We are often told to not do anything that people around us don't expect us to do. We are made to learn to act according to the expectations of people around us, that moulds us into a society together. In the same breath, we are taught to do things that make us feel happy and free. This is where the contradictions come in, when society knocks on your doors and steps in your personal space and tells you how you have to behave. "The moral policing", as they call it, is the voice of those who don't want to see people kissing, hugging or even holding hands in public but are the least vocal when it comes to female infanticide, gender discrimination, rapes and domestic violence. Why? Because these things happen behind closed doors of dark rooms and the screams of the innocent can't be heard outside so the moral police thinks it better to stay a mute spectator to these atrocities.
As long as two people are not hurting each other or the people around them and are not breaking the law, they are free to do what they like. There's no law in the Constitution of India, which labels kissing/hugging/holding hands obscene. It's the mentality of the people which needs to change. Recurring cases of couples being beaten up for the sole reason that they were seen together at night just shows how ill it can possibly get.
Incidents like these gave birth to Kiss of Love campaign. It caught the eye of many after it went viral on social networking sites. A
Facebook page with pictures of youngsters posing for kisses. Henceforth, the #KissOfLove was among the top trends on Twitter India and it was immediately disapproved by a counter trend of #SickOfLove. However, the Kiss Of Love campaign seems to have strayed away from its core issue, which was asking people to not intrude in the private lives of others and raise their voice against unwanted moral policing. It is being propagated otherwise. The whole protest is now being seen as some sort of a youth rebellion with umpteen college students asking for sex and drugs. It is not being propagated in the manner it should have been, the true objective of the protest was to exterminate moral policing but kissing on the streets to show dissent of youth has drawn more flak than appreciation. Given the popularity of the protest, it could have been instrumental in voicing its concerns against eve-teasing, rapes, burkha- imprisonment of women and domestic violence that would've gathered the right perspective of people towards the revolution. The underlying message of the movement is good as it stands against the regressive ideology of different sections of society but somehow it has failed to deliver its message to the masses. It could have been dealt with more sensibly. Society wants you to think the way it does without questioning its neanderthal views. It's up to you to wake up and smell the coffee or be a part of the society. Revolution is one thought away.
Famous quote of John Lennon:
We live in a society where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight.
I agree with u mentality of people should change
ReplyDeletei respect your views here but if you are following something from western countries, you should adopt the entire scenario. We have problem of copying only half of the trend from others....Just research the trend and then act for revolution..
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your acknowledgement of a problem associated with this protest: That of painting the entire issue in black and white, reminiscent of the Republican Us vs The Other simplification. There are so many of them confused about the entire debate that by remaining silent or in the periphery doesn't automatically qualify them to be pro-moral police. And yes, the Western norms of openness cannot be blindly applied to an Indian context. And for the record, those who are against the public kissing aren't automatically turning a blind eye to rapes, as well. The shades of grey aren't in a rush to fill stereotypical straightjacketing.
ReplyDeleteThere is a part of the society which has a stereo type thinking and partly cannot be blamed.where is dere is also a part of the society which is open to learning and extract the best out of the gud message Nd m one of the positive thinkers Nd wish u all the very best in spreading the message for Sunday and times to come.
ReplyDeleteMy tweets in twitter:
ReplyDelete1. When living in group(civilization) rules needed to prevent provoc of human emtions to its extremes which ll affect the group as whole...
2. Act of bajrang dal in kerala provoked emotions which resulted in kol, which in turn created chaos...
3. Image of a #community depends on #character, behaviour of its representative...
There is natural emotion of public shame.
Parents don't want to see their children doing sexual acts in public. If they do in private before marriage then also they will be hurt but less and will not get much fear of their children future. They want their children to be well educated and be successful and happy in life.
Children don't want to be controlled too much which irritates them. They will feel that society is forcing them, but children saying society to change mentality is again forcing society.
Society also doesn't like violence (domestic, rapes) and they oppose it. They care much about security of their relatives and friends. This is case of majority people.
Parents understand their children irritations as they were also once young. Major cases parents and children discusses and solve issues in private.
But people who don't understand their children emotions, their children will also be same - don't understand their parents emotions. This goes to public place and becomes drama. And to these our education system doesn't work.
As it starts from a parent, parental education will be important here.
And to the people of RSS or bajrang dal they can work only if they have support. If parents are children solve their issues in private these groups will not get any support.