In order to answer the question of reactions towards Anti-Misogyny law in my nation, this post was meant to go in the Fuck Sexism thread. But because we need a proper understanding of the level of reform that caused the law in the first place and redefine our primary goal of "justice", I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by explaining what makes the Indian culture different from the American and why there is a dire need for literary reform in America (and try to curb those wretched "knee-jerk law" reaction while promoting productive activism). And as such, this post needs a completely different thread, though the post will be divided into two parts.
Following this thread, feel free to discuss how you'd like to participate in helping your nation's culture to evolve beyond the need for Goverment/Totalitarian intervention and become self-reliant. The future resides, not in crutch of politicians who screw up, but in the hands of the commoners who dare to dream and
live. So let's get started with...
Sexual InequalitySexual inequality. What can I say about it? A primary concern in domestic / social, urban and rural, political and corporate environments, it leads misogyny wherever cultural values are only a virtue of selected few rather than one of universal acceptance. America (I say this because the majority of the Compendium are Americans) is currently dealing with this frustration, but I would like to point that a few select states in India -- in lines of industrial development, education and high cultural values -- have actually effectively dealt with it at a grand scale (it still exists, but only at orthodox and illiterate backgrounds, such as Rajasthan or slums anywhere). And, unlike what some of the Compendium members suggested, we
didn't need totalitarian restrictions on "free speech" (which is almost never effective) or criminalizing sexism, mind you; it was something much more subtle, much more powerful and even more beneficial, progressive and liberal.
It was Social Reform Movement.The persistence of security has quadrupled in the last decade, mostly due to constant national security threat from Extremists. However, the Judiciary, while asserting public security and stability, can rarely do much to improve the "Public Life", especially since justice is blind and is influenced by flawed principles in power. The question is, must we rely on the Judiciary and Government to recognize injustices and, hence, correct them? America is a Representative Democracy, and it's time to put that power to test.
Shortcomings of LawI suppose anyone from a Developed Nation would place support in strengthening "law" in areas where crime rates are higher, but depends on the level and method of restriction of power and rights which a nation can either be judged a Democracy, Communism, or Totalitarian -- after all, Judiciary exists for the stability of the nation. But how much can the law actually achieve in an active regulation? Allow me to describe this in a satirical tone.
Our laws currently are sufficient to provide free speech to the commoners and penalize those who threaten that stability, such as thieves or murderers, and yet ordinary people tend to "complain" that there's too much of "evil" going around while quietly awaiting the Government to do something about it. When patience wears thin, and they notice more "evils" being conducted, they suddenly have a reckless knee-jerk reaction, "There should be a law against this and that" as if it's so easy to pass a bill and change something without consequences. Some of the best of them study law and politics to become lawyers and politicians, and in the end do the same thing others before them did:
constantly bicker self-righteously, while the public stays in the heat for too long. Then somebody gets a bright idea to "restrict" freedom of speech and action to reduce domestic abuse and hopefully solve all crimes. What do you get? (Note: I actually had friends named Sophia and Tim, and that was the actual dialog they once used)
Tim: "Hey, Sophia! What's wrong with your hair today?"
Sophia: "Dammit! You disgusting prick, I'll see you in court!"
So apparently everyone's being sent to prison one way or another, either for accidentally tripping over the stairs and damaging the walls, scratching you neighbor's brand new car, or simply inquiring about your ex-girlfriend's weird new hairdo, and what you call "Jail" has now become a vacation zone, the ticket's of which aren't available this summer. The only ones that usually don't find their way in those prisons are
actual criminals -- those professional criminals who know the shortcomings of the law and are always capable of escaping, those who are mostly recognized as serial killers, organized criminals, human traffickers, drug dealers, organ thieves, etc. and slip in the shadow of commoners to do their business. These are the professionals who role their eyes when civilians bicker with the police and quietly do devious things while looking innocent in the face of the law. The best of predators always get away, leaving their preys to rot.
And hence my Psycho-Analyses of Psychopaths and similar potential predators, because in order to track and predict such perpetrators of crime there is heavy need to understand such minds beforehand lest we make fools of ourselves afterwards. We need to understand how they function, how they think, what classes of criminals have what patterns, where to get the next resources, what's the frequency of visits, how and what to prepare with, surveillance before the heist/murder, necessary bluffs and back ups, etc. (don't ask how I know all this).
Hence why many law enforcement recruit criminal psychologists and profilers to make their task easier. And
even then it's not enough, because with limits on law enforcement would render further limits on being able to establish control, and if the citizens merely notice the crime being committed and turn a blind eye, mumbling that "the government isn't reliable", it's simply doesn't help. And even if the citizens do responsibly inform beforehand of the offenses, there are times that even the police will be of no help, especially places beyond their jurisdiction, places law hasn't established fully, or even places where law exists but you're at the mercy of corruption.
These are usually the places where you'll find an incredibly large number of human trafficking and organ thefts. "Hey, my neighbor's being annoying. Why can't the government do something about it, while I'm too busy twiddling my thumb?"
"But Tushantin," you'd say, "surely Totalitarianism would a least get rid of domestic sexual and racial abuse?" Unfortunately, while it sounds like a good theory on paper, it's hardly practical or ethical. For one thing, Totalitarian would cause more harm than sexual and racial abuse, which our current culture and law manage to curb sufficiently anyway. Secondly, just because you force everyone to be vegetarians doesn't mean they're going to like it (it does reduce crime, but depends what you actually call "crime" anyway). They'll find ways to "sin" by eating a chicken or two, and you'll have more criminals in your hands, or
perhaps more rebels who simply aren't pleased. So yeah, there goes your "Stability".
While nations like Kazakhstan have managed to achieve this, doing the same at America would be destroying the very values the nation was founded upon.
(Note: There's a reason I posted that article regarding the Occupy movement; I actually sympathize with the Occupy protesters and whatever motivated their hatred, but if there's one thing the article got right was that, firstly, lack of leadership breaks them and, secondly, these mobs can suddenly turn violent at any given moment, beyond control. These two points may cause a severe impact, but they have no proper resolve or plan to achieve what they strive for).
Social Reform MovementYou might say that "every system has flaws" and that you'd help perfect it, but unfortunately, a Judiciary system can only do so much. And you probably think that there's simply no other alternative: "Law" is simply the only choice, right? Actually, there was always a second choice, an appropriate choice, and one that has succeeded time and time again, provided we have a proper, mature leadership -- one that served politically, but aimed at the society instead, and one lead by all that is good rather than "prejudiced Radicalism". While law handled the "tough guys" like kidnappers and wanted criminals,
Social Reform Movements did unthinkable like
end untouchability, establish "cultural ethics",
abolished harmful orthodox traditions, unify religions,
uniting science and spirituality,
encouraged scientific and
literary pursuits, and more importantly,
end Sexual Inequality. And the movement didn't need to "force" individuals or societies long-term either, but simply establish "capacity" to help people judge between right or wrong and maintain a line of creative and empathetic negotiation within society. When schools were affordable only to the rich, Social Reforms educated the masses. When poverty denied Agency, Social Reforms gave it to them. When a damsel was in distress, Social Reforms turned up like a Superhero. Social Reforms was your friendly neighborhood Revolution, and created newer, better social order via education since intellectual and emotional development, and of course 'Liberalism', was its first priority.
Reformists' ideas are often grounded in liberalism, although they may be rooted in socialist (specifically, Social democratic) or religious concepts. Some rely on personal transformation; others rely on small collectives, such as Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel and the self sustaining village economy, as a mode of social change.
The reason this movement works is because, unlike an angry mob, it isn't a group of 'protesters', but a community of intellectuals who bring about change with activism, education, empathy, and literature, art, songs and poetry. Such a movement is always targeted first to the public to 'benefit' them rather than face 'against' them, and as such is always welcomed with open arms. It then enables the capacity to establish 'moral principles' for the society to follow, and these principles are social and virtuous rather than forceful. What makes such a movement powerful and 'pure' is that under the guidance of a strong and wise leadership, revolutionaries, innovators and artists, any and every negativity and prejudice in such a movement is diluted with the involvement of other powerful thinkers. For instance, if one thinker realizes that superstition stems from unchecked traditions but his prejudice makes him eradicate the tradition system entirely, and while another thinker spots something beneficial in the same tradition system, then a third thinker approaches to eliminate what creates superstition while retaining the positives of traditions. And they manage to accomplish this by playing on collective sentiments of the society, just as many playwrights like Goethe and Shakespeare did.
One thing Social Reformers such as Gandhi understood was that it isn't the Government that makes a country, but the People. Basically, the heart of this Social Revolution isn't to 'Change Others', but to actually '
Redefine Yourself' and help others acquire the same. If you want others to stop being violent, then you wouldn't be violent yourself. If you want others to donate blood, then go do it yourself first. That is because your nation is simply a mirror of your inner reflection. You represent your nation, and the spirit of your culture can be seen from your eyes -- if you're overly aggressive and prejudiced, then that might be because you've dealt with it in your neck of the woods. You don't war with others because of their differing views, no matter how sick, but you embrace them and make them better. Gandhi knew that an eye for an eye never works when you're striving for peace, and that the only way to stop violence is to
not be violent in your contention. Social Reformers don't wait for the Government to do something about their social problems. They take their social problems upon themselves, and create opportunities and capacity for the society to slowly and gradually improve via pure artistic and humanitarian methods. So before I can get to its involvement with Feminism and Sexism, let's give you a gist of my nation's background and why such a movement was required.
Unity Is ParamountI'll make this as simple as possible.
In the beginning,
there was nothing when there was no distinction between "science" and "magic" (it was actually referred to as "secrets of nature"), the bards, sages and scholars from all across the
Bharatvarsha gathered together to pool in sacred knowledge from the far and wide, endless horizons. Some were sciences unheard of, some were stories of events that changed history, and everything was recited in songs, written in the most beautiful and sacred language of the time called
Sanskrit. But as the knowledge exploded across several empires, the language itself degenerated and many could not read the scriptures. Then came the Brahmins, the most learned ones of the lot, and then came the wretched Caste System that divided the people. The Brahmins wanted power and stature, and they corrupted the Dharmic culture with a ruthless game of politics -- other classes were condemned as inferior, ruthless traditions such as human sacrifices were initiated, and the lesser classes (such as the Sudras) were regarded as "untouchable", denying them knowledge of sciences and religion, denying them worth in the society. Over time, however, some Kingdoms grew powerful, and many tried to abolish all these practices with sheer severity of law, but the Brahmins never gave up and they managed to infiltrate into the Royalist parties and established their Dominionist-Orthodox ideologies, and they did their very best to destroy any lines of "Reason" and make the game unfair.
Some Sages like Gautam Buddh managed to escape and tried to return the scriptures to its former glory (Read: created Buddhism) so that the commoners could read them without knowing Sanskrit and regardless of their Caste, while some others from segregated Kingdoms enjoyed the lack of threshold of the orthodox. But others weren't so lucky.
Patriarchy was one of the biggest evils of the Caste System, where females were oppressed like nobody's business. While some Kingdoms had strict reign on what goes on in the world they build, they had no jurisdiction in segregated villages where orthodox was prevalent. A dark shadow of Misogyny and Ignorance spread over the common Hinduism, and being born as a female in those times meant "curse", both for the family and for the girl -- it was hell on earth with "Widow Sacrifice" this, and "New Born Milk and Glass package" that. I won't go into depths of how horrible the societies were, lest I make this post M Rated and gruesome. But rest assured, there was no savior -- no Kings or Prince Charming or Angels would come to their rescue, until...
...a Superhero appeared, disguised as
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and he saw the wrongs of the society. He saw women burning at the pyres of their dead husbands, and he hated it. He tried to reason to the narrow minded, but his words fell on deaf ears. Once and many times he wished if all this could disappear, but his practicality won him owner and he knew just what would work -- a reform, the first of his kind. Pursuing his vocation as a Super Pandit, a scholar, he challenged the Orthodox by reviving the superpowers of the Vedant philosophy and did something incredibly impossible with the powers of Education, Practicality and Reason -- Uniting the diverse religions into one which we now call "Combined Hinduism" (imagine if Judaism, Christianity and Islam re-united), destroyed the Dominionist tendencies of Caste systems, put "Reason" back into Religions and turned it into a positive Humanitarian force, and abolished Sati and sexism, thereby saving thousands of women. He pledged then that no woman would suffer while he was alive, but people carried his spirit even after his death and the persistent shadow was finally lifted.
But that to paradise was long. One of the biggest weaknesses of
Hindustan (as it was then called, and still is) was its diversity -- religions hating each other, kingdoms warring each other, genders oppressing each other, and politicians poking each other. It was pretty easy for the East India Company to simply walk in and take over (while I support Shivaji's badass battle against the Mughal oppression, his final blow was what made the empire weak and defenseless for foreign invasion), and because of the inner frailty the Hindustani rose and fell ceaselessly. They thought that they needed "Warriors" to take on the oppressive British rule. They thought they needed "Power" to beat a greater power. No matter how hard they fell, they never learned their lesson. Then, came the non-violent catalyst reformers.
"Ik Onkar Sat Nam"
One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth.One of the biggest problems with the commoners were their "beliefs". Like currently in America, back then the people fought over their religions, or whether a person was a believer or not. Sometimes Religion was a privilege for the rich, and sometimes contradictions caused clashes. Before the Belief system could turn political in nature, an enigmatic unnamed sage appeared at Shirdi. Nobody knew who he was, and nobody knew where he came from, except for the fact that he was
poor as hell, he forgave people for hitting him with rocks before they even apologized, and he was the most humble man in the world. The weirdest thing was that he was neither Hindu, nor a Muslim, nor a Christian -- he was
all of those at the same time. Nobody understood the man until a poor girl approached him, and each day she left to her family "enlightened" by his wisdom. When the word spread that the guy could do "Miracles" many folks from every religion, caste and belief approached the old man and placed their seemingly impossible problems before him.
<satire>
Man: "Baba (respectful term for "Old Man"), my son doesn't believe in Allah! I tried hitting him, but it doesn't work. What should I do?"
Baba: "Try
not hitting him. Allah is loving, and it doesn't matter if the boy believes or not. Love the child and support his belief,
guide him and don't hurt him, because Allah loves children."
</satire>
His words were few but wise, and he helped people solve their impossible problems in life. He challenged the orthodox and the cruel with questions that can only be answered if you have love in your heart. He then resolved religious conflict and
established Pluralism, by knocking some sense into people that "if every religion's God created the universe, then obviously every God is one, right? So why fight?" He then proceeded to open the festival of Diwali for the rich and poor alike, and promoted social love.
He was hailed as the legendary "Sai Baba" (aka, "Divine Old Man"), and became a teacher to both the religious and non-believers. By the time he was done and kicked the bucket, every individual, no matter what their beliefs or thoughts, embraced each other as brothers and sisters.
But the battle was far from over. While the spirit of unification was there and
played a strong role in the Great Rebellion, the combined efforts of the Princely States turned futile -- the unification did not win, even with the badass feminine power of
the legendary Rani of Jhansi, Laxmi Bai. Further rebellion was later divided between the rebels who argued what was the "better way" of getting the country back. Bombs? Fail. Coup de Tat? Fail. Threatening the government? Fail. Chaos? Fail. Taunting? Fail.
And then came Gandhi, who clearly understood that the people were kicking a wall and cursing at the pain in their toe. He realized that fighting fire with fire would only serve to burn his nation, and so he decided to do the opposite -- approach with love. With the spirit of unification as before, he stated that it's a sign of strength to not pull the trigger and still win the battle, and his philosophy stemmed from Hinduism, which he enforced with practical reason. All he did was march into the office and "ask", stating that millions of Indians with him at the time clearly won't take "no" for an answer -- and Freedom was won without pulling a trigger.
And just like Sai Baba and Raja Ram, Gandhi managed to influence humanity, not just the Indians but also Martin Luther King Jr., by redefining what it means to be human, not just politically but also Socially. The nation was founded on his philosophy, for the People
and the Government, and his influence lead to easing poverty, expand women's rights, encouraged philanthropy, unify religions and build ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. And that was all thanks to approaching the People, and not the Government, with love, because love, truth and understanding binds humanity into an unbreakable force, the power of which cannot be broken come what may.
Momentum of Social ReformersFollowing Gandhi's success in establishing ethical philosophy, many artists, scientists, teachers, poets, businessmen and politicians followed in his footsteps to take that dream a step further. The unification of our diversity was our greatest strength, because when someone thought differently it benefited the entire nation. Social Reform had only begun, and it caused extremely positive impacts in every corner of the Indian civilization.
The greatest Indian Poet, Rabindranath Tagore, unified spirituality with aesthetic naturalism, and his poetry reflected the wonders of human emotions and the glory of "One World" idea.
Swami Vivekanand was a great rationalist; credited with the revival of Hinduism and integrating Religious Philosophy with Scientific Reason, he further promoted education, religious amity and human empathy. Inspired by many of these revolutionaries, many Indians took it upon themselves to promote similar philosophy to help their culture grow. One of them, inspired by Rabindranath Tagore, is a
Gujrati newspaper columnist, playwright and journalist Taarak Mehta, helped the masses look at our world from a different perspective (hence "reverse the glasses") and helped benefit from his various philosophies (such as abolish superstitions while retaining the sentiments of tradition, being a "better, pure-hearted human being", standing up for social injustices, etc.).
Another being our beloved cartoonist R.K. Lakshman, who drew his comics from a common man's perspective when the Government refused to hear the commoners' voice.
And, how could I forget, Chetan Bhagat -- a novelist and columnist who brought the nation's fallacies in plain sight, then proposed and encouraged the nation's youths to rise.
The power to change the world almost always resides in the pen of a common citizen, but the majority often think that it's not worth it, simply because the change is slow but steady and sure. If you still don't believe me when I say that the effects of progressive change and the power of love and empathy can triumph any problems and the efforts of Radicalism, look at the new Goverment at Libya.
Then look at the successful reformers who did the impossible in India.And why is that? It's because unlike America, and thanks to Social Reforms efforts, we are not divided due to needless conflicts of "Christian this" and "Atheist that", nor do we judge people based on their sex. We learned the alternative the hard way, but that doesn't mean America has to go through the same horrors as we did. We may be Men or Women, we may be Sikh, Jain or Hindu, but first and foremost we are a powerfully united force, we are Proud Indians, and we dream to change the world. And you can see that spirit in plain sight: The Anna Hazare movement when the guy went on hunger strike, the whole nation gathered together for Civil Disobedience as a single entity with a dream to eradicate political corruption once and for all, and our weapon was simply the love for our nation in our hearts. And I was there, waving the tri-color flag, and I witnessed my nation's united voice win over an impossible dream.
And there you have it. Elect a politician to do it, it takes days, he enjoys his luxuries for months, self-righteously talks things over for years, and just maybe he'll try fixing our primary concerns (by taking the easy way out, despite its long-term damaging effects). But when a poet lifts a pen on one day and looks out the window the next, he sees that the world has changed with every ink he transcribes. And that is the spirit of Social Reform, and its triumph in intellectual evolution. That is why I became an artist and poet.
But Social Reform can be powerful indeed, and when the voice of the people outweighs politics then even the Government would bend to our will. The war against Misogyny grew stronger by the day as the "controversial topic of Feminism" suddenly turned into a nation-wide concern, and Feminism itself grew in support over the years, a good thing indeed. However, the path itself was built on emotions, and no one knew the inherent consequences of the act. The Anti-Misogyny law was enacted due to the voice of the people, and what followed was something horrible that messed with the balance of equality, something apparently "unheard of" in America. I'll separate that topic into another post.
