When Swami Vivekananda went to the Art Institute of Chicago to deliver his famous speech in September 1893 people said 'Oh this man has come from India, the land of black magic, where people slaughter animals in the name of God". . .
Speaking of animal slaughter and sacrifices under religious pretention in India, I came across an article recently on the net that will give my fellow supposedly "Barbaric Indians" some consolation and a ray of hope and which will also make our religious sacrifices seem almost tame though not innocent.
There is a place in Denmark called the Feroe or Faroe Islands where every year young teenagers gather to prove that they are man enough for this world by killing hundreds of Calderon dolphins, Pilot whales and various other species of cetaceans. This is seen as a celebration and the schools are closed especially for this "festival". These extremely friendly cetaceans are on the verge of extinction and pay death penalty for being friendly or approaching the humans. No wonder this ritual has not been changed. The men who have to prove their manhood by being butchers never really grow up. They are just over grown boys who think like 13-14 year old.
The Countries of the European Union (Denmark being one of them) are supposed to be the torch bearers of this World, who will show us the right way. They are supposed to be the centres of science and culture. If the light of the west will show us slaughtering of innocent and harmless creatures then I would prefer to stay in the dark.
Being a citizen of a developing country, I used to despise our ritual of sacrificing goats, buffaloes to the Gods. But this incident has enhanced my level of tolerance.
After reading that article I feel ashamed of myself as I never had a kind word for my motherland, which is much better than Denmark atleast in oneway - We don't have to kill animals to enter manhood and whatever sacrifice is done in our country, is not done publicly anymore and is held in a secluded area.
I feel disgusted and helpless as I can't do anything to prevent the slaughtering in the name of festival from happening over and over again every year. When the Talibans hacked and chopped up people and killed them, the whole world was enraged and the world power US ended the rule. But these poor dolphins, despite being from phylum mammalia, are unfortunate enough not to be humans and so, few care if they live or die.
At the most what can happen if this slaughtering goes on? There will be just another addition to the list of extinct species and the future generation of Denmark, along with of the whole world, will read about them in Environmental Education school textbooks and will be told by proud fathers that they had poached them all to prove that they were finally men!
Meanwhile, all that I can do is lament for how much fallacy constitutes our race of humans and feel pity for the Calderon dolphins and for once feel proud that being an Indian, I don't have to mince up innocent creatures on the auspicious event of entering manhood.
6 comments:
Point one, Partha: check out the facts a bit by reading 'the best answer' given at this site:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090715205816AAbVQwZ
Second, other people's cruelty does not justify or mitigate any of our own, unless our sense of logic has become utterly warped.
Third, some more fact-checking is in order: when Vivekananda was delivering his famous Chicago speeches, the Indus Valley civilisation had not yet been discovered! How can you be so incredibly cavalier with facts?
Fourth, you don't have to slaughter certain animals to be judged cruel, as I am sure you know, but conveniently forgot while writing this blogpost: India can boast of myriad cruelties to both man and beast.
All that said, I shall certainly join you in saying that every form of gratuitous cruelty is bad, and should be condemned and minimized wherever possible. But let us be honest with ourselves: those of us who really, really hate cruelty to animals shouldn't say much before we have become strict vegetarians, should we? But here is a specific fact: in this land of 'ahimsa', the number of meat-eaters has been shooting up over the last two decades, in step with rising incomes. What do you say about that?
Sir
Dear Sir,
It was not Partha who was so cavalier with facts. It was me who suggested some of the points that you have so strongly criticised. I sincerely apologise for not doing extensive research and just limiting to 1 or 2 websites.
That we Indians are a part of the land "ahimsa" is studied about in history books and after the exams, its instantly forgotten...Everything tapers down to the same point doesn't it?
P.S. And on a funnier note you already know Partha really has become a veggie!
Dear Sir,
I have gone through the website that you asked me to in your comment.
I will modify my post according to it.
Thanks a lot for commenting and pointing out the faults.
Sorry for a late comment brother!
The post was a nice one though I have some doubts about its exactness. Are you sure that it is not an exaggeration?
If it is not then, the killings are barbaric.
But yes we really don't have to look into the other continents for cruelty. We have lots right in our country.
And cruelty doesn't always need to draw blood. The fact that I look like an albino in sunlight draws enough hateful looks from people and people actually shove me out of the way of a hindu procession as if I am an untouchable right in the heart of Delhi!
Talk about cruelty, we all have had our share and there are more to come...
Take care!
Zico.
Sorry I missed out on the post script of Annie's comment. Have you really become a veggie? That's superb man!
I hope no one forced you to become one...
Thanks for such support altough the post had its shortcomings.Yes I have become a vegeterian and no one has forced me to become one.
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