Escape from Freedom....

Escape from Freedom- That's the title of Erich Fromm's book, which is a commentary on Nazism and authoritarianism....
The title has always intrigued me....Why would anyone want to run away from freedom? And the answer that I get is that with freedom comes responsibility, with rights come duties...We want to be free but do not want to accept the burden of making decisions or take efforts to bettering the situation when the situation so demands.

Its Independence day today.....And I'm bombarded by the media which serves me with the 2 usual, cliched viewpoints that I hear without fail, year after year....

Viewpoint Number 1 is the annual "Ode to the Motherland"....The gushing praise and loud celebration of our culture and heritage.....Of India's natural beauty.... And the sacrifice and courage of our freedom fighters.

Viewpoint Number 2 is the annual bemoaning of "the state of the country"...The lack of "progress"....And the incessant blaming of every authority for not doing their job....

According to me, both these viewpoints are right...And both are wrong. Rather, both are incomplete....And the idea that is missing in both is the same....namely, neither talk about the role of the common man....

Take the first view...Yes, India has a rich culture...undeniably..But how many people on the streets are really respectful of it? There are so many people out there who don't know who composed Vande Mataram, nor its lyrics...Though they know all the latest Himesh songs..And there are enough ignoramuses who believe that Gandhiji was the Prime Minister at one point of time...And yes,India is beautiful...But are we really preserving that beauty? Declarations of "undying love" deface historical monuments..Deforestation and pollution taint the natural beauty.....

The second viewpoint offers the same arguments that I've just made...that the country is in a bad shape..But then, the people who hold this view generally blame it on the Government.....I'm not saying that the Government is faultless...I'm not naive enough to believe that....All I'm saying is that the people who blame the government should take a good look at themselves first.....

I've accused the Government often..Of ineffectiveness and negligence....But I've done that only because I'm sure that I've done my bit for my country..It may not seem like much....But I do it because I know that someday it might make a difference...I follow the laws that I think make sense..And I protest against laws that I find oppressive...I make myself heard, because that is both my right and my duty....I don't litter on the roads or destroy public property..Nor do I allow people around me to do so....In any small or big way...Whenever I get a chance to serve my countrymen I take the opportunity and do my best....I'm not boasting about how patriotic I am..just trying to make a point that if each and every one of us wants to, then we can collectively make a big difference....

Freedom gives you great power and with power comes responsibility to use that power well....We as citizens of the Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic Of India are granted the following by our Constitution:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation. (Refer to the Preamble of The Constitution Of India).

Its a lot really..Let us all make good use of the powers bestowed upon us, and discharge our responsibilities without shirking them...And only then will we be truly able to embrace freedom....Till then our lives will remain an attempt to Escape from Freedom...Remember, "If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem".

Respect my Autonomy....

There is something different about the T.Y. forms......
It was one form which did not require my parents' signature......Cool...so the University thinks that we are old enough to make our own decisions ( no matter that my parents have always given me that right!)....

And yet, this very University, which lets us make decisions about whether or not we want to educate ourselves, believes that we are too juvenile to make decisions about what clothes we want to wear.....and imposes a dress code and a ban on various items of clothing that it finds obscene!

A new rule in universities in North Korea was in the news recently.....Students will have to give up smoking to get into a university there.....The intention seems noble, but as we know, the ends do not justify the means...especially when the means are as autocratic as this!! Wouldn't it be a better option to create awareness in students once they have joined the university, rather than putting obstacles in the way of their gaining any knowledge at all??? The students who can afford to will possibly move to other countries and continue their education there...but what about those who can't?

By imposing stringent rules (about dress code or whatever), the university is simply encouraging the students to do the very things it does not want them to do.....Its human nature...we always want to do just what we are told not to do! I'm not saying that rules are unnecessary....but before making rules it is important to take into consideration the rationality of the individuals who will be governed by that rule.... In most cases, most humans, make the best decisions, provided that they are given complete freedom to make their own decisions. I was reading a book recently, titled Maverick!, written by Ricardo Semler. Semler describes how he runs his company, Semco, without any rules whatsoever......no rules about timings....no rules about who the workers should report to.....basically no rules about anything. One would expect anarchy in such a situation, right??? But that isn't what happened. Given the freedom to make their own decisions about products and procedure, the workers made the company Number 1! (I'll write a review of the book real soon....)

And what about the ban on smoking in films and TV serials??? ( This one is for you DisorientedTracer...thanks for the idea!)........can't we as an audience decide what we want to watch...and aren't we intelligent enough to realize that smoking isn't the healthiest habit..no matter how glamourously it is depicted on the silver screen???....But wait.....what about social learning...won't little kids who see their favourite heroes smoking also want to smoke??? The answer to that is yes.....but....the ban on smoking, according to me, will have very little effect to prevent smoking. Why?....Simply because there are more role models for smoking in real life than there are in reel life.....So even if you ban smoking on screen, the kids will still learn it from a father, brother, uncle or friend(or in some cases a mother, sister or aunt).....That's probably where most people get the habit from anyway and not from watching actors smoking on screen!

Almost everywhere, in almost every situation we come across people and organizations who thwart our freedom to make a choice. To all these people and organizations, I would like to say just one thing- "Respect my autonomy. I'm a 21 year old adult, who is completely aware of the consequences of my actions and therefore I'm competent enough to decide what I want to do."

In psychology, when deciding upon a course of action...be it in counselling, research or anything else...the very first question a good psychologist asks himself/herself is whether the course of action respects the autonomy of all the parties involved. Respect for autonomy, is the very first of the ethical principles that the members of the profession abide by.Only children and individuals with serious mental illnesses, who cannot anticipate the results of their actions are regarded incompetent to make their own decisions. Since most of the Indian population belongs to neither of these groups, it means that most Indians can make their own decisions. And yet, we have the entire force of the self-appointed" keepers of the Indian culture"( who I equate with the Ku Klux Klan!) who try their level best to make sure that we never make a decision!

Just moved in!!

Well...I've just moved in....

This blog, unlike my blog at Yahoo 36o is intended to be a more serious one.....designed to discuss books, movies and media- related issues....

I can't call it a non-personal blog.....because it will be an expression of my personal views, which may or may not be shared by others...but it will not contain information about my personal life...

So to begin, I present...

News pe views....

There are a few news items that have caught my attention lately.....
The first one is about how little girls are becoming more aggressive after watching and imitating Hermione Granger hit Draco Malfoy in the third Harry Potter movie. The scene in question shows Ms. Granger punch Malfoy, after which she exclaims "Boy! That felt good!", and is cheered by all her friends....Apparently, the message conveyed is - Girls hit, it feels good, and it gets approval from the peer group. The article went on to say that traditionally, women are less aggressive than men because society disapproves of aggressive behaviour in women. But now, because of female role models on T.V. who have no qualms about kicking ass, little girls are becoming more and more aggressive.

Now, I personally agree with the article on two points-
1) Watching violent models on T.V. increases tendency towards aggressiveness.
2) Society discourages aggressive behaviour in females.
However, I do not agree with the article on one important point. The article says that women are less aggressive than men. This statement according to me is too vague. It does not specify the type of aggression. As psychologists recognize today, women and men are equally aggressive. They differ only in the type of aggression they exhibit.

Men generally indulge in overt aggression, i.e., physical or verbal aggression that is clearly observable- punching, kicking, hitting, mauling, shouting, screaming, hurling abuses etc. Women on the other hand, indulge in covert aggression. Covert aggression, is not directly observable. It involves causing emotional or psychological hurt rather than direct physical assault. It offers the person engaging in it a certain degree of anonymity, and therefore women, who are prevented by societal norms from being overtly aggressive choose the path of covert aggression. Covert aggression includes- talking behind a person's back, spreading rumours, defamation, sabotaging a person's interpersonal relationships or interfering with a person's work.

I'm not saying that women cannot be overtly aggressive or that men cannot indulge in covert aggression. However, it is generally found across the life span, and across cultures, that men are more likely than women to indulge in overt aggression and that women are more likely to be covertly aggressive.

Now, as the article says, the depiction of female models on television who are physically aggressive or verbally abusive may very well serve to increase overt aggresion in girls because it creates a picture of aggression as being socially accepted. The question that I want to raise however, has to do with the depiction of covert aggression on T.V. If watching girls hitting on punching on screen can influence little girls to punch and hit, then watching the scheming saasu-maas and conniving bahus in our daily soaps should also encourage covert aggression in girls, right? Turn on any popular T.V. serial and you will see many examples of women bitching behind each others backs, indulging in blackmail and causing serious harm to someone's reputation by spreading rumours. This is true not only of Indian soap operas but also American soaps and sitcoms...just watch Desperate Housewives or The Bold and The Beautiful someday and you'll know what I'm talking about. The influence that such rubbish can have on young minds is great, but unfortunately, since covert aggression is hidden aggression, and because of a lack of awareness among the general public, such things continue to be shown on television. Its food for thought, isn't it?

A peice of news that I found to be particularly hilarious, is that the Himesh Reshammiya hit "Jhalak Dikhlaja.." from the movie Aksar, has been banned in a village in Vadodara because, apparently, singing the songs causes the ghosts of the dead to attack the villagers. After watching the news report on T.V., I couldn't decide who was more idiotic....the ghosts, the villagers, the T.V. channel and its crew who regarded this important enough to be shown on T.V. or me, for having seen the stupid report!

One last piece of news that interests me is the one about "ringxiety- the telecommunications equivalent of the phantom limb syndrome". It means that sounds or sequences of notes similar to the ringing of a cell phone, can trigger the false perception that the phone is ringing. But ultimately, the article says, it is more likely to be caused by a psychological need to always be connected. Now, does that ring a bell or what?