What is the opposite of freedom of speech? It is the right to get offended. Recently, Nupur Sharma commented about Prophet Muhammad’s marriage on national television. She stated in a debate and it was not meant to flatter. The Arab elite, otherwise mute spectators to global Muslim misery, took exception. The Indian government had to calm frayed nerves. Here, speech was the problem.

Long ago, Salman Rushdie wrote a work of fiction called Satanic Verses inspired by a story of the Prophet Muhammad. It offended some Muslims who demanded his death. A fatwa was issued, and Rushdie went into hiding for years. Everyone thought the matter had been forgotten, but then Rushdie was brutally attacked. Here feeling hurt and taking offence was the problem.