“Broad tolerance in the
matter of beliefs is necessarily a part of the new ethics. “
Lafcadio Hearn
Ethical vs.
Unethical
Moral vs.
Immoral
Taboo vs.
Culture
Ethics, morals &
taboos versus Unethical, immoral & cultural are terms which may be very
relevant / irrelevant depending upon the following criteria:
- who is saying it,
- at what time,
- at which location,
- under what reference and
- what was the scenario & context
of the event.
Let us take a few
example scenarios first,
- You are in Russia and stuck with a mafia as a trade-off for some
extortion money.
- You are in Afghanistan and captured by Taliban, and will soon be
executed by jihadis.
- You are an Indian in Norway and your kids have been taken by Govt
to foster care.
- You are a Briton and in India to set up branch a branch office of
your company.
- You are in Pakistan.
Let us examine the
points one by one:
Who is saying it
The writer of this
article is an Indian, so he may have a biased view-point about India. It can be
in favour or against – but it could be biased. How many of us can put your
inner-biased-person aside and think
rationally. Difficult, huh!! But it is possible when we see the entire
world-picture as a whole and not in bits-n-pieces. So the person on one side of
the river is always on the ‘other’ side for the person on the second side of
the river. Both are right in their own sense, but are wrong in each other’s
sense. So, the ethical in one culture may be unethical in another.
At what time
What is relevant
today may become irrelevant tomorrow. The world has seen many such scenarios in
the past. Historically, we have many such examples where truths of the past
have no relevance today. For example, it was earlier a truth that the Earth is
flat but later on it was proved that it is spherical. So, the earlier truth
became a fallacy later on.
At which location
You do something in
US and it may be reverse in India. A very famous joke goes like this: It is
illegal to kiss in India but you can shit publically and in US you can’t shit
publically but can kiss and express emotions. It is perfectly OK in Brazil to
wear bikini but you can be hanged doing it in Saudi Arabia. So, the relevance
of location of event makes it right or wrong depending upon the people who are
witnessing it.
What is the reference to scenario?
Indians are known to
worship Animal Gods and Hindu culture is very rich in mythological characters.
It is their culture which has been passed onto the next generation in terms of
various stories and holy books. The invasion of Moghuls and later British
Empire could not diminish the ferocity of the tales told by the Indian
forefathers. So, they are believers of occult science and sometimes, may not
have ground about what they say. But, over the years their beliefs have taken
the world by surprise, so many people from various countries come to India for
spiritual peace.
First scenario…
The case of Norway
Govt to take 2 kids of Indian parents to foster care is a perfect example to
mis-understanding the cultural heritage of one country by another country. It
is just because Indians keep their kids in the same bedroom till the age of 7-8
or sometimes later than this, but in Norway, as population is very less and
parents may not be that attached to their off-springs, the cultural
misunderstanding may arise. The writer here has assumed many things while
referring to the Nordic / Norwegian culture. It is perfectly normal for parents
to sleep in the same room with kids in India. But, this cultural difference has
led to chaos. Very unfortunate!! So, what is taboo ‘there’ may be perfectly
normal ‘here’.
Next scenario….
A British comes to
India to setup a branch office of his company. He may get surprised with wide
eyes and open mouth at each and every step to set up his office. The numbers of
permissions and licenses to be taken are exorbitant. At every step he may need
to bribe the officer, peon, or politician, to get his work done. He may get
things in place by spending meager sum of money by Pound Sterling or Euro
standards, but the turmoil of passing through the red-tape may kill his
enthusiasm to complete his job. On the contrary, an Indian setting up his
office in UK may have to churn out more money by Rupee standard, but the ease
of setting things up may keep the enthusiasm on, though he may reach the stage
of financial bankruptcy.
Some more scenarios….
If you are in
Pakistan or any Arab / Muslim country for that matter, you are at the brim of
your wits most of the time. The intensity may be more or less depending on in
which country you are but the thought of being there may keep you haunted for
days if you are a non-muslim. It is ethical to marry 4 times in Muslims but may
be wrong in Canada or India. It is religious to wear turbans in Sikh community
but may be wrong in France /Germany. It is religious to worship statues by
Hindus but it may be shunned by Muslims. It is religious for a Christian or
Muslim to bury the dead but it may be wrong for a Hindu to keep the body of the
dead instead of burning it. In Japan, it may be immoral to show the back of the
neck by females. Religious faiths drive the fanaticism. It is the tolerance
which drives the peace.
Everyone feels cozy
in their own shells of culture. That’s how we humans have been brought up by
our forefathers. Geographic locations, availability of food, shelter, whether
farm land of sea-shore based culture, etc have brought in many diversities
amongst homo-sapiens-sapiens.
We need to live with
the Differences, creating equilibrium in society!!!
-
Brijesh
Khanna
Surat
(INDIA)
