An Opinion is Never an Offense

Seven years ago, fifteen-year-old me held her camera and headed off to Tahrir square during the 25th of January revolution, without my parents knowing. But, after an unfortunate encounter with authorities, my camera was destroyed, my pictures were gone and my love for photography was overshadowed by fear.

After what would become the worst couple of hours of my life, my best friend’s father came to my rescue and was actually able to cover for me with my parents (who know nothing about this and will not be reading this column ever).

It took me almost four years and the obligation of a project requirement to fully get over the incident and start taking photos in the streets again. I found out then that the problem has changed.

It was not only the authorities I had to worry about, but also the people.

“Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you a spy? She seems like a spy; Don’t take photos of me; I will not say this on video.”

And the interrogations continued.

I understand that people have the right to choose whether they are on camera or not but, what happened to the smiling faces in the street who used to strike a pose whenever they saw a camera?

Roaming Egypt with a camera used to be one of the most enjoyable things for me to do, with no worries or required defense but this has now become similar to theft or espionage.

I keep asking myself why that is. I wonder whether people are scared to formulate an actual opinion, to have their words broadcast on the internet or to compromise their personal and familial safety.

This change and why it happened in the first place seems to be an unspoken topic or a status quo, that anyone with a camera and a love for photography, has to simply accept.

For a multimedia journalism student like myself, this is even more of a disaster because we can barely get sources to talk to us, let alone get them on video or audio.

This leaves me looking at my vague, supposedly not so distant (since I’m a graduating senior) future career with nothing but worry.

I went into journalism with the naive mindset to give voice to the voiceless but I did not consider what to do if the voiceless want to stay that way, if they fear that their mere opinion is a major offense.

But, break my camera, interrogate me or call me a spy, I still believe an opinion is never an offense.