Pollution

 Anti Pollution Day it is today. Absolutely necessary! The pollution levels in Delhi, for instance, are such right now that schools had to close down. In fact, the only advantage of the Corona virus was that it showed the extent of pollution. Due to the lockdown, vehicles were offline, that is off the road for a change. Apparently that made the air so pure that, after decades, from Chandigarh, the Himalayan peaks were visible.

Pollution is of various types. Air, water, sound, soil are rather well known. Now such environment pollution  types are  appreciably often part of school discourses as well. Today let us hence talk of two types that are  now truly deserving of serious discussion. 

The first of these is the visual pollution. We have on the social media, for example, so vitiated the language that now emojis express better than many an individual. Emojis is the preferred mode of communication. In a way, such an insistence is vitiating the linguistic abilities of individuals and societies. Who cares though? Similarly, as the mobile gets the wor(l)ds in to irresponsible palms, under the garb(age) of fun videos, ultimate insults (who "upvotes" them?) to human intelligence get uploaded. Truly inhuman(e) they are, though touted as innocent fun! This visual pollution truly, and immediately, needs a serious debate. 

Much worse is the mind/thought pollution. Such viciousness is in the air that on many a wapp group, pogroms of the opinionated are absolutely appalling. What the dominant group in that wapp group considers is THE mode of thinking HAS to be the ultimate truth. Try supporting what THEY think is ridiculous, why, you have raised the hornet's nest, indeed you have hit a beehive.  In unison, they attack, target you. These very people would otherwise cry themselves hoarse over comedy being attacked. In the group though, one line in a doggerel that they think is not right, the sporting spirit does the vanishing trick immediately! That is not targetting in their opinion as they are always 'right'. Yet they call themselves intellectuals attacking the 'right'!

There was this forward, to give another example, about how Krishna's life could be an example of how to face uncertainties due to multiple diseases. Immediately, a great scholar/intellectual/academician retorted 'why Krishna alone? Why not Kabir, Meera, et al, for example!' Well, who is to point out to the opinionated minds that Kabir, Meera and the others of their ilk, too, worshipped Krishna! Why not Buddha, it was argued. Why indeed not? Who stops such people from writing another (re)post(e)on how Buddha's ideas are equally valid as bolsters in days made difficult due to multiple viruses. How can anyone instead attack someone else's choice? The answer to such hatemongers would be, 'why not Krishna, (too)'? One needs time on hand for such slug fests! So much propaganda of extreme variety on so called liberal groups, too, is floated that they  commit the sin they are accusing  others of,  out-gobbelsing-gobbels! Such identity politicking has absolutely weakened the civil society indeed. The ideology pollution is so dense a thought fog that we are like armies, to quote Arnolds's great quote/image, fighting by night!  Ideologies zindabad! Who cares  (why/how)for dispassionate balance!?!

Pratima@yet again fervently I remember George Orwell who repeatedly pointed out such chicaneries!