As the year comes to a close, two really disturbing stories, one the School shootout in Connecticut and another the gruesome gangrape of a young girl in New Delhi,have left people with their faith in humanity shaken. Both are reminders of the enormous evil that lies within us.
A worse type of terror (like my cousin, Calvin says on his blog here..I: Disgusted Indian) is closer to home, in fact within our homes, among us and sadly inside us all. The cold and merciless brutality of violence in both situations make us wonder, what the hell is wrong with the planet that we are living in today? These monsters may have surfaced now, but they are a result of our collective past of violence and oppression, against those weaker than us. It is a result of a world built on the foundation of the strong misusing their power to oppress the weak, of using violence against the defenceless, of those on the margins, those without any way of fighting back. Just reading both stories, leaves me numb, and heartbroken. Be it men oppressing women and creating a whole system to justify it, or men carrying out violence in the name of whatever ideology they have allowed to infiltrate and destroy their consciences.
This is in fact a psychological problem. It's like some part of these peoples' brains just stopped functioning and they ceased being human for the time it took for them to carry out such brutality. They turned into demons and lost sight of reality. And this brain damage, has happened gradually over time, aided by society's very design. It is our responsibility to uproot any practices or traditions that encourage this kind of thinking. It is the ugly side of our irrational mind, which is a good slave but a tyrranical master. It can create worlds of beauty or hell itself. That is why we must learn to harness it's power wisely and for the right purpose. For creation not destruction. The core problem of both these situations is that logic lost out to the flood of negative energy that was held bottled up inside. In both cases, the difference between the real and virtual just disappeared. It is this same negative energy, that makes people hurt themselves too. To commit suicides or to commit crimes.
On one hand, we have Adam Lanza, who while playing video games is in control, all powerful. And non stop thoughts of killing, may not turn everyone into a real life killer, but we don't know how strong our minds are and how long our logic can hold. Some people are stronger at restraining their thoughts or urges some are not. That is the reason we have systems in place, to help us develop a clear and rational basis for reasoning. To help us develop a foundation of morals. Of what is right and wrong. We need something to start with. On the other hand though, we have grown men, from the capital of India where godesses are routinely worshipped and women are revered. But in real life, the situation is very different, with cases of rape, eve teasing and molestation a daily phenomenon in some part of the country. I just read an article titled, Why Indian Men Rape. It talks about how women are treated as second class citizens. As the weaker sex. As objects. Not just by the uneducated, but also by the educated.This leads some men to think they can do as they please to women and get away with it. And the sad truth is that in India, most men do get away with it. There is also the responsibility that we as society have of treating women equally. It is necessary that we stand together against any form of oppression, that is committed by the strong against the weak, by the majority against the minority.
So as far as I can see, we all need a basic education, in love, and not theoretical like we've been taught for so long. It should be experienced. We must feel love, give it and recieve it freely. All religions, schools, workplaces, systems should encourage a culture that encourages people to work on themselves and use these lessons to help make the world a better place. Encourage everyone to put their gifts to use, for the poor, the meek, the sinners, the broken hearted, the lost to feel blessed.
We could kill these criminals, or we could first study them, to better understand, what drove them to commit such crimes. What part of them was it that turned them into such monsters? What turned them to be so numb, that they carried out such violence without a second's thought? Maybe, we could get some answers, to help prevent this sort of thing from happening again.
"We have an epidemic that has spread across the nation and cannot be controlled by law and order alone, but also by it’s people. By each and every one of us.
Bosses be sensitive to women employees and their complaints, take action.
Colleagues stand up for the woman who’s being objectified at work, take action.
Teachers, encourage your students to mingle and mature together, take action.
Mothers and fathers, don’t give special treatment to your sons (or your daughters), take action.
Writers and directors, make your stories relevant to today’s men and women, take action.
Actors, be brave enough to portray characters that speak their own minds and are not necessarily conventional, take action.
Media, don’t let us forget injustices quickly, take action.
Politicians, be quiet and take action.
Men, respect women who are not like your mothers, take action.
Women, don’t let slide even the smallest eveteasing, take action.
Neighbours, don’t ignore a cry for help, take action.
Bystanders, for God’s sake, take action.
People, let’s not live in our bubbles until the injustice affects us directly.
Take action."
-Kalki Koechlin
(http://www.indiaresists.com/cant-get-her-out-of-my-head-kalki-koechlin/)
A worse type of terror (like my cousin, Calvin says on his blog here..I: Disgusted Indian) is closer to home, in fact within our homes, among us and sadly inside us all. The cold and merciless brutality of violence in both situations make us wonder, what the hell is wrong with the planet that we are living in today? These monsters may have surfaced now, but they are a result of our collective past of violence and oppression, against those weaker than us. It is a result of a world built on the foundation of the strong misusing their power to oppress the weak, of using violence against the defenceless, of those on the margins, those without any way of fighting back. Just reading both stories, leaves me numb, and heartbroken. Be it men oppressing women and creating a whole system to justify it, or men carrying out violence in the name of whatever ideology they have allowed to infiltrate and destroy their consciences.
This is in fact a psychological problem. It's like some part of these peoples' brains just stopped functioning and they ceased being human for the time it took for them to carry out such brutality. They turned into demons and lost sight of reality. And this brain damage, has happened gradually over time, aided by society's very design. It is our responsibility to uproot any practices or traditions that encourage this kind of thinking. It is the ugly side of our irrational mind, which is a good slave but a tyrranical master. It can create worlds of beauty or hell itself. That is why we must learn to harness it's power wisely and for the right purpose. For creation not destruction. The core problem of both these situations is that logic lost out to the flood of negative energy that was held bottled up inside. In both cases, the difference between the real and virtual just disappeared. It is this same negative energy, that makes people hurt themselves too. To commit suicides or to commit crimes.
On one hand, we have Adam Lanza, who while playing video games is in control, all powerful. And non stop thoughts of killing, may not turn everyone into a real life killer, but we don't know how strong our minds are and how long our logic can hold. Some people are stronger at restraining their thoughts or urges some are not. That is the reason we have systems in place, to help us develop a clear and rational basis for reasoning. To help us develop a foundation of morals. Of what is right and wrong. We need something to start with. On the other hand though, we have grown men, from the capital of India where godesses are routinely worshipped and women are revered. But in real life, the situation is very different, with cases of rape, eve teasing and molestation a daily phenomenon in some part of the country. I just read an article titled, Why Indian Men Rape. It talks about how women are treated as second class citizens. As the weaker sex. As objects. Not just by the uneducated, but also by the educated.This leads some men to think they can do as they please to women and get away with it. And the sad truth is that in India, most men do get away with it. There is also the responsibility that we as society have of treating women equally. It is necessary that we stand together against any form of oppression, that is committed by the strong against the weak, by the majority against the minority.
So as far as I can see, we all need a basic education, in love, and not theoretical like we've been taught for so long. It should be experienced. We must feel love, give it and recieve it freely. All religions, schools, workplaces, systems should encourage a culture that encourages people to work on themselves and use these lessons to help make the world a better place. Encourage everyone to put their gifts to use, for the poor, the meek, the sinners, the broken hearted, the lost to feel blessed.
We could kill these criminals, or we could first study them, to better understand, what drove them to commit such crimes. What part of them was it that turned them into such monsters? What turned them to be so numb, that they carried out such violence without a second's thought? Maybe, we could get some answers, to help prevent this sort of thing from happening again.
"We have an epidemic that has spread across the nation and cannot be controlled by law and order alone, but also by it’s people. By each and every one of us.
Bosses be sensitive to women employees and their complaints, take action.
Colleagues stand up for the woman who’s being objectified at work, take action.
Teachers, encourage your students to mingle and mature together, take action.
Mothers and fathers, don’t give special treatment to your sons (or your daughters), take action.
Writers and directors, make your stories relevant to today’s men and women, take action.
Actors, be brave enough to portray characters that speak their own minds and are not necessarily conventional, take action.
Media, don’t let us forget injustices quickly, take action.
Politicians, be quiet and take action.
Men, respect women who are not like your mothers, take action.
Women, don’t let slide even the smallest eveteasing, take action.
Neighbours, don’t ignore a cry for help, take action.
Bystanders, for God’s sake, take action.
People, let’s not live in our bubbles until the injustice affects us directly.
Take action."
-Kalki Koechlin
(http://www.indiaresists.com/cant-get-her-out-of-my-head-kalki-koechlin/)
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