New Delhi Gang-Rape, Reactions and Cultural Pathology
- Thread starter knowledge_of_self
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Gawan said:
This latest case is more like a kidnapping and rape case, I think and speed with which police reacted to the case is phenomenal for Indian standards. I hope things will get better.
Yesterday I was thinking about what type of mind set created these scenario, that brought back some memories. I just want to mention with a hope to make sense of it.
One of sentence passionately repeated in india from post independence days is “The day woman can walk safely on midnight on the main street, India gets its real freedom”. That sums up the scenario for a long time.
Heck, I my self never felt comfortable walk midnight.
As for as safety in private citi buses are concerned, I don’t have good impressions. They are dangerous when there is no other passengers exist and particularly at night. Often buses are operated by influencial political people who often hire uneducated poor people( out of control rough people who can influenced by peers, drugs, associations). i.e not safe, particularly at night.
This reminds me of specific incident . One day our citi bus ( private operated) didn’t come and some body told us why ?. 2 citi bus drivers had a quarrel and they decided to fight and asked all the passengers to leave the bus and they did a head on crash context with buses. This is extreme case, only heard once. It is a shock to me. Bus owner will go and bribe the police, IF some passenger complains.
Govt. run buses are relatively safe, as they are govt. employees and fear of losing job to drink or had gang of friends sitting in the bus to do this type thing. Govt. buses has inspection routines by Govt. inspectors , they will get caught easily. Then out of citi buses are relatively less crowded, so less safe, but no choice except to use for poor/middle class people.
The victim in Delhi rape case is EXTREMELY bold given the circumstances, family status and the system. In the Delhi case, the bus operators are fishing for victims without permit , intoxicated, boldened by robbery of a male victim before this, that is at night. Still she fought back, spitted on the guy, gave the police report immediately, fought for life despite brutal injuries. For me, she seems to be like representing ( at some level), the frustration of the Indian woman.
Honest Public official’s life in india is not that glamourous/rewarding/respecting in a society that still runs on status/influence. Police don’t want to register the case, as that calls coming under pressure from the influential parties, politicians, manipulative bosses, corruption. Often, falling into this cross fire ( conscience vs corruption) means frequent transfers ( family dislocations, kids education disruptions, sometimes to villages without any basic amenities water, electricity,education ). That is where apathy accentuates.
After decades of fighting on dowry murders, govt. passed laws making it difficult for police to ignore these reports , that scared the dowry death culprits ( often they are the woman- mother in laws, sister in laws). None the less they often happen due to the influences. I keep hearing these deaths from my own relatives, which is very painful to digest.
This public attention gives the courage to woman to call police (in this cell phone age), police to put the case ( for fear of consequences ), courage for woman to spread this freedom to other areas of discrimination ( dowry cases , forced marriages, liquor/gambling addicted male violence etc.) . I hope female psychopath/sociopath influences will not hijack these movements and absorb to their benefits(which often happens, as the public memory fades )
Another problem is western influenced Media ( popular magazines, TV, movie) sexification. During these last 2 decades, it has gone beyond epidemic levels. This is unthinkable 2 decades back that contributes to this type of brutal behavior very easily. You can imagine the influence of this on a out of control intoxicated youth which doesn't give a damn to the consequences( as he already poor and justice can be influenced ). Unfortunately, no body is talking about this.
Cast related violence, influence intoxicated crimes against the woman is another dimension.
Probably that is the sign of the times, another form of ‘eat the flesh’-cannabalism.
knowledge_of_self
The Living Force
I just wanted to make an update on this thread with my current thoughts. Apparently the gang rape leader Ram Singh was found hanged in jail. His lawyer claims that he was killed (perhaps by the police) but the media is calling it a suicide. In this article, I read:
Although this is an understandibly emotional comment by the victim's brother, it points to the issue I brought up earlier in this thread (in bold below).
I think the victim's brother is now lost in hate and so are many others. Most people seem to want the 'quick fix', and basically revenge. I don't think the kill em' all/an eye for an eye mentality is going to help anything improve. There is a MUCH deeper issue (psychopathy/pathology in society) in this case that most people are failing to grasp. Imo, there needs to be a major re-examination of society as a whole in order to get anywhere.... the very things we discuss here.
Although this is an understandibly emotional comment by the victim's brother, it points to the issue I brought up earlier in this thread (in bold below).
D said:
I think the victim's brother is now lost in hate and so are many others. Most people seem to want the 'quick fix', and basically revenge. I don't think the kill em' all/an eye for an eye mentality is going to help anything improve. There is a MUCH deeper issue (psychopathy/pathology in society) in this case that most people are failing to grasp. Imo, there needs to be a major re-examination of society as a whole in order to get anywhere.... the very things we discuss here.
D said:
Of course. The problems are due to social programming, society, culture, etc. You might find two books very interesting: Becker's "Escape From Evil" and Fustel de Coulange's "The Ancient City." They both talk about what is foundationally wrong with society. Neither has the whole banana, of course, but they have pretty big pieces of the puzzle. And knowing how things got the way they are helps us to be able to think about how they could be otherwise. Because we do have to take human nature into account and it is pretty basic for people to perceive such behavior as deserving of death. And maybe it is. But like you say, that won't solve the problems.
knowledge_of_self
The Living Force
Laura said:
Thanks for the book suggestions Laura, I will put them on my reading list.