Archive for 2012
He-Man and the Masters of Morals
0Tuesday, October 23, 2012 by Sanket Chaukiyal
As a species, humans have a lot to be proud
of; we have built great cities, crossed the oceans, soared through the skies and
ascended into the heavens. With the beginning of each new generation there is
an evolution in its technology, culture and society. It is a welcome change but
all is not well. Sadly, as we advance in our civilisation we regress in moral
character. A lot has changed negatively and we have turned a blind eye to it.
Gone are the days where one would think twice before uttering an unacceptable
"bad" word (not counting accepted teenage slang) or consider it the
greatest of sins to talk back at his parents or teachers. Most friendships are
treated as an artificial relationship which is to be maintained only for gain.
We do not think twice before harming others for our profit. Violence suddenly
becomes "cool". Crime is at an all-time high because people have lost
the little voice in their heads that says "do the right thing". Where
has the innocence of humanity gone?
Where did we go wrong?
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| He-Man |
The answer to it does not lie in blaming
the changing culture or society values but merely looking at our childhood and
recognising what has changed. It is often too difficult for parents to spend a
lot of time with their children due to a lot of work load and hence, the idiot
box becomes the part time nanny. The innocent minds of children can be easily
influenced and they are on the constant lookout for an adult role model to
imitate which is mostly their parents with whom they spend most of their time.
However in this day and age, the role model is who and what they see on the
television.
The content on television now has
drastically changed from what we had in our childhood. The issue is not the
abundance of abusive language or violence on TV but the lack of moral lessons
in them. Cartoons are not what they were back in the good old days where they
provided good entertainment as well as a valuable life lesson. Taking the
example of He-Man (the original one), it was a cartoon which provided a good
dose of entertainment as well as a meaningful life lesson from He-Man towards the end of
the show, which we were all too happy to listen to because it came from our
hero. The best part was that these lessons/advices were based on what happened in
the cartoon and hence it was an advice with an example. A few of these
lessons/advices were:-
- There are no shortcuts in life.
- Have courage to do the right thing.
- Don't accept money food or toys from strangers and never go away with them. Terrible things have happened to those kids who did(so just walk away).
- Brains are better than brawns.
- Think of your own safety because people wont be there to keep you safe always(crossing guards, traffic police).
- Drugs don’t make your problems go away. They just create more.
- Courage means saying no to something you know is wrong. Courage means having principles and sticking to them.
- Sometimes there may be a problem that may be too big for you to handle, there are people out there that care about you. Tell them about your problems and they will help you.
- Television is not the only way to be entertained. There is reading too and there are good books at the library.[Regarding this last point. I bet no television show would tell their audience to go read instead of watch television. Now this is what I call doing the right thing.]
Alas, the golden age of entertainment with
character did not last long. Principles and values took a back seat to profit
and eventually led to entertainment without morals. As a result, people lost
out on the healthy dosage of principles at their childhood and led to failed
judgements between right and wrong in the future. There is no need of
entertainment with morals for adults who are mature enough to think for
themselves but the delicate minds of children need the conditioning to make
them better people as adults. With the demise of He-Man and the likes, the
angel on the shoulder was soon to follow.
Category alternative theory, children and television, He-Man, moral regression, television effects
Late Ballistics: India tests Agni 5
0Monday, May 28, 2012 by Sanket Chaukiyal
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| Image Courtesy: Wikipedia |
India recently tested the Agni V "range of 5000 kms" and joined the elite club of ICBM nations. This is a great accomplishment not just because of the technological achievement but also due to the fact that it was achieved under a technology transfer embargo due to nuclear weapons testing in the past. The embargo however benefited the country in the form of self-reliance in the defence industry. This is a moment of great pride for any patriot but to truly understand the significance of any achievement, all the facts whether good or bad must be examined.
If it were not for the embargoes, India would have
achieved the status of an ICBM nation much earlier which would have saved it
from a lot of territorial aggression from China. However, it is not too late as
the ICBM certainly gives India a better foothold against China which is the
dominant regional superpower. The ICBM will enable India to strike important
targets deep within China.
Where there is a sword
there is always a shield; Missile shields together with satellite tracking
system make a potent defence against ICBMs thereby nullifying their advantage
up to an extent "an advantage if a missile shield is located at a
potential target, which is highly probable". Therefore the only option is to make our own defence strong, to pick up
a shield of our own.
India needs to invest heavily in a missile defence
shield of its own considering that it lies in a very volatile region of Asia
"surrounded by Pakistan, China and Bangladesh".
India needs to boost its information network by
investing in developing indigenous spy satellites as critical information can
mean the difference between victory and defeat. Already India has
started taking a step in the right direction by investing in Multiple
Independent Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) which could be the solution to the
"missile defence shield" issue. To put it simply, MIRVs are basically many missiles
inside one which can effectively enable the targeting of multiple targets while
also minimising the effect of a missile shield which will be unable
to target all the missiles.
What one can look forward to is the development of the
Agni VI which will have a range of 10,000 Kms.
(PS: My conscience wants me to put one line in on its
behalf "Do we need more weapons or more food?")
Category Agni, ICBM, India, Missile, Super Power
What If? : Religion
2Friday, April 13, 2012 by Sanket Chaukiyal
“What if?” is a series of articles that will
explore alternative theories for explaining existing ideologies.
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| Image Source: Godisthere |
I am someone who thinks blind faith is
illogical but that hasn't stopped me from questioning my thoughts time and
again, always trying to see things from the other points of view and at times
also seeing things from the point of view of a neutral observer without any
prejudice. From plain rejection to tolerance to indifference, my thoughts about
religion have traversed all these dimensions to now arrive to what I perceive
at this time and moment as the most logical explanation.
We don’t give our children books of Basic
Science 101 when they are little; we give them The Book of Fairy Tales. It
doesn’t mean that we want to deprive them of knowledge or intelligence, it just
means that want to do something more important for them that is required in
their age. We want to charge up their imagination and explore its very depths
because in the end, it is that very imagination that will determine where they
end up in life. It is what fires up their determination and zest for life.
We know and understand that there is a right
time for everything and therefore know when to start scientific education for a
child.
Now I had not thought of this before but it
suddenly struck me one morning when making tea for myself. What if?
Perhaps religion has a logical basis of its
formation across all societies. Maybe there is a reason that religion exists
for sentient beings.
What is it that defines what is right or
wrong for a being who is self aware and to whom the instinct of
take-only-what-you-need is second nature to the wants of a life created by the
fruits of their intelligence?
A lion in the wild kills for need and not for
greed so there is no question of moral here; on the other hand we as humans
live beyond our needs and sometimes to the extent of causing harm to others
around us.
Just as we got self awareness and
intelligence to evolve ourselves, we needed something compliment our instinct
to handle the increased awareness. We needed morals, we needed ethics. It is
said that as a person gains more knowledge, his respect for life increases and
so does tolerance and understanding. But what does he/she do at the infancy of
the quest for knowledge when there is a lack of education to bind an honourable
existence into life.
The need of religion was felt to guide humans to live up to their gift of intelligence, to be worthy of it. Just as children need parents to guide them at the infancy of their age, adults need religion to guide them at the infancy of their knowledge.
Just as children emulate the behaviour of their parents, adults emulate the behaviour of god; a righteous, selfless, kind and compassionate being to whom the meaning of happiness is bringing joy to others. It does not matter how many qualities adults emulate as long as even one of these is followed, the social purpose of the gift of intelligence is achieved.
As adults climb the ladder of knowledge, some of them leave religion behind as they do not need it anymore to teach them to be a socially productive creature, their understanding that develops with the higher level of knowledge serves that purpose now.
However, a lot of them accept religion as a way of life till the very end as they choose it over knowledge as a conduit to achieving enlightenment.
Formation of religion at the infancy of knowledge in any civilisation is inevitable.
As long as the social purpose of intelligence is achieved the path does not matter, whether it is scientific atheism, religion or spirituality.
Category alternative theory, atheism, religion, science and religion, what if?
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