We
Hindus have been picturing our evils as an anthropomorphic entity like
Ravana, Mahisasura, Duryodhana, Hiranyakashyap etc. We have been
celebrating the single act of vanquishing them by burning their
effigies, thinking that's a step towards getting rid of the evils of the
world. We have been struggling to conquer them for thousands of years.
Modern
people create more sophisticated effigies: Rightists, leftists, Bhakt,
Hindutva, Libtards, patriarchy, capitalists, socialists, racists ...
their number seems to have grown bigger.
I
don't say these things don't exist. But picturing all evil in the world
as emerging from one such identifiable source -- your favourite one --
is naivette. To think of it as an external to ourselves is a form of
denial.
I think, the practice of mapping all evil you see around you
to one source is not doing us any good. Instead, let's acknowledge the
complexity and multiplicity of the phenomena that lead to social evils.
Oversimplification of problems has never led to any real solution. They
may create quick improvements, but would soon replace one problem with
another.
* যতো দোষ নন্দ ঘোষ -- In Bangla, the proverb talks about the act of finding a single person to blame for all goof ups.
