Error should not be justified

Apparently, recent changes in X (formerly Twitter) and an issue known as ‘white SIM cards’ have caused a lot of controversy there, which is still ongoing. This issue relates to providing unfiltered internet access to a specific group of people.

A significant portion of those who benefited from this privilege are the very individuals who have always supported filtering and opposed free internet. They are the epitome of preachers who display piety in the mihrab and on the pulpit but act differently when alone.

Society seems to have a clear understanding of them and doesn’t hold much against them, considering its dealings with them long concluded. However, it appears that most criticisms and attacks are directed at journalists and media activists who were perceived as critical of the establishment and are now revealed to have enjoyed this privilege, some for longer, some for shorter periods.

Firstly, in a situation where the right to free internet access is not recognized for the majority (one could say for almost no one), if this unequal privilege is wrong, then, referring to Svendsen’s statement, it should neither be justified nor its importance diminished; rather, it must be fought.

But the second issue is: which of us can claim to have no mistakes in the record of their life? All of us, when reviewing our lives, repeatedly encounter errors where sometimes our personal interests have overridden some of our noble ideals.

I believe that social and political activism cannot be based on a dichotomy arising from the concepts of absolute evil and absolute good. In such a situation, when we categorize an individual or group as ‘evil’ due to any mistake, it becomes impossible to cooperate with them in activism for goals like freedom and equality, and even more dangerously, one must commit to their destruction.

In these circumstances, society can mercilessly disregard all liberating actions and the costs imposed on those activists, effectively erasing them. I believe this is the dangerous aspect of recent attacks against some journalists, and even more dangerously, it has turned into a venue for some personal vendettas.

But the important point remains: if a decision or situation we are in, for whatever reason, is wrong, it should neither be justified nor its importance diminished; rather, it must be fought.