Came across this article on rediff, lashing out at the hyprocisy of Indian society. To be fair, I would agree with quite a few of the allegations on the society in which we live in. We claim to be tolerant people and yet have riots, we talk about equal status to women but we hardly have an equitable society for women in any walk of life and we claim to have a great culture although I really wonder what the culture is all about if it treats Khajuraho as a cultural heritage but Mallika Sherawat as a shame on our society.
But at the same time, I wonder why is the author just blaming Indians of hypocrisy. I'm sure every society has its set of hypocrisies. Every society has its way of believing in idol worship... to me, even that is hypocrisy. I mean, you haven't seen HIM, you haven't felt HIM, yet HE is the all encompassing, omnipotent and omni-everything just because a whole lot of people told you so when you were a kid!!! Bullshit! Every society talks about love for one's country and glorifies it in words like motherland and what not... to me, the idea of loving a geographical place just because you were born there seems absurd and when somebody tells me that he's proud to be an Indian for no other reason than India being his nation of birth, I would classify him to be either irrational or a hypocrite. And it's not just Indians who look for a better life abroad. People all over the world look for it... its just that countries that already have a good living standard don't face the problem of brain drain. And what exactly is the problem of brain drain? I mean, again coming back to what I've mentioned above, why should a person live and contribute to only that society where one is born.
The article also talks about respect not being given to our teachers... Let me say there are good teachers and bad teachers and the good ones more often than not command respect through the sheer breadth of their knowledge and it is the mediocre ones that are ridiculed. Sometimes though, even the good teachers are made fun of, but then isn't that supposed to be part of life and isn't that the case in almost all professions. And I can't be sure but my guess is that same is the case in all countries, not just in India. And by the way, why does a teacher deserve more respect than a businessman or a shopkeeper or a cine star?? Isn't that hypocrisy?
The points I'm trying to make are:
a. Its not just Indians who are hypocrites. If, at all, it is a trait, hypcorisy is a trait of humans at large and not a trait of a particular race.
b. Hypcocrisy might be seen as bad but can one be really sure as to who is being a hypocrite and who is not?
Monday, July 18, 2005
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4 comments:
I have been following your blogs for quite a while and definitely they are worth reading.Coming to this one I think 'hypocrisy' as such is not something which can be attributed to a group of people or population in large as in there will always be a normal distribution in the viewpoints of people about what is good and what is bad , about what is rational and what is not. Ergo, whenever we talk of large group of peoples it essentially boils down to an implicit 'hyprocricy' arising out sheer spectrum of beliefs which people have.Its almost and always an impossible task to have an equal and consensual perspective when the volume of data is so large and wide-ranging.
I believe its a trait that can only be attached to a person or individual.
Thanks for the compliment.
I agree with what your point completely. The concept of hypocrisy usually basically arises out of the impossibility of having a large set of people share the same set of beliefs.
Good to see ya around. How are things at Oracle?
Comments became too long, so made them into a post
In response to Diwaker's post:
On Idol worship
When I mentioned Idol worship, I meant exactly that. I am not labeling all notions of God as idol worship. But there are quite a few such notions and I was referring to those. And there's absolutely no fight in somebody believing in a certain version of the concept called 'God', even Idol worship; all I'm saying is that quite a few of them seem to be very absurd and mindless beliefs and are continuing only because most people never question what has been told to them about religion and god. If someone questions and still ends up believing in Idol worship... good for them but if someone has a set of beliefs that he just inherited, I'd find it irrational.
I might have gone overboard in using the word 'bullshit'. Might have hurt some sentiments there. Sorry about that.
On Motherland
Again, just because I was born and brought up somewhere doesn't mean I owe anything to that place. I mean, you'll have to grow up somewhere. By that logic, if I were born in a different country and then brought up in 5 different countries, where would my loyalties be? And this can happen if your dad's career requires you to move around. It would have also happened to people born in Pakistan before and brought up in India. Where should their loyalties be?
I agree that when I go abroad someday, people will look at me as an Indian; my identity to the world at large is that of an Indian. But that's how the world might look at me; somehow, I'm totally convinced about the way I look at myself - I'm Nakul Mandan, a citizen of the world. It might sound very theatrical, but that's truly how I've always felt. It didn't change when I went to Switzerland for a week and I don't think it'll change much in the future.
On hypocrisy
As I've already said, I too feel that hypocrisy is everywhere, not just in India. You've cited some good examples about it in the US and I'm sure we'll find similar examples all over the world.
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