Skip to main content

civilized society ?

An organized communal riots, gaining the proportions of a pogrom ... but the popularity of the person in command (Mr. M) increased and he got a landslide victory in elections!

5 years later -

Mr M walks away (rather runs ...!) from a popular TV show when quizzed about his role in that pogrom.
A (somewhat questionable!) TV sting showing Mr M's role in that riots
Mr M banning TV channels which are about to telecast that!
and Mr M and his aides refusing to come out clean ...
Still he continues to be at the helm of affairs. He ruled the roost for a long time despite his highly questionable conduct (... without giving any defense, but rather perpetrating hatred which makes us believe more in his role!)

Still, he rules the roost (at least as on Friday 26th October, 2007) ... rather he is allowed to ...

Without taking any sides, I am just tempted to ask are we living in a civilized society, where we are driven more by hatred than anything else?
If yes, what kind of civilized society is this, and where is it headed for?
Labels:

Comments

  1. Nikesh Rathi11:26 AM, October 27, 2007

    "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nikesh Rathi1:33 PM, October 27, 2007

    "The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred." - 1984 (George Orwell)

    Far fetched it may sound, but are we going this way ?

    I hope not!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:49 AM, October 30, 2007

    I agree on the message of the blog post... Though m not too convinced about the authenticity of the allegations on Mr M.

    And going by Mr E's quote... M was as much a murderer as the family who refused to take in pleading kids...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nikesh Rathi11:04 AM, October 30, 2007

    "M was as much a murderer as the family who refused to take in pleading kids..."

    I think the motivations were different in both cases. In one it was (probably) power, and in other it was fear ... or concern for safety apparently! (Although this doesn't absolve them from blame)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:40 PM, October 31, 2007

    See, u said it yourself and have also talked about it in your "intentions" blog-post - It doesnt matter!! The intentions dont count! You cant unintentionally murder someone and beg forgiveness!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nikesh Rathi4:07 PM, October 31, 2007

    Hmmm ... That was a real "data mining" kind of thing!

    Still ... my justifications -

    "Intention thing" was about good intention leading to good/ 'ungood' actions!

    The point I made in the comment in
    this post was about 'why' do they kill or allow people to be killed ... and they are definitely guilty (I should have mentioned this!)

    And definitely, I can't kill someone unintentionally and beg forgiveness, and using fear as justification is unpardonable!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AB4:37 AM, November 07, 2007

    @ Nova:
    How can you doubt the authenticity of the allegations...even his and his party's biggest supporters accept this 'mistake' and so does his party high command...though they do treat it as a 'necessary' mistake. And how fair is comparing mass murder and a license to kill by Mr. M with fear to take in someone in when you know your own kids will be dead as a consequence.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Shop @ Amazon

Popular posts from this blog

Gunaho ka Devta

During last few days, I had a privilege of reading one of the most accomplished works in Hindi literature - "Gunaho ka Devta" . This was the first time I read a Hindi novel after being highly recommended by 2-3 different people. I was kind of compelled to read it after initial 15-20 pages which were largely in an unfamiliar territory of Hindi literature! It is a novel set probably more than 50 years ago, and is a philosophical cum love story. It is one of those books where I can't be sure about how I feel. It is an excellently written book ( ... or maybe it was the first time I was reading a Hindi book ... but probably this is not the explanation!) , with the entire spectrum of emotions thrown in generous doses. The scenes are recreated almost poetically, emotions mentioned perfectly. But at times I am tempted to question basic assumptions of it all. At times I am tempted to say that he is preaching many things which I don't believe in, which I find improper, but the...
4 comments
Read more

Om (Ctrl C-Ctrl V) Om

This is a case study in how to make a presentation or a project report in a B school. This is a study of how to copy-paste from various sources (at the same time acknowledging it) and presenting a complete package with some excellent glossy packaging! For example, the movie - Om Shanti Om had the basic template from the movie Karz. The main attraction was inspired from John Jhonny Janardan’s title track. There were generous doses of movies like Madhumati and Karan Arjun. Some traces of Maine Pyaar Kiya, some Rajnikanth movies, some Jeetendra movies, many 70s ki movies, many actors ka style and lives etc. etc. were present. Thrown in was some amount of nostalgia in order to emotionally connect with the audience. Some quotes were from various sources (The one mentioned 3-4 times was from “The Alchemist” –“ When you want something, the whole Universe conspires to help you realize your desire”!) And then all the ingredients need to be mixed in right proportion so as not to have an ...
4 comments
Read more

K-eediyot box

(Disclaimer - Please do not think that I don't know spellings ... my numerologist told to use the above spelling for eediyot and add a k before it, this will help generate more TRP and comments for the blog) Time 7 : 30 - 8 PM, 8 - 8 : 30 PM .... 10 : 30 - 11 PM Venue - Zee TV, Star Plus, Sony entertainment etc. etc. Figure this - A family drawing room belonging to an extremely rich business house occupied with a mixture of emotional and scheming characters - 1 saas, 2 bahus, 1 son (+1 who makes an entry unaware of what is happening), 2 random distant relatives, 3 random cousins, all mouthing dialogues that have earlier been said by actors ranging from Nirupa Roy to Rajesh Khanna, followed by a long silence, 13 camera angles for same scene (top view, side view, cross sectional view, lateral view, 45 degree elevation view) , flashbacks and memories that last few episodes, good people becoming evil, evil people actually being un-evil, rebirths, amnesia, a background score that often ...
11 comments
Read more

Fan-o-phobia

Has there been some thing that you are worried about lately, something that might not seem too important that has been troubling you? ... Or that the very thought of it makes you shiver, tremble with fear or puts in the fear of god within you? Well ... I am facing one such thing of late. Somehow I have developed a fear of the fans, especially in cases where fans are a relatively lesser height, usually which I can touch easily with my palms or even elbows ... and even the ones that I can barely even touch by my fingers. This has not been without a reaon though. Recently I went to a relatives place where there was this combination of a fan being at lesser height and me being quite tall. After taking a bath (yeah ... I do take a bath ... in summers at least!) I switched on the fan, and raised my hands to wear a T-shirt. And suddenly I found something hitting my left thumb, hitting it really hard. Before the signal was sent to my brain so that I could realize what was happening, I put my h...
5 comments
Read more

The city

The green fields disappeared, The landscape changed somewhere, And that famed skyline appeared Suddenly out of nowhere. The squalor began to grow, I could see people all around, The din slowly increased, and Tranquility was nowhere to be found The crowds then swelled, And, all seemed to be in hurry, But all I could see on their face, Was resignation and worries. The city arrived, said the signboard But what it said not Was, welcome to the jungle, Of lifeless concrete and rot.
1 comment
Read more