Tolerance Avashyamund
April 29, 2020
We’ll cut right to the
chase. A few days back Malayalam actor and producer Dulquer Salman shared a
video for promoting his film Varane Avashyamund.
This created furore in social media because the video allegedly insulted
‘Tamil sentiments’ by calling a dog ‘Prabhakara’.
For those who aren’t
aware of Prabhakaran, he was the leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) which fought against Sri Lanka in the Civil war for the interests of Tamil
people in Eelam. This blogpost, however, is not about him nor his position in
Tamil society.
Dulquer after being
abused by ‘Tamil Twitterati’, released a statement where he reasoned that the name
was common in Kerala and moreover the scene was just a reference to an older
Malayalam film which is going around as a meme. He anyway apologized to ‘all good
and kind Tamizh people who felt offended’.
Now begs the question,
what did he do wrong to apologise? We wouldn’t have given two shits about some
random movie star apologizing to keep his market open but that was not what just happened. In Twitterverse and in other social media, we know there will be
trolls who harp on petty issues but what irked us is that how prominent
political leaders like Thol Thirumavalavan, T.Velmurugan and Seeman have
responded to this petty non-issue. This begs another question, what do these
‘progressive’ new-age Tamil politicians think about freedom and free-speech;
for this question we feel, there is necessity to address.
Who
is the Arbiter?
As far as what happened,
it most likely is a coincidence that the meme had the same name as the LTTE
chief and there does not seem to be any conspiracy to demean him. But our
argument is that, even if it was made deliberately to attack and demean
Prabhakaran, there is perfectly no mistake at all. Just because some people
respect a person doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be ridiculed, Gandhi and Nehru are
being ridiculed even today. These ‘new-age’ politicians are simply mirroring
the status-quo where anything, even a joke, against ‘Amma’ or ‘Kalaignar’ or ‘Namo’
is considered a serious offence.
The upholders of Tamil maanam (Pride) seem to forget that there can be people who don’t buy their
absurdity of racial superiority- which by the way, is the idea on which Seeman’s
NTK is predicated on. Say if there is a person who really likes joking about Prabhakaran,
should then such person be arrested and tried in court? Or worse killed?
Thol Thriumavalavan in
his video response to the issue condemned the usage of the name and requested
it be deleted from the movie; this although unnecessary, is accepted because he
is in his right to feel however he wants, but the other two leaders have given ‘warnings’
in their official responses. This is a classic authoritarian instinct of
wanting everyone to abide by their morals and agendas.
If one has to make movies
and write books without offending anyone there would be literally no literature
nor art.
Let’s assume their
argument that ‘people’s feelings are offended therefore it should be cancelled’ is valid, who decides on what
should be cancelled and what should be released? The small group of random
extremists who break down like glass pieces with insecurity when met with
counter viewpoints? Or more dangerously, the State which changes hands every
five years?
This moral policing and ‘cancel
culture’ of the authoritative Left is not just exclusive to India. The
political Left throughout the world embodies disbelief and suspicion of human
character. They put themselves on a moral pedestal and seem to think that they
are the noblest of all. They feel entitled that their feeling and ideas should
be shared by everyone; more importantly, that they are always right. Take Stalin
and Mao as references.
This does not mean the
cultural far-Right should be given a free pass, they are cousins of far-Left with the same
above mentioned characteristics. This is again exhibited in the recent issue
with actress Jyotika. Trolls have been on her shoulders for the past few days
for suggesting that schools and hospitals are equally important as Temples.
What’s
the Word?
‘Hypocricy’, yes that’s the
word.
They don’t seem to
understand what Freedom means, this is interesting because they stand first in criticizing
the Union when it tries to curb freedom and retrace history. Like for example
whenever the BJP tries moral policing against beef consumption, the above
mentioned leaders and their parties come out first against such imposition. Do they
not see the similarity between the ‘Hindu Gomata’ and ‘Tamil Prabhakaran’? Or
are they just plain hypocrites?
There are many examples
of such hypocrisies where they turn blind. They criticize and abuse Savarkar,
joke about Gods but joking about Prabhakaran or Periyar EVR is not accepted. Vice-versa
for far-Right; it is increasingly becoming difficult to tell them apart without
context.
They desist authority from
the government because it oppresses them but instead of trying to reduce the
powers of the all-encompassing State, they want to become the State with
authority and push their agendas as rules and norms. Therefore, their actions are
not in the fight for Freedom but of just unbridled Power for themselves.
Basics
of Polity
They provide nothing new
as political leaders and their inability to understand that big government is
the reason for arbitrary power, makes them incompetent and wasteful- a mere extension
of the present order.
Thol Thriumavalavan in
his video response after strong condemnation, asks his followers not to fall
into the trap of unnecessary debate about the issue. It would’ve helped if he
himself wouldn’t have fallen into the trap of mandating what others must watch
or consume.
Anyway, after such reasoning,
he affirmed his commitment to ‘democracy’. The irony here is unmissable; a group
of people assert themselves as the representative of all Tamils and through
loud voices and mobs control what people should watch and consume without considering
other view points and opinions other than theirs; this is classic ‘mobocracy’.
The inability to chew a
joke against their leader shows their intolerance to opposing views which run
straight against liberalism and its core values of co-existence.
In essence they seem to
be in stark opposition to whatever they claim to stand for. This is because the
failure to understand the structure and working of the State and its relation
to its citizens. It looks like they have been stuck in 19th century European
Nationalism and 20th century socialism running within themselves
without looking outside their gundu chatti.
There is an immature mommy-minded approach where they think they know more than
the citizens and that there is a moral duty for them to not just peel the banana
but shove it inside everyone’s mouth without their consent. It takes maturity
to see citizens decide for themselves which fruit they want to eat or which
joke they want to laugh at. Will Tamil politicians sport such maturity, meh,
the future looks glum.
By Admin
This is one for the Culture series where we talk contemporary Tamil Nadu and its culture.
2 comments
Well-written!��
ReplyDeletethanks!
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