privilege of calling ourselves 'civilized', of being 'mature' individuals, of having the capability to reason between right and wrong. This claim is echoed even more so by those who blog, and I would like to believe that bloggers inherently are people who are more mature than the rest.

That is why the death threats issued to Ms. Kathy Sierra, a prominent blogger and technology writer, are distressing. The very act of abusing someone, to demean someone's identity, and to degrade his/her person is the worst that can be inflicted on an individual, and is worthy of nothing short of the highest penalty available to a civil society. Irrespective of the victim's gender, the act is as serious as things get, and becomes even more so when the abuse starts bordering on actually threatening to injure, maim or even kill the victim.

Ms. Sierra has understandably been shocked and shaken by this, especially since these threats were issued over public forums and on blogs which feature or are supported by some of the most respected names in the sphere of blogging. To be so betrayed by one's comrades is the highest grief that one can bear. Ms. Sierra writes that she is scared to move out of her house; she fears every moment that someone would come and perhaps try to kill her. A threat, a verbal threat possesses within it the capability of reducing a previously confident and assertive person to a wrecked and scared shell and that is deplorable, if anything.

Those who have made these statements might be apprehended eventually, and suitably punished, but the damage has been done to the psyche of a person whose only offense had been to express her opinions in a frank manner, being true to her heart and to reason. And this damage is not just limited to Ms. Sierra but transcends to all those who affirm by her creed of writing true to one's convictions and beliefs. Law enforcement agencies can do the most of apprehending a criminal once a crime has been committed, but that such a crime can occur is an abominable thought.

The person(s) who have issued the threats may have intended them to be read as criticism of Ms. Sierra's works. Perhaps. But no criticism warrants such use of language. No freedom is unrestricted. Even the most paramount freedom, that of expression, which is so very sacred to all bloggers, is not unrestricted in its sweep. One may express, but keeping in mind that such expressions not go to harm the society in which one lives, or to any specific individual without due and justifiable cause or reason (due and justifiable cause could be like criticizing Bush for the Iraq war etcetera) as also that one may never advocate the use of violence against an innocent soul in sheer spite.

Bloggers chafe at being asked to conform to a code of ethics, stating that such a code could restrict their expressiveness. I fear that if such expressions are needed and protected by the right to express, that blogging as a culture is doomed to be relegated to the sidelines. We need to comprehend the fact that bloggers have a responsibility to society akin to that borne by the writers and philosophers of yore. Their behaviour reflects even more starkly on the societies that they live in, and influences even more so the people in such societies. Their attitudes, their biases, and their prejudices can go a long way in determining how a society views a particular issue.

And so such unreasonable and intolerable behaviour needs to be condemned for what it is: sheer barbarity. I fear that if such comments and such threats are permitted to go unchecked, tomorrow bloggers would fear to express themselves even when they are in the right, merely because they could become potential targets for such deranged delinquents. The blogsphere cannot afford to be silent now; it has to be vocal, for if not now then when?

Ms. Sierra's blog