Social Dictatorship/Moral police

[In this post I'm detailing my thought process in analysing this topic. Feel free to skip the part in brackets, where I'm discussing digressing from the main flow of discussion.]

Recently I had a heated discussion with a friend on the present social system in India. For the next few days, after much deliberation, these points came to my mind & I present it to you. We were discussing on whether we need any “control systems” or moral police as such, if the actions are perfectly legal under the laws of the land. I was vehemently opposed to it but still couldn't reason out with him because it was not a “debate”. In a debate, the other party has to “listen” to his opponent's point of view. And it was not a competitive debate- it was a debate to find a solution or to explore available options. The moral police in this case happened to be institutionalised “ragging”(bullying) by seniors with college backing that happens in virtually every college, especially engineering college in India. And the worst ragging occurs in our “great” NDA where people are trained to be corrupt or to be one of Gandhi's monkeys. Those who realise, leave after their mandatory years of service in the army. Those who idolise the army, naxalites or any such other people, let me tell you “violence be gets violence”. The army of no country is just. If you have doubts read Arthashastra by Chanakya or The Art of War by Sun Tzu. (By the way, I've only read a bit of these or heard their quotations, some of which are very popular; in case you question my qualification to criticise the army, terrorists, etc. For example the quote: “Keep your friends and your enemies closer” is from The Art of War & had been used in Prakash Jha's recent hit movie Raajneeti: “raajneeti me....dushmano ko bhi kareeb rakhna padta hai.”)

[And its not just this, its the whole attitude of Indian society. I am not commenting here on non-Indian systems simply because I've not been there. From my readings, i do infer we are far better in political & social terms. We have the most open webspace around the world; we DID NOT BLOCK wikileaks. People who admire the west should read how FBI was tracking their naturalised citizen Oppenheimer, who was the father of the atom bomb project.]

This is not the only unofficial social institution. Such institutions include peer groups, the nasty clique/coteries of schools, college & workplaces; our institutionalised dogmatic religion; political systems & cults like Church of Scientology, communism, etc. The peer groups force people into trouble & make the “mentally weaker” ones follow them. “Oh! You have never smoked?! Never drunk? (Never this, that.......) You are a sissy/pussy! (Everyone would laugh to please the group.) ” I ask any abused to let me have a face to face discussion with one of the bullies once. They will literally piss in their pants! WHAT THE FUCK?! What I do is my sole discretion. Fuck off! As simple as that. “Mai aap ruchi khaunga bhi, Aur ehnunga, oodhunga bhi..Mai par ruchi kuch nahi karunga!” People who say its being unsocial or ant-social, tell them this: “Lord Krishna said only if you're happy, can you make others happy!(I'm not making this up)” Its this bloody herd mentality that's dragging us down. This is famously quoted as the 'middle class” mentality in newspapers. To substantiate I'll quote from 2 recent movies. In 3 idiots, Farhaan Qureshi's father says, “ So Rancho is still brainwashing you...”. I feel 3 idiots is a socially relevant movie. Remove the comic timings, its an art film. 5 point someone is actually quite gloomy & morale killing but kudos to Amir's team(though I feel that Chetan Bhagat deserved more credit for 3 idiots; story's same only styleof narration is different). Another example is a scene from No one killed Jessica, the reporter (Rani Mukherjee) cares about society, justice & such high and lofty ideals & ill treats her domestic help, who might even be a minor(child labour)! In real life Barkha Dutt is similar(2g scam)! I feel the middle class acted in the Jessica case it felt threatened from the rich & powerful. But what about the Rizwanur Rehman case?! Fans of SRK should feel good  that he cancelled the ads he was to do for those criminals'(Todis' Lux undergarments) products; but he did it under pressure from fans' response. ;)What about Ruchika Gehrotra? Nothing happened to Inspector General of Police Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore because the middle class feels threatened as they aspire to loot 7 abuse from posh civil services jobs. That's why IPS Mehta's killers got away. And this mentality starts from as simple a thing as “ragging”. Today you bully, tomorrow you arson, the next day you kill! Its the truth. Its the mentality.

So the discussion I was having was about ragging. I am a vehement opponent. I was never “ragged” as such & i feel its abused by students and corrupt members of administration(E.g: NIT Durgapur, BHU case recently). Take the institution of army for example. But there aare people who stand up against it. I did; some of my friends did against ragging our juniors. I've seen many seniors of mine doing the same. The army corruption scandals are exposed my army men only. These are the few good men!

My point of view is that in your locality do people younger to you salute you, bow down or even wish you?! So why should your juniors at college! My friend said, if you are spared the rod, the child is spoiled! We need a patriarch to control us! There I felt the biggest threat to democracy & the seeds of dictatorship are in the smallest social unit- the family. In certain families, one is controlled by others. Similar happens in relationships & marriages as well! In India if someone divorces, then they are supposed to be be of improper character! WTF! Its legal; what the fuck do the moral police try to bring in their rules. If I start listing their personal lives, its a murky story altogether. They DO NOT practice what they preach. Charity begins at home, so does social structure. People now will say this is western culture & not ours. So here's my answer for  those half-educated intellectuals: “The present notion of not questioning elders' intentions is plain hypocrisy! Its a dark hybrid of our true Vedic philosophy. [Hinduism & Buddhism (& Jainism) are not religions per se, but philosophies. One just has to have an open mind. Even otherwise, our “religion” doesn't instruct us what to do or what is right but leaves it to the proper judge- our conscience. Religion, political philosophy or anything else shouldn't control us. We know best. God doesn't do anything, we do- whether good or bad. He just gives us the same unbiased rules of Nature. Else would there be anything imperfect?! The Vedas, Quran or Bible don't law down rules & even they are penned by humans. If they are God's word, even then it doesn't have rules per se. We interpret it thus. Jihad means “striving” & the present meaning is distorted from its original Quran meaning by western media. And it was the west, especially USA, who funded the first jihadis! If you're obsessed with ideas, laws or philosophies people can easily exploit you.] Buddhism & Vedic religion ask people to debate, question and be active in shaping politics through these discussions. Ashoka frames rules for religious debating, in which only rule was you cannot insult others & their religions.(Read Amartya Sen's The Argumentative Indian if you don't believe me.) Monarchy tanashahi hi hoti hai. Ram rajya kuch nahi hota!Bas apna dimaag khula rakho, suno phir socho ki sahi hai ya galat. Par suno to sahi khule dimaag se, without any bias!”

Actually most are not bad, but get influenced by these false rhetorics of the peer groups. People think, why have you been endowed with a brain?! A friend of mine said that we don't want to bow to people in power but are forced to else will be at a loss. Its the exact truth. If people stand up en mass & just say NO, things change. Things are done non-violently. To stop ragging or for any other social change you don't beat them up or rusticate them. You try to change them & do stop them, not try to stop.! And on a ending note, I think our country needs qualified & open-minded counsellors & psychologists and psychiatrists with medical ethics whom people could consult to avoid falling prey to these peer groups.