Personal becomes political?

Today I am convinced that nobody wants to be responsible- for actions and reactions not their own (may I add that it is the responsibility of one’s own actions that we first choose to ignore). Our excuses to get away with responsibilities become ‘rational’, ‘righteous’, ‘politically correct’ in other words, anything that spells out ‘safe’ in bold letters. I may have already spelled out the purpose of this outburst (which u can easily spot if you closely have a look at the title of this write up); when something similar is experienced at a personal level, you would be astonished to find that how evidently it affects the social and political framework of the society.

Before we jump to the legal system of the society (any society, none in particular; pardon my generalization and deliberate ignorance of differences etc), it is important that we question the notion of a system itself. How do we define the purpose of a system? We come somewhere close to explaining the same by stating that a system invariably chooses to be responsible for a certain set of actions for instance, the social and the political. We can then chalk out the primary function of the legal system as having to carry out certain duties and responsibilities to safeguard the social, political and if necessary, the economic well being of the citizens. Now where does the personal fit into this arena? It only takes an incident/a string of incidents to link it with the larger milieu. Let us consider for instance, a very basic incident where two young adults of the opposite sex are shunned from the premises of a police station while they are only engaged in a conversation! The reason for this is pretty obvious, more so when it comes from the horse’s mouth! ‘Kuch hua toh hume doshi mat thehrana!’

This puts a couple of things under the radar, not just the basic fact that the interaction between members of the opposite sex (forget the freedom to manifest one’s sexuality) is limiting because of a set of social, political and legal causes. This incident also puts to question the positioning of marginalized forms of sexuality, which paradoxically holds an advantageous one in this situation. Who would question or limit the interaction of gays, lesbians or even sexually sterile individuals? The rising awareness of alternate forms of sexuality has evidently not reached to the extent that such factors are also taken into consideration.

Finally, it is the fear of sexuality itself that is reflected in such issues; playing the devil’s advocate I would also defend the system by considering the importance of filtration for the sake of the younger generation (children etc). Censorship however, does not mean concealing and thereby substituting facts with euphemistic notions (playing safe, anyone?). It means I remind, to take responsibility for actions of the society that are natural, accepting them (which is so far the toughest task in the current scenario) and proper education by disclosing delicate and crucial knowledge at the right time. This could possibly lead to a society that is sensible in its functions, a world that is a better place to live!