OK. So this Daya Nayak business has gotten me all charged up. I got a comment (I rarely get one, so felt good) on the article I put up which led me to some other blogs which were in praise of Mr. Nayak. There were opinions galore, and I think the majority sentiment was that if he had done nothing wrong, he should not have hidden it. Personally I commend Amrita who has started a blog in his defence. I find it commendable that she has decided to start something in defiance of the public sentiment. Though personally it feels something on the lines of the Bengalis defending Saurav Ganguly. Why is that past glories go a long way to defending your present deeds?
Anyway, it also got me thinking. Why does someone do what they do? Good or bad. But mostly bad. Why do they do it?
I remember someone famous saying "The villain is the hero of his story". I couldn't find anything more profound than that. Similar on the lines of the OBL article a few weeks ago. What determines bad / evil? Is it society that determines it? My basic rule in life is that bad equals hurting other people. One might say that by that rule, how is bribery bad if it doesn't hurt anyone. To my Libran mind, bribery unevens the playing field. It basically creates an auction for the services to be provided and therefore eliminates the criterion of merit from the equation.
We are however digressing from the point. Why does someone do something bad?
Gut feeling: Because they think they can get away with it. There's this show in the US called Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It has a segment where they show all the idiotic car chases. The score for 2005 was Cops: 70 something, Dopes: 0. Basically it's the same thing. Everyone thinks they can get away with it. As kids we are all taught not to do "bad things" as they call it. Why do we go against all that we were taught? Why do we go against that basic instinct in us?
Gut feeling: Because they think they can get away with it. There's this show in the US called Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It has a segment where they show all the idiotic car chases. The score for 2005 was Cops: 70 something, Dopes: 0. Basically it's the same thing. Everyone thinks they can get away with it. As kids we are all taught not to do "bad things" as they call it. Why do we go against all that we were taught? Why do we go against that basic instinct in us?
Is it the child inside that wants to rebel against all that it was taught?
2 comments:
First, thanks for the praise.
About the why's of your libran mind - a lot of answers depend on your ideas of good and evil. For me, copying in an exam is bad. For someone else, copying is okay but leaking the paper is bad. For a third guy, leaking a paper is okay, but getting caught is bad.
The criterion of merit has been all but eliminated in nearly every field today, in my beloved nation. I have tried, and failed miserably to understand how anyone can hold anything higher than merit. But people do, and it has been long accepted. Does that mean bribery has been long accepted too? Yes, unfortunately it does. Does that mean we have suspended basic laws of right and wrong? Come to think of it, yes, it does. But at the end, does any of this change the fact that a wrong is a wrong? No, it does not. Bribery is wrong. Anyone who indulges in it is committing a crime - legal, moral, ethical, whatever.
But I'm straying from the point. I am glad that at least some of us believe Nayak is innocent until proven guilty. The media here has already held him to trial, proven him evil and corrupt and sentenced him to a prison of shame. And that goes not just for him, but his family and his friends as well. All this, and more - on the word of a known criminal.
My intention was to attempt to give a complete picture. And I'm happy to see I'm not alone in trying...
Its heartening to see that people believe in the goodness of others. The said hero, absconding Mr.Nayak will pull all the strings he can, cash in on every favour and get out of this mess unscathed. Thus giving the desired ending to all his believers, that he is innocent.
Call me cynical, but i do not understand how one can get so rich on a paltry income of Rs.10000.
And well if it is your hard earned money then come out of hiding and defend it.
-D
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