What we are facing today is the result of our own misdeeds- call it cause and effect or whatever. Since decades educationists have been counseling parents against buying their kids toys and games which propagate violence. But suntan kon hai… Nobody cares and nobody listens, really. Toy guns, little revolvers, air-pistols, rifles are all part of the children’s’ toy collection. They seem to send out a silent consent into the child’s subconscious that violence is okay, chalta hai…From toddler-hood to teenage it is we parents who nurture these tendencies in them, and these symbols of violence gain acceptance in their psyche. Even video games are competition-based and generally the winner ends up annihilating the other player. Most urban kids are addicted to these games. Any resistance on part of the parent (when they dissuade the child from playing) is met with temper tantrums. What may follow is more violence. The parent himself gets violent by resorting to slapping, ear- pulling etc. In more than average households it is the parents who preach violence as a means of enforcing authority.
Apart from this the movie-makers also portray so much violence on screen. This tendency to cash in on sensationalism has made us pay too high price. It has helped produce, decade after decade, in sensitive human beings who enjoy blood-curdling experiences. We are living in an age of sensationalism. But,at what cost? At the cost of producing human being who are insensitive and in whose psyche the evil and the macabre is acceptable
We,as fellow-beings, as parents, and as citizens share a common responsibility. We need to take up a stand against violence, and create awareness about thy ways and means by which it may be shunned. We should collectively move to the government to create and enforce such that make violence in every sphere and at every level a punishable act.It has been done by the Americans; then why not Indians? In every other field we blindly mimic the west! On- screen violence can also be mitigated to a great extent in the same way as the government has put a ban on cigarette smoking. Our government has to work upon themselves to be an effective and dynamic body. In today’s jet age and an age of ‘instants’ they have to realize that they have to be quick in their decisions as also in execution of the decisions taken.
If only the movie –makers would wake up to the fact they have a great role to play in moulding the mental attitudes of their genre, then perhaps we could hope someday to perceive the forthcoming generations of youngsters who would be genteel and not aggressive, pushy and revenge-seeking. Today, the unwritten law of land seems to be –“A tooth for a tooth and a nail for a nail.” Cinema has a tremendous impact on tender minds and it can be a monumental influencing factor when it comes to creating a change at such a massive scale. Why not use it in a totally productive way? Will the film industry take this responsibility upon themselves and have a serious go at it?
If we study the history of man, we find that the only permanent thing about it is ‘CHANGE’. One age gets over and another one starts-just as Tennyson (?) has said- ‘the old order changeth yielding place to new……’And today, as the common man is helplessly face to face with terrorism he has to realize that the day has come to create the CHANGE and he has to make his contribution towards that bringing about that change at the individualistic level so that we may progress towards a sweeping change at the level of society itself. The change has to be holistic- it has to have the contribution of our leaders (politic body and bureaucracy), media, cinema, schools, welfare organizations, parents. Tendencies will have to undergo a radical change, only then can the psyche of a nation be change. If a collective effort for such a change is made then slowly but surely we may be able to produce a forthcoming race, in our nation and in the world at large, which will be humane ,peace-loving, considerate and non-violent in . It will be a people who will believe and live the motto of “live and let live.” It will be a people who will be:
responsible individuals,
responsible citizens,
responsible parents, and lastly,
responsible fellow-beings.
This may sound like an idealistic approach and aim but till the common man does not aspire for it, we will not be able to help ourselves and help each other in this mission of living in a terror-free society where innocent blood will not flow at the whims of fundamentalist maniacs. The sooner we react to this rather harsh ‘wake-up’ call the better, HERE and NOW.
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