The best thing about any value system is that it keeps evolving all the time; the worst is, its proponents try applying it retrospectively and to everything!
I once read on Quora that Mr Darcy perhaps was a slave trader (now, anyone who is familiar with Quora will understand it but suppose the mainstream start discussions based on this information!). Like all good answers on that platform, this answer was also well reasoned. May be correct. Perhaps Mr Darcy indeed was a slave trader. But how is this information useful today for us. Shall we stop reading Jane Austen or watching Pride & Prejudice on TV? May be a Facebook campaign!
I am told that Tom & Jerry were also racists. Now, what do we do about that?
Newspapers report a campaign in some parts of Africa against Gandhi. The campaigners (mostly academics) say that Gandhi was a racist perhaps as late as his stay there in S Africa. He must have said something or used certain terms that in today's world are considered offensive.
Small problem with this logic is, if we apply today's value system, almost everyone who lived prior to, say, 1950 is racist. Many are child molestors, slave traders, climate change deniers and more embarrassingly, generally everyone believed that goodness was essentially because they would be judged by the God for their deeds, whenever that judgement day arrived!
And that is what I find troublesome with modern value system; it does not allow evolution of a living person. Only a dead set of ideas can evolve.
I once read on Quora that Mr Darcy perhaps was a slave trader (now, anyone who is familiar with Quora will understand it but suppose the mainstream start discussions based on this information!). Like all good answers on that platform, this answer was also well reasoned. May be correct. Perhaps Mr Darcy indeed was a slave trader. But how is this information useful today for us. Shall we stop reading Jane Austen or watching Pride & Prejudice on TV? May be a Facebook campaign!
I am told that Tom & Jerry were also racists. Now, what do we do about that?
Newspapers report a campaign in some parts of Africa against Gandhi. The campaigners (mostly academics) say that Gandhi was a racist perhaps as late as his stay there in S Africa. He must have said something or used certain terms that in today's world are considered offensive.
Small problem with this logic is, if we apply today's value system, almost everyone who lived prior to, say, 1950 is racist. Many are child molestors, slave traders, climate change deniers and more embarrassingly, generally everyone believed that goodness was essentially because they would be judged by the God for their deeds, whenever that judgement day arrived!
No comments:
Post a Comment