STATUATORY WARNING: THIS ARTICLE IS PURELY A RANT AND NOTHING ELSE. THOSE OF YOU WHO AGREE WITH TITLE, PLEASE CONTINUE. OTHERS CAN GO AND WATCH CARTOON NETWORK UNTIL THEY CAN SENSE SOME TRUTH IN THE TITLE.
Eons ago, I read a qoute by a man named william e. channing. what he said was this: "to me, the progress of society consists in nothing more than in bringing out the individual, in giving him the consciousness of his own being, and in quickening him to stregthen and elevate an elevate his own mind. " I believed him. there comes (and passes) a stage in every man's life when he believes that every printed word is the absolute truth. I once quoted this line to my father, trying to prove my point in one of the countless playful little debates we had, and still have. my dad quoted " society engages in polishing and decorating the cage in which man is imprisoned". I argued that this was so-not-true. with a slight smile and a pat on the back, he said, "you'll understand what I mean after a few years, when you grow up". now, after almost five years later, I can say that he was correct. no, that didn't come from some life changing personal experience, but from acute observation of whatever shit the life threw at me to see(or gawk, if you prefer that).
You see, I learnt to think a lot earlier than I learnt to talk. and from what I've seen by now, i honestly think that society is a stupid institution comprised of intelligent constituents. perhaps, the only institute which is completely devoid of logic of any kind, which runs on just emotions and not practicality and in all, defies the sense in all and any form. Man has always been a herd animal, always trying to lose himself in the crowd, afraid of being labeled a 'misfit', a 'freak'. This might be necessary from the point of view of safety, but when the so called uniformity begins to forget that it too has individuality, a cancer called supression is born.
I've Never Been Able To Understand The Logic Behind "Majority Wins". The Only Thing Majority Wins At Is Stupidity. Majority Consists Of People Too Foolish Or Weak To Have Their Own Opinions, Or Too Cowardly To Stand By Their Ideals. Who Gives The Right To A Society To Make A Man Live As The Society Tells, And Not By His Own Preferences? How Can Someone Be Told What Profession To Follow By A Society In Which He Lives? Believe Me When I Say That I'm Not A Nihilist. I Just Have A Grudge Against Any Damn Thing That Stands Between A Man And His Feelings And Individualism. The day you begin to heed what the society tells you to follow, what people might think about you, what they tell you to do, you are over. Obviously, this does not meen that you have to be an uncivilized beast, or you might conveniently interpret this as a ticket to live like however you want to live. The only thing you need to remember is this: If you aren't good to yourself, you are worse off than the mangly dog you see near dumpsters, because even that dog is capable enough of feeding itself. Do you see the honeytrap here? to be good to yourself, you have to be good the society. You don't fit right in, you're worse than a cripple. In the process of being good to yourself, you have to take care of the society. Gradually, the only thing you're left fit to do is take care of the society. The 'I' in you is long gone. You're just another cell in this fat, useless body. And this is what sickens me. You can't be you. Don't believe me? Let's take a few examples: Galileo. Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Einstein. Newton. Initially labelled as heretics, retards, or even threats to society. Reason: Refusal to follow conventional standards set by society, or rather, create new standards for society to follow.
Now what does that tell you about the nature of our society? RIGID. NARROW MINDED. ORTHODOX. An unwillingness to change, to progress, because as much as the society is divided on the various events, it will unite against a common enemy: The gamechanger, the person who proves their fallacy, limitations. To a certain extent, society might be right to oppose radical changes, but you can't really justify opposing everything for the sake of opposing, can you? What does society do to radicals? Ban them. Hurt them. Kill them. Rape them. Tarnish their image. The same society upholds them as heroes who survive these tortures and are still able to show the finger to this bunch of wolves. Science says, we are born with 23 pair of chromosomes. As we grow up though, we acquire a new pair: hypocrisy. Personally, everybody loves a rebel; but the funny thing is: nobody likes them once they are in a group. Sorry for a being a cynic here but why do we always have to behave? Praise a person to his face and laugh and poke fun at them once their back is turned. What logic is that? Low life assclowns like the current crop of Congress Politicians running the country, while artists like aseem trivedi languish in jail. Incompetent people shaping the mind of India's future (wow, what the fuck is that) while competent officers are harassed for doing their duty and are sent to remote areas as 'punishment'. Wow society, I give up. I cannot understand you. I'm no Howard Roark, and probably will never be. Here's a quote from my favourite book "The fountainhead", which probably sums up just about everything I feel about society: " Everything has strings leading to everything else. We're all so tied together. We're all in a net, the net is waiting, and we're pushed into it by one single desire. You want a thing and it's precious to you. Do you know who is standing ready to tear it out of your hands? You can't know, it may be so involved and so far away, but someone is ready, and you're afraid of them all. And you cringe and you crawl and you beg and you accept them-just so they'll let you keep it. And look at whom you come to accept." That's all. Think of me as an antisocial element, a freak maybe. But that's what I'd had to say. Agree or disagree. Because after all, I've written this for myself and not for the society :p
N.B. Those of you who haven't read it yet, do read "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. A must read, whether you agree with this post here or not.
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