A World Full Of Contradictions
Every single day, each one of us, contradicts ourselves in some way or the other. The wrong in one situation becomes the absolute normal or right in another instance. And we don’t even bother to take notice of these variations in our beliefs and behaviour.
If we consider the preaching of Hinduism or Jainism, for instance. Killing of any life form is considered to be the biggest evil. Vegetarianism is highly preached and religiously followed. In fact, in Jainism, the use of silk, honey, leather is also prohibited as the manufacturing process involves killing of silkworms, bees and animals. Now if we look at killing from another angle. Female infanticide is very high in these communities. Similarly, abortion rates on account of sex determination of the foetus are pretty high in these very communities. Surprisingly people who cannot bear to see a fish or a hen killed are absolutely fine with human children being murdered. Again, many products which are an integral part of their lives come from someone’s blood, from the murder of millions – diamonds, oil, wood, cars. But the consumption of these products is unquestioned. Millions of species have gone extinct and are being driven to extinction on account of human activities, but this does not seem to bother these very Hindus or Jains. They are very comfortable in their righteous cocoon of vegetarianism.
Terrorism is another example. There is immense hatred towards terrorism and terrorists. The sanity of the human mind capable of conceiving such hideous acts is questioned. The rage and loathe felt towards these terrorists is unfathomable. But we never question our religious beliefs. Not once do we notice the way we differentiate against other religions, marginalise particular communities, indoctrinate our children’s minds with hatred towards other communities and a feeling of superiority towards one’s own religion. Not just religion. We are never angered by other forms of killings, which are far higher and far more painful than murders committed in the name of terror. Far more people are killed each year by the acts of big governments and big corporations than all terrorist acts put together. This genocide committed in the name of ‘business as usual’ is acceptable. We do not abhor a Union Carbide or a De Beers or a Nike or a Gap, but we hate a Kasab. We are not infuriated or disgusted with the murders in Bhopal or the sweatshops in Bangladesh but we cannot tolerate a 26/11. These millions of ‘business as usual’ killings are just a way of life to us.
We all complain about rising crime rates in cities. The news of thefts, rapes, murders shudders us. We are unable to comprehend this evil of one human to another. But it does not feel like robbery when a farmer’s land is stolen by a profit mongering corporation. A farmer’s forced suicide does not seem like murder at the hands of the government. We do not feel like thieves or looters when we steal the habitat of other species, when we deforest, when we pollute. We do not term ourselves as rapists or murders when we plunder the planet, dispose off millions of tons of toxic wastes into the oceans and environment that kills many humans and non humans. It just does not feel ugly or filthy or wrong when each one of us commits these atrocities everyday.
We hate corruption. A corrupt policeman, bureaucrat, politician is intolerable. They seem like bugs in the system who need to be crushed and thrown out forever. The same does not stand true when it comes upon us. When we cheat someone of his rightful money it is acceptable. When our vendor treats us to cocktails its business, when we ask for a share of the LIC agent’s commission it’s a fair dealing, when we ask for discount its value for money, when we do not inform the shopkeeper or restaurant on being charged less its saving. This is not cheating or corruption. This is not taking undue advantage or theft. In these situations there are no ethics, rights or wrongs, conscience. It is just plain and simple part of life.
There seems to be no end to it. Almost everything we do is a contradiction to something we strongly disagree with. You call it convenience, social conditioning, selfishness or the way of life…. Our lives are filled with innumerable such contradictions and we just don’t want to stop for a second and question them.
If we consider the preaching of Hinduism or Jainism, for instance. Killing of any life form is considered to be the biggest evil. Vegetarianism is highly preached and religiously followed. In fact, in Jainism, the use of silk, honey, leather is also prohibited as the manufacturing process involves killing of silkworms, bees and animals. Now if we look at killing from another angle. Female infanticide is very high in these communities. Similarly, abortion rates on account of sex determination of the foetus are pretty high in these very communities. Surprisingly people who cannot bear to see a fish or a hen killed are absolutely fine with human children being murdered. Again, many products which are an integral part of their lives come from someone’s blood, from the murder of millions – diamonds, oil, wood, cars. But the consumption of these products is unquestioned. Millions of species have gone extinct and are being driven to extinction on account of human activities, but this does not seem to bother these very Hindus or Jains. They are very comfortable in their righteous cocoon of vegetarianism.
Terrorism is another example. There is immense hatred towards terrorism and terrorists. The sanity of the human mind capable of conceiving such hideous acts is questioned. The rage and loathe felt towards these terrorists is unfathomable. But we never question our religious beliefs. Not once do we notice the way we differentiate against other religions, marginalise particular communities, indoctrinate our children’s minds with hatred towards other communities and a feeling of superiority towards one’s own religion. Not just religion. We are never angered by other forms of killings, which are far higher and far more painful than murders committed in the name of terror. Far more people are killed each year by the acts of big governments and big corporations than all terrorist acts put together. This genocide committed in the name of ‘business as usual’ is acceptable. We do not abhor a Union Carbide or a De Beers or a Nike or a Gap, but we hate a Kasab. We are not infuriated or disgusted with the murders in Bhopal or the sweatshops in Bangladesh but we cannot tolerate a 26/11. These millions of ‘business as usual’ killings are just a way of life to us.
We all complain about rising crime rates in cities. The news of thefts, rapes, murders shudders us. We are unable to comprehend this evil of one human to another. But it does not feel like robbery when a farmer’s land is stolen by a profit mongering corporation. A farmer’s forced suicide does not seem like murder at the hands of the government. We do not feel like thieves or looters when we steal the habitat of other species, when we deforest, when we pollute. We do not term ourselves as rapists or murders when we plunder the planet, dispose off millions of tons of toxic wastes into the oceans and environment that kills many humans and non humans. It just does not feel ugly or filthy or wrong when each one of us commits these atrocities everyday.
We hate corruption. A corrupt policeman, bureaucrat, politician is intolerable. They seem like bugs in the system who need to be crushed and thrown out forever. The same does not stand true when it comes upon us. When we cheat someone of his rightful money it is acceptable. When our vendor treats us to cocktails its business, when we ask for a share of the LIC agent’s commission it’s a fair dealing, when we ask for discount its value for money, when we do not inform the shopkeeper or restaurant on being charged less its saving. This is not cheating or corruption. This is not taking undue advantage or theft. In these situations there are no ethics, rights or wrongs, conscience. It is just plain and simple part of life.
There seems to be no end to it. Almost everything we do is a contradiction to something we strongly disagree with. You call it convenience, social conditioning, selfishness or the way of life…. Our lives are filled with innumerable such contradictions and we just don’t want to stop for a second and question them.
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