Budget-maximisation - and Turf-maximisation - these are the twin motives of Leviathan - and both these are on bright display right now in India, particularly, in Delhi, since the gang rape occurred right here in the Capital. Hence, the Sunday papers are overloaded with all kinds of appeals for "more policing," "more courts," "more laws" - that is, legislation, which will be the Ultimate Deterrent, and so on and so forth.
Yet, if one is perceptive, one can also see clear signs of the foolishness of it all. Thus, we have sonia gandhi claiming to have become aware of the problems women face. We have a police minister saying Top Cops must be "more alert and responsive" - or words to that effect.
How can any of these be "true"?
All that will result if sonia and this police minister of hers are ALLOWED by public opinion to carry out their pious intentions is - what else? - but Bigger Budgets and More Powers.
Take two small examples:
There was this prafool patail fellow calling for a "State Funeral" for the victim - at State Expense, of course!
Ditto with akhilesh yadav from a different province altogether making the grand annoucement that his State will "bear all the expenses of rape victims."
So, what's the Other Way?
Well, I said it all the other day, "Women! Think like Annie Oakley!"
Protect Yourself - with your own handgun.
For, "a gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone."
It's very easy to learn how to handle and maintain a handgun - as compared to, say, karate. Infinitely easier. And far, for more effective - as a DETERRENT.
Think! - for YOUR SAFETY - and what makes YOU FEEL SAFE.
Remember:
More cops and more courts and all that will also COST YOU MUCH - in terms of TAXATION as well as INFLATION.
Now, the Sunday columns:
Manas Chakravarty in HT is the best, again, with absolutely hilarious comments on manmohan's "theek hai" speech, made in order to soothe the nerves of those protesting this gang-rape in Delhi, of which the concluding section i must quote:
Dear loser citizens,
I am outraged at the police atrocities; the discrimination against Dalits and tribals; the ghastly hovels in which people live like animals in the Mumbai slums; the way they travel packed like cattle in suburban trains every day, with some of them falling off; at rising prices; at unemployment and poverty. But we are working on it. First the stock market has to go up, which will increase economic growth, which will lead to some people becoming very rich, which will hopefully result in some of the money trickling down to the losers. So remain calm. There is no need for violent agitations. Theek hai?
As always, Swaminathan Aiyar's is the worst, this time blaming Bollywood - as if "films sanctify pestering and stalking of women." He talks about some actor being a "role model to millions."
In REALITY - no STAR ever "models" himself or herself after any predecessor. NEVER! This is true not only in films and theatre, it is true in music - of all genres - it is true in art, and it is true among writers, journalists, and philosophers as well.
There is, of course, SOCIALISM - with its PHONY EQUALITY - where "some are more equal than others" - but where all must wear the Mao Suit or whatever - of which today's examples are rahul gandhi, anna hazare and kejriwal, all in their "gandhi topis" - but these are all "epigones" - not STARS.
To be a STAR - is to be UNIQUE and NON-REPEATABLE - and the following quote from Mises' Theory and History says it best:
"Only stilted pedants can conceive the idea that there are absolute norms to tell what is beautiful and what is not. They try to derive from the works of the past a code of rules with which, as they fancy, the writers and artists of the future should comply. But the genius does not cooperate with the pundit."
Indrajit Hazra, also in HT, writing about the rape in a piece aggressively titled "Terrify the Scum" is excellent - but ends with notes that seemed completely "off-key" to me. What is worse - even fatal - for a journalist attempting to present an argument that is "logically arrived at," he contradicts himself. His conclusion:
Sheila Dikshit must order a 'zero tolerance' policy and make an example of this case that's sickened even this fatalistic nation.
Well, this conclusion contradicts this earlier paragraph of his:
The police take sexual violence as seriously as drivers across India take zebra crossings. FIRs are routinely discouraged, evidence is destroyed crippling most cases even before they go to trial, and victims are given the short-shrift at police stations - that is, if they aren't shooed away. A 17-year-old rape victim in Patiala who killed herself last week after running from pillar to post to seek justice since November, faced policemen who not only tried to dismiss her case, but also humiliated her by calling her at the police station at nights and asking her pointlessly suggestive questions. And if a victim is from below a certain socio-economic class, the police are sure to, at best, treat her complaint as a waste of time, or, at worst, humiliate her further.
Anyway, THINK! - for tomorrow is the last day of 2012 - and the Delhi Police have decided in their "wisdom" to shut down Connaught Place on New Year's Eve! - in order to "protect you," if you "fall for it" - and who or what you "fall for" is "subjective" - though when it comes to "logical arguments" we expect and hope that "objectivity" will win the day - and public opinion will NOT "fall for" the demagogue or the "Shill of the Ancien Regime."
Of course, it has always made eminent sense to get outta Delhi at every opportunity - and New Year's Eve with CP shut down makes getting outta here even more eminently sensible - so I conclude with what was surely the MOST HILARIOUS read I have enjoyed in a very long time, this being Jug Suraiya, of course, on where all these politicos will go for their year-enders:
sonia - to Kathputhli, Rajasthan. (The word means "puppet.")
modi - armed now with USSA "visa" - to a Ku Klux Klan meet in Little Rock, Arkansas.
mamata - to the Peoples' Republic of North Korea - where supermarkets are BANNED!
mayawati - to London, to see the City of Statues, so as to get one of her own installed there.
mulayam - also to London - to find out how so many other languages have taken over this city, and English has been hataoed.
kejriwal - to switzerland - to start an agitation there against Swiss who have parked their "black money" in India's nationalised banks.
manmohan - well, for that you must read the full piece, titled "Going Places."
And if you are so very fortunate to live elsewhere in India - do RELFECT over the FACT that if DELHI is so UNSAFE - then, how can these WOLVES "look after" the SHEEPLE anywhere else?
BEIJING - one of the MOST UNSAFE cities in China.
WASHINGTON DC - highest crime rate in the USSA.
THINK!
