Missing the point
http://www.sandinmytoes.tk/2007/04/missing-point.html
An excellent article by Tavleen Singh (The case of the kiss, The Indian Express, April 29) talks about how flawed our idea of Indian culture is. At a time when we have a lot more to worry about than Richard Gere demonstrating, with a little help from Shilpa Shetty, that AIDS and kissing can go together (Clarification: Neither of the demonstrators suffer from AIDS.)Our developmental stats are so shameful that our courts should order suo moto inquiries into negligent welfare ministers instead of bothering other people. First it was Narayan Murthy accused of playing a "polyphonic ringtone" version of the National Anthem. Then, it was Sachin Tendulkar who committed a 'crime' by cutting a cake with the Indian flag on it. Yesterday, Mandira Bedi was hauled up for wearing a sari with flags of different countries. Unfortunately, our Indian flag made it only below her knee. Thankfully, it didn't make it elsewhere or that would be a bigger controversy!
Point is, silly non-news items like this are taking up so much space in the media that it's taking away our focus from the real issues. Instead of discussing a kiss or hug, we should be asking our ministers what they are doing for the country. The media should trail them day and night instead of celebrities to ensure that they are on track. How come petitioners and protestors do not find anything wrong with the fact that 25 per cent of our ministers have a criminal record?
6 comments
I agree that the focus should be on the main issues concerning development. But this flurry of law suites indicate that people are concerned about things, even though frivolous!
Even I was bothered by the lack of 'important' news... Ironically, one has to get to the BBC's South Asia section to get to know what is actually happening in India, because CNN IBN and rediff do not have any space left after reporting their 'kisses'...
Here's another interesting comment by Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, "'28 seconds of Shilpa Shetty kissing was shown 28 times, 48 times, 88 times, even 100 times. Is it for commercial purposes, TRP purposes? In a country of one billion people, I don't know how this becomes breaking news."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/58826.html
Quite right. You look at all these petitioners clamoring to have Gere's head, and Hrithik's for the Dhoom2 liplock, and you'd think India was some kind of Utopia where people had no other problems save these "kissing" episodes.
sensatinalizin a non-issue was a trend strtd by the media...
and it has gradually been picked up by others...
so lets not just blame the media for everything.
These trivialities are highlighted bcuz we show a dumb interest in them..
The day we become mature enough to skip reading such articles, i think there will definitely be a reduction in them....
I don's see why you quote Priya Ranjan...After all, this is the guy who has spent the better part of his tenure figuring out ways to control 'indecency' on TV, banning channels (something even the BJP's moral aunty, Sushma Swaraj never got around to doing)and generally laying to waste Indian football, as he has been doing for the past 20 years as it's head...