'Things in West Bengal and other parts of India are coming to such a pass that there is no guarantee that even an "educated" person will honour the unwritten codes of conduct in public life.' Not my words, but those of today's editorial in my newspaper. Good to see, at least, that other people have noticed what I have been carping about for a long time, and even considered it necessary to comment unhappily on the situation.
Without actually changing context, here is what I read on the T-shirt of a pupil today: 'If you see your ex with someone else, don't bother, because our parents have taught us to give away our used toys to those who are less privileged.' That is of course meant to be a joke, I understand. But don't jokes say a great deal about whether or not we are living in civilized times?
Then again, what can you expect in an age when the world can go gaga even over something as coarse and mindless as Gangnam style (have you read the lyrics in English)?
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2 comments:
Sir,
Why don't people see (or choose to ignore) the difference in standards of the jokes you often put up on this blog itself and the kind like the one you have mentioned in this post? What is the use of life if one has decided to live in the dark and remain vulgar and unrefined?
Every passing year one sees people getting more frenzied and crazy and coarse, in short animal-like. I hadn't read the lyrics of Gangnam style before, but I did now and other than the pure stupidity of it, which I find only mildly amusing, I find it revolting and worthy to be spurned.
I read the editorial too and I think what the author has said is just about right. Also, I think how much we, as "educated" people honour the unwritten codes conduct say a lot about how civilized we are. But then the question is also of what we mean by education and if we only understand getting an IIT degree and a job of it, well then...For me personally the our maid (or mashi, as we call her) has far more education than even most high-flying corporates if by education one means basic civic-sense, philosophical maturity, common sense, decency, humility, the will to know more, and the like.
Sayan
A few years ago you put up a t-shirt legend doing the rounds, "Nobody is perfect. I am nobody”, which I’d liked so much that I wanted to claim as my own. And now there is this sick and loathsome one, which made me wonder how the teenager who wore that T-shirt didn’t feel any shame.
The Gangnam style video gives me the creeps. It is nothing but obscene, lewd, disgusting, crass, and cheap. It reminded me of the gutkawallah who comes into money.
The lyrics however I do not find disgusting or lewd or revolting unlike the video. In fact I would have never placed the lyrics with that sick video. The lyrics read like they could be from a regular popular song, and even a 70s song. Popular songs aren't always known for poem-like lyrics (although some were and are meaningful from beginning till the end) but they have some sweet or funny or catchy lines with even some random bits of sense, and with a sense of tune or melody or are foot-stamping numbers. The lyrics with a few changes - and they actually could carry some sense; there's nothing repulsive about the lyrics as with the obscene and odious dance video and the jarring cacophony. The video is neither about dance nor music, and there is nothing “funny” about it.
And this filthy video (and from what I read I know that there aren’t many people who have looked at the lyrics) not only gets a million hits but is then hailed by so-called "important people" around the world as being “humorous and funny” and seen as some sort of a milestone, which can bring people of the world closer together? I was reading up on wikipedia to see whether there were any critiques against the sick video, and there are none that I could find. Wharton and Harvard professors have said that the video needs to be studied as a unique contemporary instance of a good and remarkable cultural phenomenon. I sometimes wonder how many VIP people at the VIP places think of what ‘civilization’ means any longer.
I go back to my old and strongest feeling with this post of yours and that editorial and the previous one. If the world could have a few genuine leaders and teachers occupying centre stage maybe at least some people from the hordes would wake up for a bit in their own lives.
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