“I’m bored!” is not a cry we hear often nowadays. Every effort has been made by shrewd marketeers and technologists to see that not a moment of monotony and dullness creeps into the waking hours of our youngsters and also ourselves. Instant gratification is available at the click of a finger, through the phone, watch, laptop and other available gadgets.
I believe it is this need to be instantly satisfied that is slowly stopping us from understanding the repercussions of foolhardy speedy fulfillment!
I also believe it is this need to be gratified immediately that is allowing our leaders to get away with outrageous laws, which we ‘instant gratifiers’ don’t have the time or inclination to look deep into!
How quickly, the vigils, the protests, agitations, demonstrations, marches and anger disappeared as soon as the four rapists were shot dead!
But did you the concerned, stop to think that the real culprits; the police, your protector, who are never there to protect, your political leaders, who are as involved in sexual crimes as the assaulters, your men whose wrong thinking of themselves as the superior gender, are all at large?
Have you, who have been satisfied by those four bullets, or knowing the skill of our policemen, fifty bullets, realize that you have been popped a soother, a pacifier into your mouth, which is what instant gratification is all about.
Yes, the law takes a long time to act, but in the process, we get to the root of a crime. Through a justice system that we think is endless and dreary, we may at the end find that the police, just to close the case, and go about their business of pleasing their bosses and wallets, or who needed to get away from spending their time in the drudgery of detective work arrested a conveniently available four innocent men.
And maybe, just maybe, four rapists, the real ones, still roam free!
So it is with the contentious Citizens Amendment Bill (CAB ). This is not just about majorities and minorities, nor only about refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Take your ear plugs off and let me explain: This is about fiddling with a Constitution which till today, allowed anyone of any kind to live in this country, but with this fundamental right being withdrawn, could well begin the process of, “If you don’t think like me, don’t live here with me!”
Which my dear friend, before you put your ear plugs on again, could be you who thinks different, me who decides to act different and anyone who decides not to be a Cloned Citizen of this Country!
Instant justice, immediate gratification, may look after your pressing need for appeasement but, spells disaster in the long run.
Throw away those ear plugs before it’s too late, or you’ll soon be really ‘bored’ cooling your heels in detention camps already being built for those who are different..!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
The key to this is to be TOLERENT.
Its intolerencewhich has crept into our MINDS which is doing the damage.
We need to start being tolerant
Instant gratification is the need of the child and the need of the child within every adult. It is a sign of immaturity. The whole process of maturation and turning into a proper rational thinking adult involves the delay of gratification. Instant gratification really spells danger for future generations.
Instant justice is a need but without any proper verification is an blindness.
If honesty was a virtue prevalent among cops, early justice would’ve been gratifying. But, there is more honesty among thieves than the cops. Such honesty is not even there among politicians and also the judiciary.
In the case of the 4 rapists though their encounter can be termed ‘instant gratification’ this feels like at least some justice was done to the victim. In the Nirbhaya case the convicts are enjoying state hospitality & on top of it clowning our judiciary by petitioning about air quality of Delhi.
How the constitution has been fiddled with needs to be explained.