"United to stay Divided" might sound as an oxymoron to many, but isn't paradox the most fitting word to describe the hypocrisy with which we spend our lives?? Philosophy(Theology in particular) has myriad works to boast of to proclaim the equality of men and the creation of an egalitarian society. The message has been straight and clear: human beings are all equal and they should pursue a symbiotic relationship. The Communists,atheists themselves, are the biggest exponents of egalitarianism (talk of paradox !!! ).
Since time immemorial, there has been division in the human society. The yardsticks have varied or rather unfortunately piled up in number to come up with a novel way each time to divide the species. Talking specifically of India, what started as four sects of society -Kshatriya, Brahmin, Vaishya and Sudra, has persisted with multitudinous more sub classifications to exacerbate the situation. Now , we're divided on the grounds of religion, caste, creed, colour,community, economic status,gender,class, geography,intelligence and what not. Its ostensible in a way, that a school of thought is devoted for this purpose only and have nothing better to do.
Reservation issue has been the most talked about topic in modern India and it is the only topic that the youths is , apart from cricket and movies. It has evoked a wide range of reactions in the past decade or two; seemingly a favorite darling of conferences and live debates. But, the issue is a classic paragon of how divided and shallow we're from within. When the entire political circle was united in dividing the country on the basis of social class (mind you not economic else that'd have debunked the real BPL figure much to the chagrin of the people in power), the opposing students or a paltry section of the Intelligentsia never resisted with a united uproar. The incidents of resistance were sporadic and imbued,it involved only the ones who had to bear the brunt immediately and thus the resistance fell like a pack of cards.It died down like our first Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 and for the same reason- intermittent and diffused renegade(Some people never learn from history!!). So the proponents of division were united and the apostles of unity were divided- a grim yet an inevitable cliche.
India has enticed many foreign invaders over centuries to commit blitzkrieg and vandalize us of our resources. A different aspect of this is that it has allowed India to be a potpourri of different religions and communities; which has ameliorated the ethnic fabric of the country but the friction has been tantamount as well. People have been divided on this ground for ages(the independence struggle being a slight exception; still the inception of Muslim League is a testimony to the fact), and the situation has aggravated in the last three decades where communal hatred has ripped apart the once proud standing secular fabric of the Indian Republic.
Communal extremism has seen its peak over the years and with a disguised cloak of fundamentalism, they've amassed people with themselves by shamming as the Evangelists of their rights. And we have no right to blame the authorities for it, because they are people like us and though its difficult to accept, but deep down we all want division in the society. We all are united to the T to promote division.
We've been born and brought up in an environment where circumstantially we do a lot of things that promote division. Like most of us believe in friendship among equals and this gospel has been preached to us since we're infants. Earlier in school, it's on the basis of intelligence that parents want their kids to be with the best or someone at par with their ward's intelligence and later the dogmas keep adding up.
Here's just a simple day to day situation which showcases an unusual way of division (many may frown over it).Fancy the situation that a girl meets with an accident, its very courteous of people around to spring into action like a lightening to make sure she's fine. But when its a guy to fall off his vehicle, the number of volunteers to help plummets by a surprisingly steep number; sometimes even touching the nil mark. Now, i'm not a chauvinist and this may seem as a paltry instance to mention, but this comes out of personal experience and what people around me have faced themselves and we all cant be wrong. It is certainly very important to be courteous to ladies, but the guys deserve some attention at least when in an excruciating situation. Maybe a less germane example to many, but it is veracious for sure.
If one looks within to introspect their own behaviour towards their servants, janitors, drivers or simply the less privileged; the picture becomes conspicuously clear. We all are the followers of a theory which we condemn ourselves. maybe its easier to digest and accept this harsh reality that we are hypocrites to the core. We all love to DIVIDE AND RULE (within our limited capabilities of course).
The entire phenomenon of Capitalism is a prima facie of inequality where in the world is divided on the basis of being rich or poor. It may again seem as a macabre belief, but i see less evil in it because they openly propagate what they do. There are no pretensions of being here for only the welfare of people. Instead they are more beneficial for the society as eventually their avarice for more is giving back more to the society( Read : The Invisible Hand). Thus avarice is a deadly sin, but put hypocrisy on the other side of the court and I'm sure it'd beat avarice to emerge as the undisputed winner in the game of "The Ultimate Sin".
Racial Discrimination is certainly the worst of it all. Even after the long fought battle against apartheid which led to a historic victory, even after realization of Martin Luther King's " I have a dream" with the appointment of US President Barrack Obama at the helm of affairs, racial discrimination persists. The headlines in the media "A black man becomes US President" itself is a quintessence of racism. We admit or not, racism exists ubiquitously, but thankfully the cognizance against it is on a high and we can hope that the menace would see its nemesis and meet an end soon.
Geographic discrimination is an absurd phenomenon;especially when its within the same country. And its preposterous when its done in a country like India which gives a fundamental right to its people to move freely across any part of the country and get employed anywhere at any place in the country. But, the ludicrous act is being done in a brazen manner: MNS's recent spree against north Indians and Shiv Sena's movement against South Indians in the 70's being the instances that come to the top of one's mind.
So it has been done in the past and it may persist in the future. We've been united to stay divided for long now and either we leave the dream of an egalitarian society or at least be honest enough to stop propagating it creating futile hope amongst people. I don't want to sound dystopian but lets face it, some dreams are just not meant to be realized. The reason is not because they are chimerical, but because we are just not ready to face the reality.
