The brutal rape and murder of a young doctor in Kolkata, the #metoo revelations in Mollywood, and the fall of a statue that represented stature until it fell in a heap, appear to have shocked the nation. Because electricity is free?
Did it really shock the nation? The protests, the blame game, and the TV channels would have you think so. The daily news maybe not. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor speaking to NDTV said, “Every day when I pick up the newspaper there is some incident… some woman has been assaulted. It could be a college student, a child, or a middle-aged lady. (There must be) something wrong with Indian men if we can’t address this problem…”
This column’s sentiments exactly; no poli-tricks involved.
Corrosion is perhaps key – Corrosion of Human Values that lead to the attrition of the nuts and bolts that give “stature” and “mature” their due! Often, the fall of bridges, statues and morality, comes as a bolt from the blue. Really? No. It doesn’t happen if we keep an eye on the washer to prevent seepage!
Indeed, values are our nuts and bolts. If they rust, we go nuts, and bolt – or try to. There is a hue given, and there is a cry, for the victim, for action. It’s a reaction, not a response, often just sound and fury, with nothing changing, but our innerwear! Justice becomes just ice that tinkles in a glass half full!
That begs the question, why and when was R added to Ape? And by whom? Humans, of course; thats a given. Apes could not have done it because my research tells me, that Apes generally don’t rape. Unfortunately, that is common enough attribution to save our skins! Label anyone but ourselves! Rape is a human phenomenon, that defies deterrence by its recurrence.
Because of interference? Because of deference? Because of reference? Because of dominance? Because of preference? Because of resistance? Because of persistence? Because of insistence? Because of influence? Because of (lack of) consequence?
Rape is a human word, a human concept, that does not describe adequately the horror of the act. But it must have come from similar acts through the ages. What we witness today is no Act 1, Scene 1 or a curtain raiser.
The tickets have been on sale from time immemorial. The play is perhaps reaching a sell-out in the modern era. Because of, or through the information glut? It derives from the Latin word Rapere – seizing something forcefully, the Roman law concept Raptus – carrying off a woman by force, and the Medieval English word Rapen – again seizing, abducting or carrying off by force, By the early 15th century it narrowed down to rape… specifically referring to the abduction and sexual violation of women. So, it has a long history, Indeed it is His Story! Her story is a possibility, but not allowed!
It’s not that apes don’t exhibit aggressive sexual behaviour, but such actions are part of their animal instincts, that remain unaffected by human intelligence, emotional maturity, or legal deterrence.
Even so, The Jungle Book does not describe a single instance. Orangutans (Pongo spp.) are the only nonhuman primates known to regularly exhibit forced copulations by males. They don’t generally harm them!
Chimpanzees occasionally display aggressive sexual behaviour when trying to assert dominance and control over females in strong hierarchical structures, while Bonobos use sex as a social tool to build alliances – much like humans do, but not recently if the newspapers are anything to go by
Something wrong, Something coming out of the closet, both so true. But what is that something is the question. Is it control that motivates, is it fear, is it comparison, or is it just that their motor cortex, the cerebellum, and the basal ganglia operate independently of their emotional control centre in the prefrontal cortex in the brain? Is it possible they are sleepwalking when they do what they do?
How is it that men originate from and through women, and then become their woe? men to answer! Come on Man! You seem to forget from whence you come, and only remember whence you wanna go! Momentarily of course. Not always though. Sometimes it’s a path to a destination chosen deliberately.
It’s time for control to be replaced by self-control, fear by joy, superiority by equality, greed by pedigree, and animal impulse by human consideration. That’s when Quality (of life, people, and relationships) will rear its head, men will stand tall, and statues won’t fall!