It was the neighborhood of a so called
“Apocalyptic event” as proposed by Mayans. Most people's eyes
were in the heavens or Youtube's Gangnam style over signs of it. But,
the signs seemed to be different. First, it was US, the third largest
population of the world. It was morning of 14th December when a
person drove to a school and massacred school going small innocent
children and few staffs before killing himself. Second, was India,
the second largest population of the world. It was the night of 16th
December when a young medical student was brutally gang raped by a
group of people in an area of urban security. Both of these incidents
drew immense criticism from common people who were petrified by the
brutality of the event. Social Networking sites like Twitter and
Facebook saw massive rise in use over it. But, the important thing to
realize is the similarity of these events apart from the fact that
they happened on nearly similar period of time. Both of these events
happened in two largest democratic counties of the world. Here I do
not mean to criticize democracy by anyway but trying to apply my
analytical mind over the events as they are present. Involvement of
these events in democratic nation obviously meant demonstration from
public in digital and outside form. But, the biggest similarity was
the immediate debate that started over avoiding such events in future
and deal with it. First thing to note that, though the brutality of
event was unforgivable there had been worse event than them in the
near past. Virginia Tech Massacre and Kunan Poshpora incident were
events of worse brutality. But, the global media wasn't powerful then
as it is now. Also, current events drew memory of brutality of
previous events in the minds of people who cried for its end. The
second aspect of these events is the approach towards solving them.
Though everybody is fighting and calling for legislations against gun
violence and rape, nobody actually knows what exactly to do.
Actually, There are voices in support of such events from political
lobbyists. In US, there are people who want to revoke gun laws and
believe that allowing people to have gun (and that in pure isolation
without government tracking) would make people more secure. But, as
every sensible person would understand easy access to gun is the
prime reason for such massacres in US. If you do not believe it,
similar event happened in China during similar period of time where
22 children were hit yet nobody was killed.
Worse yet, as bureaucrats struggle to make strong decisions over it,
such events has been recurring ever after and gun companies are
making huge amounts of sum from their sales as the possibilities of
worse event looms in future. This is clear from the voice of
president Obama who tried to clear his hands by saying “We
Need Meaningful Action” without specifying what it meant
showing lack of motivation of government agencies in tackling such
issues. Similar is the case of Indian rape case. India has high rape
rate with one rape being reported every 22 minutes. The current Delhi
rape case was just a single one in a series of rapes where most of
them goes unreported. Again, aftermath of the event saw massive
protest from people. But, what about response from government side?
They were towards politicizing it to avoid opposition parties pin
pointing as much as possible and putting ruling party towards better
position. Transport routes were shut, mobs were charged with lathis.
Prime Minister tried consoling protesters by words. But in that
process, the words of prime minister drew criticism
in twitter. Later voices that directly criticized protesters too
started erupting.
All these proved that event was not so important from government
agency's point of view. But, the final similarity which connects to
the heart of these two events is this. Are the criminals the only
guilty people? Aren't the society a breeding grounds for such events
that silently motivates such crimes. With democratic society this
becomes much more important because the thought of people defines not
just society but the rules and legislatures. Hollywood movies are
full of shooting and revenge is the basis of basic plot. Its very
rare to find a Hollywood movie that opposes revenge as done by
academy award winning movie In
a better world. Also, American soldiers were involved in killing
citizens in middle east countries and their videos was available in
whistle blowing sites like wikileaks.
Consider the effects of such events in the minds of young innocent
children who consider them as hero and mimic them. Also, India is a
place of bollywood. People from poor slum areas find solace in
unrealistic plots of bollywood movies. Recently, bollywood movies are
copying south tradition where bloody action, sex and revenge defines
the basis of overall plot. This year was also the year when a porn
star successfully acted in a bollywood movie. Consider the effect of
such movies in illiterate young masses especially with the
availability of porn movies and fashion projection of young females
of growing middle classes. The final conclusion is towards where are
we heading towards. Are we right in our decision in sending our
children to school for learning who are getting killed, raped or
bullied(ultimately suicide)? What can be done by us against such
events? But, for that we need to know what is going on first and its
cause. The best textbook explanation that I can give right now is the
warning by Psychologist Phillip Zimbardo over the demise
of guys which I completely agree with especially at psychological
level and possible effects that it can cause to people overall
(involving killing innocent people or raping girls). Again, I would
like to end this by positive note saying nothing happens for bad.
These events are recurring but lets hope we have realized the gravity
of this issue at global level. Hope this holds key for change. We
have entered an era where public realization is the most important
thing and holds key to real revolution and not just political change.
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