This was a mail sent about 10 months ago. Now being blogged as the subject has relevance still.
For a change I decided that today's thought will dwell on a more relevant social issue than the usual adhyathmic(Pseudo?) stuff I try and dish out day-in-and-day-out. Here I go :
The desire and then the compelling urge to "punish" is a sentiment which to my mind appears uncouth and uncivilized. Every social evil we are witness to in today's times stems from this root cause, is my belief.
A senior in college wants to punish a fresher and indulges in ragging. A boss punishes his junior because either he feels threatened or is envious of the intellect of his junior. A junior -- especially when he feels that his boss is an idiot - would punish his senior by being unpredictable and be indisciplined, and enjoy it thoroughly in full confidence that the Boss needs him anyway.
(I am very tempted to punish the Lord Himself by imagining that He too enjoys punishing many.... but let me not dwell on this blasphemy)
Which brings me to the latest incidences of one of the worst kinds of social evil we are witnessing in India. "Rape". The overwhelming (&Obnoxious) view of treating the victim as something of an outcast adds to the "punishment" value in the minds of the perpetrator. If the stigma part is removed from our psyche, I tend to believe that these reprehensible incidences will come down.
If the feminists of the world would dare to say in public that they would accept a rape victim without a demur as their daughter-in-law, and the MCPs treat such a victim with love and understanding, the "punishment" kind of sentiment would mellow down. While a divorcee with children can re-marry, why should there be such a huge stigma attached to a poor victim?
Am I making any sense or am I talking too much "Bull"?
Think it over folks......
May god bless
Vichu
ReplyDeleteNarasimhan's Comments :
Vichu,
I see you are making sense though I sense a simplification of the complex subject of rape and its ramifications.Ragging a junior in college,a boss's persecution of his or her subordinate,the subordinate's machinations to show his stupid boss his place;tracing these varying behaviours to a common urge to "punish" sounds somewhat stretched.And extending this to propose that a "punishment" value motivates the rapist and further equating that with the call by society for punishment to the perpetrator sounds seriously far fetched.At best one might suggest that these are instances where the deprived in the society find their moment to get even.
If there is a common thread between various acts of tormenting or torture,it is the hidden craving in mankind thru all time to be able to hold and exercise power over someone,psychologically or physically. As "punishment for wrong doing" to uphold justice, its expression gains moral sanction and crystallises into what we call Law of the Land.When Jesus said,"the one that has not sinned shall cast the first stone",He exposed the hypocracy of the "outraged" moral brigade that cried out for stoning the sinner while taking their lesson that they need to be careful with their next adulterous adventure.
Talking of rape,what adds to the victim's torment besides the indignity already suffered is the society's loud self righteous noises demanding retribution to the rapist while silently reinforcing her sense of "betrayal by fate" by "recognising" her condition as "irretrievable" and expressing "deep sympathy",but nothing more.The violated thus gets punished along with the violator because of society's perception of the victim's "fall from purity" rooted in a patriarchal code for sexual purity that attaches only to females.The code was laid down in India by Male Chauvanist Pundits and is thus trapped in religious prejudice.
As for the rehabilitation of the victim,individuals and organisations must summon courage, as you have said, to declare through the ubiquitous media that the crime on her can inflict no damage to her self esteem and that what she deserves and will receive is unconditional acceptance and respect, not sympathy.This requires a transformation in people's deep rooted beliefs surrounding this unfortunate social condition.Beyond this I find the subject far too complex for my reflections.
The latest issue of India Today is on this subject.There is a brilliant essay in it written by Meena Kandasami.The hard hitting concluding lines sum up the challenge that we all face:
"Even as our search for quick fixes goes on,we must remember that to eradicate and curtail this crisis in the long run,we must smash the oppressive structure of caste,class and religious patrarchy that regiments our(women's) bodies and sanctions our rape.The collective struggle for our liberation will not end with just a piece of legislation."
Recommend all to read this
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