The current mood in India...

by Guest Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:41 am

Does make one feel glad one didn't move back to India. Not just coz a terrible crime happened but coz of the insane proportions the backlash and counter-backlash is taking. Who wants to get stuck in that rut.

by Guest Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:43 am

Vidya Bagchi wrote:Does make one feel glad one didn't move back to India. Not just coz a terrible crime happened but coz of the insane proportions the backlash and counter-backlash is taking. Who wants to get stuck in that rut.

Many women in Europe and America and even China are welcoming the backlash in India.

by Guest Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:46 am

Rashmun wrote:
Vidya Bagchi wrote:Does make one feel glad one didn't move back to India. Not just coz a terrible crime happened but coz of the insane proportions the backlash and counter-backlash is taking. Who wants to get stuck in that rut.

Many women in Europe and America and even China are welcoming the backlash in India.

Right. Tune kaha aur maine maan liya.

by Merlot Daruwala Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:47 am

Yeah. I sense an onset of fascism. With an impotent, inarticulate government paralyzed into inaction, it's the crowds (hailed by some here as the essence of democracy) and their controllers who set the agenda.

Mahatma Anna and his gang of buffoons were the first wave. Now these crowds baying for blood. Naive middle class people flock to these protests in genuine outrage, which are then hijacked by extreme elements like ABVP etc.

The country seems to lurch from one crisis and public outburst to another. The 2014 elections are guaranteed to yield an even more fractured mandate, giving more prominence to all the nutjobs out there in the political arena.

I really fear for the country given the growing anarchy and power vacuum. And this was supposed to be the Indian century. What a wasted opportunity. Sigh.

by Guest Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:56 am

Rashmun wrote:
Vidya Bagchi wrote:Does make one feel glad one didn't move back to India. Not just coz a terrible crime happened but coz of the insane proportions the backlash and counter-backlash is taking. Who wants to get stuck in that rut.

Many women in Europe and America and even China are welcoming the backlash in India.

The coverage of Damini's death strikes a particularly ironic note following recent media controversy over a rape, in Steubenville, Ohio, of a 16-year-old girl – allegedly by members of the high-school football team. The case is that the young woman was dragged, drunk and unresponsive, from party to party, where she was sexually abused. The brutal death of Damini has spurred Indian civil society to its feet, causing protest and unrest, bringing women and men into the streets, vocal in their demands for change. Sonia Gandhi has met the woman's parents. The army and the states of Punjab and Haryana have cancelled new year's celebrations. What happened in the US? In Steubenville, football-crazy townsfolk blamed the victim and it took a blogger – Alexandria Goddard, who is now being sued – and a follow-up article from the New York Times four months after the incident to get nationwide attention for the story.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/01/delhi-rape-damini

by Guest Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:59 am

Chinese authorities have moved to censor news about the Delhi gang rape and ensuing protests after the incident triggered a heated debate online between State media outlets and pro-democracy voices.

The incident and the protests in New Delhi in recent days have received wide attention in China. While the brutal attack was initially highlighted by Communist Party-run outlets as indicative of the failures of India’s democratic system to ensure stability, the following protests in New Delhi triggered calls from pro-reform bloggers for the Chinese government to learn from India and to allow the public to express its voice.

The rape case was one of the most discussed topics in Chinese microblogs over the past week, prompting thousands of posts and comments. By Sunday, however, the authorities appeared to move to limit the debate: on Monday, a search for the topic triggered a message on Sina Weibo – a popular Twitter-equivalent used by more than 300 million people – saying the results could not be displayed according to regulations. The message is usually seen as an indicator of a topic being censored by the authorities.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/in-china-delhi-gang-rape-spurs-online-debate-then-censorship/article4259878.ece

by Merlot Daruwala Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:50 am

After bringing YoYo Honey Singh to his knees and vandalizing a bar in Mumbai for selling a cocktail called "Balaatkaar", the outraged moral brigade is now going after this gem from 3 idiots. Wonder what is next in this madcap drama.

by Guest Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:54 am

Merlot Daruwala wrote:After bringing YoYo Honey Singh to his knees and vandalizing a bar in Mumbai for selling a cocktail called "Balaatkaar", the outraged moral brigade is now going after this gem from 3 idiots. Wonder what is next in this madcap drama.

Even if the reaction is occasionally over the top and extreme after it is all over you will say to yourself: what we gained from this was a lot more than what we lost. In my opinion.

by Merlot Daruwala Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:04 am

Yeah right. Rapists gird up their loins and go looking for victims after listening to YoYo Honey Singh. Ram Singh and his accomplices took to rape because they had guffawed once upon a time at the balatkaar joke in 3 idiots.

It's all this talk about rape that gives ideas to rapists. So let us eliminate all mentions of the word rape from popular culture, so to-be rapists will never know what it means. They'll take up knitting as a hobby and never entertain impure thoughts about women after that. Society will certainly gain more than what we lose, for sure.

by Guest Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:11 am

Merlot Daruwala wrote:Yeah right. Rapists gird up their loins and go looking for victims after listening to YoYo Honey Singh. Ram Singh and his accomplices took to rape because they had guffawed once upon a time at the balatkaar joke in 3 idiots.

It's all this talk about rape that gives ideas to rapists. So let us eliminate all mentions of the word rape from popular culture, so to-be rapists will never know what it means. They'll take up knitting as a hobby and never entertain impure thoughts about women after that. Society will certainly gain more than what we lose, for sure.

popular songs which talk of treating women as an object, and further about celebrating and glorifying rape and gang rape do have an effect on a certain section of our population because molesting girls starts being considered a macho thing to do.

by Propagandhi711 Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:46 pm

Merlot Daruwala wrote:Yeah right. Rapists gird up their loins and go looking for victims after listening to YoYo Honey Singh. Ram Singh and his accomplices took to rape because they had guffawed once upon a time at the balatkaar joke in 3 idiots.

It's all this talk about rape that gives ideas to rapists. So let us eliminate all mentions of the word rape from popular culture, so to-be rapists will never know what it means. They'll take up knitting as a hobby and never entertain impure thoughts about women after that. Society will certainly gain more than what we lose, for sure.

Are you for freedom of speech and assembly? No lathicharge for peddlers of rape smut and jokes then? Agree with your analysis that all the emotional, low iq-Ed aunties and unkils will turn this into a witch hunt opportunity.

such a backlash happened in the us back in late 80s early 90s but rap continued to deliver its social message about raping bitches and hoes and capping niggers and po-lice. so not to fear.

by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:32 pm

it's hard to know about direct cause effect relationship between depiction of sex in movies and rapes. but one thing someone pointed out elsewhere is the disconnect between easy access to pretty girls and the dissolute lifestyle portrayed in the movies, and the frustrating sexual realities. it is difficult to argue with that when you put it that way.

in any case expecting huge cultural changes in a short period of time isn't reasonable. a rough analogy is the civil rights movement and the changes that it produced for african americans. sure there are still deep strains of racism in parts of the US, but life by and large has improved tremendously for african americans -- no segregated buses or schools and equal opportunity for advancement supported by robust legislation.

i think the legal system and robust law enforcement can produce such changes for women in india without actually waiting for cultural change. that is embedded deeply in our culture where a woman's chastity as a transactional commodity is encoded in language itself. the tamil word for rape is kaRppazhippu -- robbing a woman of her chastity.

by Kris Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:25 pm

in any case expecting huge cultural changes in a short period of time isn't reasonable. a rough analogy is the civil rights movement and the changes that it produced for african americans. sure there are still deep strains of racism in parts of the US, but life by and large has improved tremendously for african americans -- no segregated buses or schools and equal opportunity for advancement supported by robust legislation.

i think the legal system and robust law enforcement can produce such changes for women in india without actually waiting for cultural change.

>>>>The civil rights analogy is a valid one. Sometimes, societies have to be dragged screaming and kicking to effect/ catalyze sea changes. Another analogy, albeit more in the socio-political realm, is kemal Ataturk's modernization of Turkey. As to the problem at hand , I am also wondering if there could be significant synergies if the religious establishment i.e. the gurus and swamijis can jump into the fray and make real respect for womanhood a part of their repertoire. This would be a change, of course, where they are called upon to do something specific, rather than simply mouth platitudes about "spirituality" and perform magic tricks to keep their followers enthralled. I realize some of the swamis themselves may be part of the problem, but for the most part I think they are on the level at least on this count. Given the populations propensity to follow these godmen, the reach would be significant if they take up the cause.

by FluteHolder Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:30 pm

Kris wrote:

in any case expecting huge cultural changes in a short period of time isn't reasonable. a rough analogy is the civil rights movement and the changes that it produced for african americans. sure there are still deep strains of racism in parts of the US, but life by and large has improved tremendously for african americans -- no segregated buses or schools and equal opportunity for advancement supported by robust legislation.

i think the legal system and robust law enforcement can produce such changes for women in india without actually waiting for cultural change.

>>>>The civil rights analogy is a valid one. Sometimes, societies have to be dragged screaming and kicking to effect/ catalyze sea changes. Another analogy, albeit more in the socio-political realm, is kemal Ataturk's modernization of Turkey. As to the problem at hand , I am also wondering if there could be significant synergies if the religious establishment i.e. the gurus and swamijis can jump into the fray and make real respect for womanhood a part of their repertoire. This would be a change, of course, where they are called upon to do something specific, rather than simply mouth platitudes about "spirituality" and perform magic tricks to keep their followers enthralled. I realize some of the swamis themselves may be part of the problem, but for the most part I think they are on the level at least on this count. Given the populations propensity to follow these godmen, the reach would be significant if they take up the cause.

Not only to respect but also to look into the cause and solution...

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