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THE NEW LEAM VIEWPOINT
Psychic Perversion amidst Technological Abundance
Think of the behavior of a 15-year-old boy. The girls from his class do not like his behavior and gestures. They complain to their teachers. This disrupts his ‘masculine’ ego. He feels that he needs to teach these girls a lesson. So what does he do? He lives in our times characterized by the abundance of technological gadgets with all sorts of ‘apps’ amidst cultural void. Hence, he decides to create fake profiles of 10 girls of his class on a “dating app”, putting their photos as well as phone numbers.
Yes, the result you can imagine. These girls have begun to receive obscene calls, messages and videos. An FIR has been launched at Anand Vihar police station in New Delhi. The boy has been sent to a juvenile home. How do we make sense of this sort of pathology? Well, technology can be truly liberating only if we use it creatively and meaningfully. This needs life-affirming education—a soft/conducive environment nurtured by the teachers and the parents, a learning culture that makes these vulnerable minds realize the beauty of human relationships. Only then is it possible to feel that girls are not sex objects, and masculinity is not about ‘conquering’ these ‘sex objects’ for instant gratification. However, we worship technology without giving adequate attention to psychic development. The result is the normalization of the pornographic mind in our society. Be aware.
Hope amidst Darkness
“Officer jumps into pond at India Gate to rescue one-year-old”—what a refreshing departure from the usual news of scams, violence and political Machiavellianism!
The other day head constable Mr. Narendra Malik was patrolling the area around India Gate when he noticed a toddler topple inside the pond. Within seconds, he jumped inside and rescued the child.
Not everything is dark. Here is a police officer transforming his work into prayer. There is no instrumental interest; there is no profit motive. The core humanity of the officer makes him spontaneous; he does not hesitate to jump into the pond, and save the life of Khel Ram who came to the monument with his parents and elder sister.
Possibly, human goodness manifests itself in these simple acts of love and courage. We see ‘heroes’ in Bolywood blockbusters, or in the brigade of heavily protected/narcissistic politicians. However, when our eyes are truly open we find a man like Mr. Narendra Malik amongst us He is a hero without being aware of it. He arouses hope in human possibilities.
A Society of Murderers
Yet, another incident of suicide in the national capital region. A Class XII student was found hanging at her residence in Noida. She failed in the board examination. In a way, as a society we have almost normalized this practice. A success-obsessed society will worship the ‘toppers’; and we will make it a point to make the ‘failures’ feel that they are unwanted, they are useless, and incapable of acquiring what is needed to survive—to run faster and faster, and defeat others. Yes, don’t be surprised. As the percentage of ‘ 95% and above’ in the board exam go up, we will see the increasing rate of suicides. This mythical success’’ invites the trauma of failure; this comparison (see how your other friends have done, cleared the entrance test for the IIT’s, or see your cousin going abroad for higher studies; and you—the idiot—have not managed even 60 in Maths) is bound to demoralize the young. In a way, even though legally and technically we regard it as suicide, it is essentially an act of murder. We—the enthusiastic champions of this
faulty education system with its ugly exam practice and inherent logic of the ‘survival of the fittest’—have murdered these young minds. It is a society of murderers.
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![[Dr. Payal Tadvi And Rohit Vemula]](http://www.thenewleam.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Pasted-2.png "NCRB Displays Disturbing Data on Suicide Among Indian Youth")
