We, the People, Are We Becoming Rude?

Voting out of UPA from power in India has divided people so distinctly that it feels we only need to know how a person voted or would vote the next time to decide whether we like them or not. When someone commits a crime against us, we don’t have any desire to commit the same crime against them. We want justice. But when someone is rude, nasty or caustic to us, we want revenge. We want to make them feel the same disrespect they’ve given us. Sometimes we are simply rude in return, but situations can escalate. The acts of revenge people have indulged in could go as far as “a class 12 student shooting dead his school principal.”

Mindless debates on television have taught us to celebrate nastiness, so long as that nastiness is delivered as “honesty.” Rather than reporting news or moderating a discussion, the TV-anchors are espousing “honest” opinions so that they can say truly rude things and then expect us all to applaud them for it. We are learning from the social media that we must have an opinion, on everything, at all times, and that this opinion must be delivered in a forthright way, so that we appear assured, confident and smart.

We are living in times of incredible rudeness. This rudeness is spreading quickly and virally, almost like the common cold. Once infected by it we are more aggressive, less creative and worse at our jobs. Just witnessing rudeness makes it far more likely that we, in turn, will be rude later on. It’s in our interest to stub it out.

If knowledge makes people humble, modest, decent, disciplined, civil and considerate, then a big question surfaces – is our EDUCATION SYSTEM delivering LITERACY but not KNOWLEDGE?

------- 

Let the author know by following this blog, if you like the posting! You will remain informed about new postings.
 

Please go ahead and share the post with your friends and networks!!
 

You could also follow the author on social media -

• linkedin.com/in/profmukulgupta
• twitter.com/ProfMukulGupta
• facebook.com/ProfMukulGupta