Sunday, November 16, 2008
while with a few friends and colleagues at lunch today, somebody asked, "what about the hindu terrorists? do you believe in them?" my immediate reaction was to shy away from the topic. as a rule, i never discuss religion with anyone. friends & family included. do i believe? sure, i do. in an almighty god who made us all humans equal. but ask me about my faith, then i'll tell you that am a christian by birth alone. for all other reasons, am a believer, a child of this earth.
still, what got me thinking was the emotion behind that question. despite my best intentions, i have been suspect to that emotion as well. the same emotion, which history and recent events have proved time and again, as the worst possible ignitor of many crimes against humanity.
are we, then, by harbouring such emotions, endangering humanity? by logic, yes. but, perhaps, that's taking it too far. so, let's look at these emotions, these fears and doubts. we can probably justify them by pointing to certain 'facts' and, therefore, our prejudices against people of certain faiths. but let me ask you, are you ABSOLUTELY sure of the fact? is it the COMPLETE truth? do you have data to prove it? have you personally spoken to the perpetrators of the crimes (you fear)? have you spoken to the community that was targeted? or the ones you support? if not, then let me tell you, that you believe only in half truths. and even if you had done all of the above, i would still tell you, it's half a truth. it can't be the whole truth without a deeper understanding of the community's or the region's history, economics, culture or food. including it's favourite dance type or most popular lake... what am trying to point to here is, that unless you are able to conduct a research dispassionately, you may never know the complete truth of certain things.
however, neither are most of us scholars nor do we have the luxury of spending our time studying/researching only. should we then, remain opinionless, and ignore what's being said, repeated & feared around us? not really. what we need to do is to shed our prejudices. to start looking into ourselves, and see if we really are the person we think ourselves to be. also, it is THE TIME, to believe in humanity. please, let's not discuss who a terrorist is. for that, you don't need to look too far. look into your own self and you'll find a terrorist there. there are terrorists everywhere. all sorts of people are terrorists. there are christian terrorists, hindu, muslim, sikh, parsi... you don't need religion to define a terrorist.
india today bleeds from communal violence, divided factions and a majority (of us) who sit the fence. what we need are not debates based on half-truths that will tear us apart further. we also don't need to take out morchas or start a ngo or sloganeer (you can if you want to though). what we need is to get rid of our prejudices and treat everyone around us as an equal. especially in our hearts and minds. only then can we reach out to people around us with the message of love and unity.
now is really the time, to decide where we stand. with humanity. or with fear.
(comments are welcome)
I dont believe that there are absolutes. Only theories. You believe or dont believe in theories based on ur own experiences, news, opinion's of friends/family, books u read etc etc. Which brings me to say, a murderer is a murderer whether we accept it or not.
At the same time, i totally agree with you when u say that we shouldnt let ourselves be blinded by prejudices. Easier said than practiced, nevertheless, something we should all strive for.
Finally, when u say "now is really the time, to decide where we stand. with humanity. or with fear," to me it sounds like you already have taken a side. What does standing for humanity mean? Standing up for the insurgents? Or protecting somebody's freedom to live ? To me it seems like you have already made ur choice:)
jyothy - i hav made my choice. the whole piece is abt my stand. i am curious abt people's stand & am urging my frens to take a stand.
also, you refute ur own opinion abt absolutes not existing in 'a murderer is a murderer whether we accept it or not.'
as for standing up for humanity, that's precisely what am asking - stop thinking in terms of terrorists or insurgents or hurts. for a few mins (or for a few secs), to look at ourselves as threads of the same fabric.
We are all different people, how do we express these differences. . some do it logically and some do it emotionally.
On the other hand there are some who are logical and use this on others emotions making them do exactly what they want.
Belief in the greater citizen sounds great ( very bookish), we all have looked at some one and said .. " that north/south India, that Bihari, that . . . )
Its just that we have not been stretched to that extent where our string have snapped and our emotions have taken over...
Will this thing destroy us?
Abso-freaking-lutely
The world is merging; people are forced to face the hard truths that would not have ever affected them a generation back.
Will we survive: it depends on the collective truth of our existence...
so yeh I believe in us
Being human, it's difficult for us to not be any of the above to some extent...It's a natural tendency that we all have based on what we have seen and experienced ourselves.
You can never quite see the world through someone else's eyes or truly know what they're thinking. So yes, peace,love & unity are things that the world desperately needs, but they're also very subjective.
To change the way things are, you have to go back to their roots. Ever wonder why people were made different? Probably because they were meant to be that way to some extent. Ditto for their thought processes.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for unity in diversity and equality of mankind. I just feel that it would need something truly extraordinary for the above to happen. And i'd like to be around to see it happen.
saugs - isn't everybody waiting for the 'truly extraordinary'. truth is we are capable of that 'truly extraordinary'. it just comes disguised as ordinary & simple. time to think n take a stand n act. even small measures help.
Yes, its time to think n take a stand and act, but what do you tell people who've been doing that for years and still haven't seen it make any tangible difference? And what of those who perished along the way while trying to do so?
Yes, small measures help, but it would take a lot of them to add up to something substantial.
For every positive thought that's expressed and for every idealist that's out there, there's also a negative thought and a pessimist. It's not like the clouds raining down suddenly on a sunny day. It's the way things balance out.
You can see things the way you want to, but you have to temper your perspective with cold reality. Because if you don't, you could end up bitterly disappointed...
I'm sure a small group of people will understand what's being asked here - to really take a humanitarian stand & to be tolerant of another person's views. But I'm not sure how far that good feeling will stretch. People on the battlefield is what concerns me. People who have been rallied to commit atrocious acts. Unless we have something strong to take control of their leaders & soften the effects of their extreme ideas, things will continue to happen. I may sound dictatorial, but it's a fact that Gandhi's ideas have been forgotten! I'm not even sure schools are teaching these ideas anymore!! I remember us being very tolerant as kids, taking part in all festivals, etc. But I have to say, the country seems more divided now than it ever used to be.
To me, 'a murderer is a murderer' is a theory which i believe in based on the immediate facts. If something like that was an absolute, criminal cases will not re-open in the courts of justice. Evidences recovered after decades will not be considered valid, science would not have evolved. Guess i've successfully confused u further ?? :/
Anyways, to me , all the bloggers seem to agree on where they stand. All stand for peace. But in such a small group, if we have such diverse reactions and reasons to back up our beliefs, i wonder the myriad factors that might be at work in turning a brilliant engineer to (in simple lang) a murderer!
By the same logic we may have to turn celibate to avoid rape and do away with the concept of money to avoid bank robberies... the list is endless...
I remember something I read from the Oracle of Delphi... "Man, know thyself...This is the one knowledge that will wipe out all delinquency from humanity." And now juxtapose this with Bertrand Russell's quote "If you teach people faster than they can learn, you will be in trouble for yourself"
Has our quest for knowledge made us into better human beings?
I'd hoped that day that we would discuss this topic, a bit more, than what we ended up doing.
You've touched upon one of the many problems that stare us in the face. It's not just religious terrorism that we have to worry about. In a country where having to speak Kannada or wearing your Marathi shorts on top of your trousers is the only sign of being a true Kannadiga or Maharashtrian, I'm really at a loss to define ME. It's like being an Indian just doesn't matter any more. Fifteen years ago, being an Indian in Bangalore didn't matter. But now, if your car has a TN registration, or if you ask for directions in Hindi, it basically means that you aren't going to find the shortest route to any place within the city. So much has changed and I didn't even know how or when it happened. Seeing also how the MNS is carrying out its agenda in Mumbai, I guess another Metropolitan is also headed in the same direction. I wonder how many towns and cities it will take before realization hits us. I fear for this country and for what it's turning into. But I fear more for the "fence-sitters" that you've talked about, and their inaction. Funnily, I think I just might be one of them.
While it's easy for me to sit in my chair at the office, weed-off of the company's internet service, and blog to glory about the present state of affairs- the caste system, lack of civic sense, no traffic discipline etc. until I do something to make a change nothing will ever change. So to make a start, I will start by voting again.
Echoing Burke's thoughts: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." I guess it applies to all of us, and what we think we should do, before it's too late.
- Ranjith
When we gained independence, our founding fathers tried to yolk all of us with diverse languages, customs etc. under the yolk of Hindustan or Bharat or India. So, it was only a matter of time before differences started showing up.
Today, the only solution is for all of us to "agree to disagree" and move on with our lives.
I recall reading an English expression "Those are my views and I am ready to die for it". Now, there has been a subtle change to this sentence and it goes... "Those are my views and I am ready to KILL for it."
Seems like our threshold for tolerance has been inversely proportional to our knowledge graph!
Personally, I think that such a problem arises when I stop looking at reasons within and search for ‘the truth’ in the easiest possible avenue.
We Indians love to involve ourselves in situations which don't concern us. I don’t know if this is because we are probably the most caring people in the world, or if it is because we just love to have an opinion about everything. This nature ofcourse has its own shortfalls when the mind hasn’t matured enough to differentiate between the ‘handle’ and ‘lay off’ situations. Now add to this condition the possibility of coming out of a given situation as the seraph. Its suddenly so easy to point a finger!
We need to learn to lay off. We need to learn not to use the heart to think all the time. It has a more important task :)
I agree with Misch.
For one I'd like to know what kind of useless fuckers are these terrorists? Apparently you are all trained to carry out these acts of terror, infiltrate enemy areas to cause devestation, and are taught how to handle sofisticated weapons etc. But all you can do is shoot at innocent civilians who aren't even carrying a bloody lathi. You don't need to be trained in handling an AK-47 to do that, you could have accomplished the same by chucking a soda can at someone.
If they are all so well trained, then pick someone your own size. Go after those Mo@#$% F@#$%^& politicians who have those ridiculous security details to save their no-good asses. Accomplish your mission and help the comman man too.
Put your training to better use, and I'll pray that you get an extra virgin when you go to heaven. I don't care if you've been promised 70 or 72, but you're going to get one extra. Period.