Defense is the worst form of Offense

Whatever I may do,

A fault,they will surely find.

Wherever I may live,

The world is still not colour blind.

Raghuraj S. Hegde from the poem Blackie

Over the past month or so I have been really worried as to how dangerous the world had become. Two incidents have much to do with what I feel right now. 

One is a seemingly funny comedy movie "PK" released last month in India to rave reviews and incredible Box office collections. It supposedly makes fun of age old superstitions in India (Disclaimer: I havent watched the movie yet). This movie has somehow caught the fancy of self claimed protectors of Hindu culture who have denounced the movie saying it insults Hinduism and promotes 100 other blasphemous things. It would have been good if it had stopped at that but no. They had to burn posters, set vehicles and theaters on fire and also file frivolous litigation in courts. Fortunately no one has died as yet because of this movie (at the time of writing). The presence of  Hindu fundamentalists, radicalists and anarchists have been denied by the Hindu majority public for a long time. Those who don't yet believe that they exist are living in middle earth. What distresses me is not that these fundamentalists exist but that they have active support from educated and informed Indians. I found this out when the discussion about this movie was brought to Facebook, Twitter and Quora. I realized many of my old colleagues, classmates and acquaintances hold a very strong opposition towards other religions. These people have passed out of the top universities, seen the world around and yet they have such a narrow view of their own religion and other religions. Many of these people started openly posting anti-Muslim or anti-Christian status updates and jokes online forgetting so many of their acquaintances are from any of the many religions in India. Any opposition from many people were ridiculed as either "sickular" or "selfish" or "blind" or "emasculate" . These people were steadfast in their hate for other religions. They claimed that Hinduism has been insulted long enough without anyone protesting and that was because Hinduism is a tolerant religion. From the vile I saw in online media Hinduism was anything but tolerant. I know it is not true. I am a Hindu by birth and proud of it. I do not see it as a religion but as a way of life. Hinduism is one of the few religions in the world which gives you the freedom to be an atheist but still belong to the religion. I presume most of these Hindu fanatics do not realize how open minded Hinduism has been and will be. You don't need 10,000 people burning posters and effigies to protect a 5000 year culture. It can stand tall on its own.

The second incident was the assassinations of cartoonists and editors of 'Charlie Hebdo' by a few of misguided French Muslims. This has again started a debate as to how this came to happen. Commentators wrongfully point out that the Charlie Hebdo bought it on themselves by publishing blasphemous cartoons over the last few years and that this would have happened sooner or later. They also go on to say that all this would not have happened if the magazine was more respectful of Islam.

Really? I mean are we even considering this argument?

As a citizen of the world and living in a democratic country I would want to have my own opinion and not things thrust upon me as politically correct. If not anything I should have the right to be offensive. Weather I choose to use that right is another matter entirely. As long as my words,writings and forms of expression do not harm anyone I have the right to say it.The 2006 article by Christopher Hitchens explains it so brilliantly here. If our only aim in life is not to offend anyone then we would see something like this in the future.

Anything you say is offensive to someone else so what should you do? Should we just stop talking or expressing? One is just waiting for the other to be "offensive enough" to start any of the following- protests,tearing posters, rioting, frivolous court cases, mass murders and genocide. If our attitude remains to encourage the above and stifle all forms of expression then soon enough we would be no different from people in China, North Korea or Saudi Arabia. 

How can you be even sure any harmless thing you say is not offensive to someone else. You can never be careful enough. If you as an individual find something unacceptable or offensive choose not to promote it, watch it or even publish it. Tearing up posters, burning movie theaters, killing cartoonists and policemen isn't going to change anything. Every religion deserves the right to be criticized or praised in the same measure. I don't believe that religion should not be debated or discussed. How else would we improve our religion to suit our modern world. If we had not debated or discussed religion we would still be practicing all the weird old practices of our forefathers. As a Hindu I have the right to question my religion and so does a Muslim or a Christian. We have to see the merits and demerits of religion as one sees himself and not how a particular religious organization decrees we see it as. If we are scared to question we will not progress. All I want to say to these people is. Thank you. I can think for myself. Please respect my intelligence.

Raghuraj Hegde

What women want…

Before you mistake this for another sexist diatribe against the female sex by a testosterone charged male, let me clarify its no such thing. To the contrary I want talk about how society is oblivious to what women want. News channels these days are filled with “human interest stories” of sex crimes, rapes, assault, domestic violence, etc. on women and children all over India. It is as if there is a sudden epidemic of perversion and sexual frustration by men India-wide. I see a lot of people on these TV channels and outside say this is due to western influence –their clothes, relationship concepts and habits. It is as if sexual crimes never existed in India before. Well what the TV channels are gladly ignoring in their project to create this “breaking news” phenomenon is that these crimes are not new events in Independent India. The perverts,the sadists, the paedophiles were always there but we as a society never acknowledged them. We protected them among lies, cover-ups and  false family honour. Every time we see some new report on a ghastly crime, we as a part of society give an appalled shocked expression, shrug it off and move on believing such things are rare events in civilized society. The real fact of the matter is the problem lies in the mindsets of society as a whole. The sad part is the crimes are not as surprising as the comments by leading political figures and officials in law enforcing agencies. These politicians and the police are supposed to be representatives of our country’s people and if they think thus by projection the country also thinks like that.What do they say?

“The woman who got raped was wearing a mini skirt, was an alcoholic and a prostitute. She tempted that rapist to rape her. She had it coming”
“ The man’s affection for the child has been misconstrued as child sexual abuse. There are no paedophiles in India. It is a western phenomenon”
“ Women should know how to dress decently in order not to get raped”
“ Women should not work in offices after dark so that they will not tempt rapists at night”
“ The western influences are ruining the culture of our country. Women should not dress in western clothes, should not drink, not use mobile phones and internet, not have male friends,……(list goes on)”

If these statements shock you then you really haven’t been reading the news lately. There are many more such banal statements being given on a daily basis.I don’t know who was asking for their explanations but nevertheless they did provide their distorted logic for public consumption. What is unfortunate is that these statements are coming from not just religious fundamentalists,policemen and politicians but from some members of the National Commission for Women. If people appointed to safeguard interests of women (who are women themselves) think like this then really women in our country have no hope. I think the actual rape has happened in the brains of these commenting people.

The ploy to put the blame of rape squarely on how women behave is an old one. They will tell you men don’t have any control over their sexual craving and its only natural that they will rape someone who will sexually arouse them. They believe that the onus is on women to avoid rape. It’s like saying that any man can become a rapist if present in the given circumstances which commonsense should tell us is not the case. Chivalry and gentlemen have not died in this world and not all men are rapists if it even needed to be said. The rapist will rape anyone without regard to looks,clothes,behaviour, age and sometimes even gender. Instead of acknowledging this problem these people will try to put morality and culture into the equation. Aside from the fact that I don’t think two hoots about the culture of our country (much less ruining it), there is no credence to the belief that it is somehow ok to rape a sex worker or a lady who drinks or a woman who wears revealing clothes. It is behind this belief that rapists, sadists and paedophiles in our country find shelter in. If society acknowledges that the crime is committed in the minds of rapists rather than due to situational happenings, only then something can be done to curb these crimes.

Women in our country should be free to wear the clothes of their choice, work in professions they want to, go to any place at any time,to eat and drink whatever is legally allowed to all citizens AND STILL NOT GET RAPED. That should be the societal standard and not primitive ideas of these dinosaurs called politicians and policemen who are probably living in a cave.

The idea that women are respected in our country is a myth. Except in certain pockets where women find a pride of place, in most places in India everyday we see women being insulted, abused and exploited. The IT boom and corporate culture has improved the stock of women in our country. We find that more girls are getting educated and making a living for themselves than the previous generations did. But societal prejudices still remain and the behind those signs of progress among women hides an ugly truth. A truth nobody is willing to acknowledge : “Society still considers women as inferior to men.” These men and women( the voices of society) who give statement after statement believe that its always the woman’s fault (even some in the NCW think so).Unless this mindset is not corrected no law will control these savages committing crimes.

The media which is supposed to be the progressive voice of our country is as regressive as can be. Recently we saw footages from a Guwahati based news channel showing images of about 20 men molesting and stripping a 17yr old girl. This episode teaches us two things. ONE: People who would seem normal are the people capable of such serious crimes. There are no signs to separate these savages from society as a whole. TWO: There are no ethics and sensitivity left in the media. While seeing the video we are also listening to the cameraman actually encouraging the molesters to go further in their ghastly crime despite futile pleas by the girl to leave her alone. The reporter of that news channel even has the gall to interview the molested victim and ask her personal details immediately after the incident. Then they broadcast it live all over India and say they actually helped identify the culprits while actually they were just creating a TRP raising story. They did not even try to help the poor girl. This is how depraved our media is. Its not just one news channel, every news channel in India broadcast it without any shame. The identity of that girl was flashed like a sign of victory thus destroying the last shreds of humanity. The govt. did one better (rather worse), they sent some elite high brow delhi socialite women who claimed to be from the NCW who conducted press conferences along with the victim. Even a molestation is treated as platform for politicians. What law will these politicians bring in when they themselves behave worse than those molesters.

This is not to say some good work is not going on. The child abuse bill and domestic violence act are some examples of good legislation. But unless the powers that be change their prejudicial stand point no law can be enforced to actually decrease such crimes.

feel free to read what western media thinks about the rapes in India:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/10/26/rape_in_india_a_sexual_assault_spree_in_haryana_brings_out_the_crazy_in.html