The US army has allowed a Sikh to wear a turban in army uniform. Is it a wise move? What about the religious symbols of other religions? Is it actually an issue of religion or something more deeper.
Great Britain has been experimenting with multi-culture, to the more or less erosion of English way of life having the primary right over there in England. Is it all a wise move, or are silly nitwits in charge of policy decisions?
Well, I think the latter is the truth.
There is the history of the British colonialism that was run with no pre-mediated plan, but emerged as a very powerful system that extended beyond the reaches of national borders and that of continents. It ran with remarkable efficiency and with more or less wonderful similarity of features all over the world. That too, in a time when modern technological gadgets still remained in the realm of dreams. No wireless, no radio, no television, no planes, no computers and the ships were of sails. Yet, the unity of purpose and that of cultural refinement were superb.
In those times, British colonialism was marked with great support they could garner from the local population. For, it was really the local people that gave support and soldiery for the foundation of the British Empire. Yet, the moment the communication cable was laid between Britain and India, the dismemberment of the British Indian Empire started. For policy decisions on India were taken in Britain by persons who had scant understanding of India. For the British man in Britain, India was a place they held by force. For the British official in India, India was a place where they brought in liberation for the huge populace that had existed as slaves under many layers of officialdom.
Yet, what held the British Empire intact was the cordoning of the British personnel from the corroding effects of the local language and culture. It was due to this very reason that Indian social systems were kept at bay, from entering into the English social communication systems. They were some British officials who did go beyond the forbidden borders, and get infected by the negative viruses that have corroded the Indian social landscape for centuries.
I do not want to go into the depth of the theme now, but a minor insight into the non-tangible code areas can be done here. For this purpose, let me use the words and usages in Malayalam, the language of the south Indian state of Kerala. Actually, any Indian language can be used for this purpose.
India more or less exists in an ever ready state of mental simmering. It is in the language and words.
See this video. What is essentially at issue is the word Nee used by the police constable to the woman in the car. It is a word that means You, but then, this Nee You can mean many things, depending on who is using it to whom. It can mean, affectionate address to a subordinate, follower, or loyal. Or a snub to another person. You Dog to one who is seen as a servant or a subordinate. Or it can even be a term of affectionate you to a friend or wife. Yet, there are routes where it can be used. If the direction or route is changed, there can be problems, even murders.
In the video, the actual problem is that the Nee used is the You Dog version of the Nee. Actually, this You Dog version is used by the police to most of the Indians, and many other officials also do it. For example, the traffic department does it to commercial drivers as a sort of right. Many village officers (petty level of officials) use it to most people.
Most people take in their stride, for only against the British could they voice any objection. If they try to object to such usage against the Indian officials, what happened to the woman in the car can happen. But then, she did come with some level of connections and the TV people were also there. But if any other persons had objected to this type of addressing by the Indian police, it would be a very lucky person if he is not taken to the police station and battered up.
Now what is the exact reality of Indian communication? Well, in Malayalam, the interaction between two persons in which there are two Yous can be like this:
You: You
Nee: Nee (equality/equal dignity/pulling down of one person to a lower level by another man/two higher class person of equal levels)
Nee: Ningal: One is lower, other is higher. The lower one can be servant, in which the You dog is the real input. It can be between a student and a teacher. Here again, the You dog input is there, but in a mellowed manner. Whatever it is, there is a definite power in the communication, and the higher man does have a level of right over the other man.
Then there is Nee: Sar. This again is a lower man verses higher man communication. But then the level difference is very high and the power of the higher man over the lower man is terrific, and could even be of strangling effect.
There can be many other combinations like Sar: Sar, Sar: Ningal, Nee: Thaan, Thaan: Thaan, Thaan: Eyaal, Thaan: Ningal, Thaan: Sar and many such.
It may be noted that along with the positioning of the words in this combination, other words for He, She, His, Her and many other things also do change.
He can change from Avan, Pulli, Pullikkaran, Ayaal, Adheham, Avar, Sar and such (all of varying social and official levels, and including that of He the dog). Similar, in the case of She also changes are effected.
Now, do not simply assume that the relative levels of the words alone affect the persons. No, something more comes into play. It is the relative social levels of the persons who use what words that have terrific and terrible effects. For example, an acknowledge social or positional senior using a degrading You has a very powerful effect, which is understood by others around them. They position a person powerfuly into some heavily degrading level based on this input.
But there is something more terrible than this. It is the use of degrading You by a socially acknowledged lower level person, that is of more gigantic effect, and this can really wrench a person from his mental sanity and make him homicidal.
Now, what about the situation where the degraded person/s cannot understand the language and hence the degradation? Well, the fact is that not understanding can help to some extend, but then there is really a shift in the secondary codes that design our reality. Here a persons personal settings gets dismantled, manipulated or shifted, forcefully and fearsomely. It is felt, and usually persons with refinement would feel it, and react with unexplainable violence.
Beyond all this, there is the issue of powerful strings stretching on to individuals, in a most non-visible manner. For example, an Indian posted as an official in a British government office, will carry on him or her these strings attached powerfully. When an uncle, a friend, a teacher, a parent, in-law etc. calls him or her, powerful commands also come along without any specific words to display them. Official protocols, rules, conventions, laws of precedence and much else can get dismantled by these non-tangible commands.
Moreover, there is another thing. That of terms of respect. This respect is entirely different from any conceptualism of respect in English. For respect in Indian languages are more or less social or familial positions, encoded in language. To the persons who bring respect, there is a very powerful urge for repaying with commitment, attachment, loyalty etc. which are not understandable in English.
England is dabbling with multi-culture-lism without understanding any of these things. One can only view with deep consternation at the unfolding events in England as the virus codes get deeper and deeper entrenched.
-- Edited by Ved on Sunday 28th of March 2010 07:46:59 AM
