I have often been criticized for using harsh and intemperate language.
I reply by using the words of another of my heroes, William Lloyd Garrison ( 1805-1879 ), whose biography I am presently reading. Garrison was an American editor and publisher of the journal ' The Liberator ', who all of his life passionately denounced and spoke out against slavery.
In the very first issue of ' The Liberator ' published on 1.1.1831 from Boston, Garrison wrote :
"I am aware that many object to the severity of my language, but is there not cause for severity ?
I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think or speak or write with moderation. No! No!
Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm ; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher ; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen ;--but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present.
I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not retreat a single inch----AND I WILL BE HEARD. "
Today the conditions in India are so critical that harsh and truthful language is required, the uncompromising language of Martin Luther, not the compromising language of Erasmus. Too long have the Indian people been deceived for niceties to be observed now. A blunt knife draws no blood.
