Aug 28, 2006 01:22 AM
1524 Views
To see or not to see that is the question. Well thankfully we do not have to answer this; our Government is doing that for us. We are lucky and blessed that we have someone to care for us at the highest level. I mean who will care for our moral values so much? Who will see that we do not go astray in life? Who is going to put some morality in our day to day lives?? We are so blessed to have a minister who is so bothered and fretful about what we see, what we do, and what we eat and for that matter what sites we browse then being worried about the development of the country. Now very soon we will receive instructions from them about what air we are gonna breathe, what clothes we have to wear (we are being dictated on this front also!). When this is gonna stop!?The recent ruling of the Honorable High Court which bans the English channels from airing ‘objectionable’ content that they are beaming is a step towards the fact mentioned above. The Government is also behind censoring these channels. Most of the popular channels a few weeks before were running a strip which said that they have violated some kind of ‘Program Code’ and that they will be more careful in the future. Sometimes I think which era are we living in? If we have to see what these people show us then what is the use of having voting rights? If we are sensible enough to choose a Government who rules us, then I think we are mature enough to choose the programs we want to watch.I want to ask the lady who had filed PIL to put an end to such ‘immoral’ programmes on the television – what do you want to achieve by doing this? She is a Professor and for God sakes, there is a lot she might have done if she would have looked around. With due respects to her “gurusense”, she would have got a lot of support if she would have done something for the Jessica Lal murder case, raised her voice in support of the students who are bearing the lathis against the reservation policy or just taught the students who are better off with people who forget their basic duties and find their share of fame by dumping their ‘morals’ on others. If this is what freedom means to people like her then I guess I will have to change the definition in my books. The government can very well put an ‘end’ to such kind of programmes, but what are they doing about what else is happening in the country. What are we doing about the Natwar Singh episode? What are we doing for poor Sarbjeet? And like the recent news, are we still going to put on a show for the world with the kind of language we use in the Parliament? Where are we heading to? There are so many burning issues that need immediate attention and a serious action, but all that these guys get is the poor common man. If they are not happy with the water crisis in the capital, or the condition of the roads in our commercial capital Mumbai or the floods all over the country, they want to censor what we are going to watch for our pure entertainment.
I am born in free India, after 15th August 1947, but sometimes I think, what it would have been like when the country was ruled by the British? But now I realize that it would have been the same as today. There was censorship then and there is censorship now. That was because the British wanted us to be their slaves; this is because the Government wants us to derive a sadistic pleasure by showing us that they are in power. Censorship in everything! I won’t be surprised if in some days there will be censored air to breathe, censored food to eat and censored friends to have fun with.
I have heard about Khajuraho and Kamasutra. But that’s our heritage. We are ok with nudity as our heritage, but we are not ok with ‘adult’ content on our televisions!! Nudity in terms of ‘ART’ is ok, but we are not ok with ‘fashion’. Rapes and Murders are ok – they are a ticket to enter the political arena today- but a little wardrobe malfunction was dissected by these moral police as a biology student dissects a specimen. I heard that a respected politician also wanted an inquiry in this issue…what do I do? Laugh at the limited wisdom of the so called wise or just commiserate with myself for being such a fool.History proves that dictatorship has not lasted for long. Neither has censorship. Our kids today are so smart that they would find a way to get what they want. Banning the television content is not the solution Madam, being open about the issue is. How will you stop someone who wants to surf pornography over the internet? How will you stop someone from watching porn in the privacy of his own home? Every individual is blessed with cerebral power and he knows what’s best for him. If he has the insight of buying a TV(with a remote), installing a dish antenna, selecting a channel bouquet- then with all due respect to the Minister in question and the Professor – I think he has the right to watch what he wants and not what these people want.
I hope sensibility prevails and things are sorted out soon. The Government should realize that they are of the people, for the people by the people. There is more constructive to do than banning smoking on screen or moralizing the people. If they are more concerned about this, then they should start thinking about having more schools, good education, better health facilities and a clean and corruption free country. If not, then GOD BLESS INDIA!!
