'Bad Planet' Day

Almost everything that makes 'headlines' is a reality we should be ashamed of. Mankind is a shadow of what it ought to have been at this stage of its evolution

- RAJEEV NARAYAN

"Man as an individual is a genius. But men in the mass form the headless monster; a great, brutish idiot who goes where prodded." — Sir Charles Spencer (Charlie) Chaplin

A nation announces 'war bereavement' compensation running into crores of rupees for a United Nations-designated terrorist, from funds received from an aid agency as part of a 'bailout package'. A world-leader President makes a mockery of his post and country, staking claim for victories even in races he never took part in. A nation that thumps its chest for being a world-beater ridicules and lampoons a terror victim's widow, rather than stand by her like a rock. A war heroine charting out the path for others to follow is rebuked and called unprintable names — by an MLA, a minister in a state cabinet, no less. A country at war claims 16,000 of its people have been captured by the enemy; worse, it says detainees are being raped, beaten and mutilated, even thrown against or stuffed into wooden boxes while still alive.

Mankind is a shadow of what it ought to have been at this stage of its evolution. The bare-bones examples in the lead-up above underscore this blunt reality. This is particularly distressing as the examples cited barely skim the surface — if we plunge into the numbing details of mishappenings infesting Planet Earth, there will be no column here, only pathetic tales that leave us red-faced.

How did the super-species called 'Man' descend to a level that even slobs and swine would avoid it, given a choice? When did a world that gave birth to Michelangelo, Bramante, Raphael and da Vinci stop its march to thinking, wisdom and creativity, to take a diametrically opposite plunge into decadence and depravity? Was there a perceptible tipping point, or is this a raw price that's paid in any misplaced quest for progress, development and supremacy?

Species That Glorifies Vulgarity