Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Saddam Husseins in India

Read the following news items:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/bihar-wants-village-named-after-saddam/top/30857-3.html
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/1-saddam-dies-but-bihar-has-many/30129-3.html

If Saddam Hussein can live on, pray why Adolf Hitler cannot? Recently, some enterprising people opened a restaurant and named it "Hitler's Cross". Why was there such a hue and cry over it and just because a certain minority wanted it down, the name was changed to something more acceptable.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/hitlers-cross-conquered-name-changed/19614-3.html

Wonder what would happen if some support groups identifying themselves with the persecuted minorities in Iraq demand that all these children and the village be renamed or killed/destroyed.

My Take:- Individual Freedom should not be compromised. Individuals can exercise self-censorship, but there should be no moral policing. So the people have every right to name their children "Saddam Hussein" or "Hitler "or "Osama Bin Laden" or even "Donkey Bush Pig Laden" as they wish amd Hitler's cross should have remained as it was. If someone does not like the name of a restaurant, do not eat there.
If you do not like M.F. Hussein's paintings, by all means do not attend his exhibitions, condemn his paintings in any public forum, all is fine till you do it peacefully and not inflict any damage (physical) onto Hussein's work or try him from stop him from painting. Paint M.F. Hussein or his mother or his sister or any one nude and being serviced by a donkey, if you must, but do not harm the guy. Similarly, condemn the Danish cartoons by all means, but do NOT go about destroying public property or try to kill the cartoonist. Do not buy the Danish newspaper if it affects you.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Rights and duties

Title may be misleading as I do not have an appropriate title yet.

A discussion I was having with my friends about animal rights was whether it is right for people to feed stray dogs with biscuits when many people are starving. In my locality in Mumbai, I find a number of animal lovers buying 1 kg biscuits dily to feed stray dogs. Ofcourse, I have a very valid and different reason to hate this practice, but I still feel they are within their rights to feed the dogs.

Actually, it is not about dogs. Let me put it this way. These people are spending their hard-earned and legally earned (i.e. after paying taxes to the Govt.) money and they have every right to spend it the way they wish without any moral obligations as long as it does not compromise on any other person's rights. (It would be wrong for them to buy a bomb and blast it in a crowded market-place) And since it is their personal income, one should not take offence to it saying that a lot of people are starving, so the resources would be better spent on them. My reason to hate the dog-feeders is because the stray dogs are encouraged to stay on in the locality and they are at best, a nuisance who bark at niht and disturb sleep, and at worst, dangerous as they bite many an unsuspecting pedestrian and represent a real danger to children. I would like the govt. to either gun these dogs down or round them all up and leave them in the jungle away form humans. But I digress.

A second point that was made here was that killing of the dogs is wrong and that they should be neutered and/or vaccinated against rabies. I have nothing against the poor dogs, but here, again, the individual is well within his/her rights to neuter the dog or vaccinate it with his/her money, but when the govt. money is used, the most efficient approach should be used (efficient and cost-effective is to kill the dog) and no one should have any objection to that, because the poor people actually deserve the state's money (The taxpayer's money should go to provide the optimal benefits for the citizens) and every penny needs to be wisely spent without personal ethics taking any precedence.

The discussion then took a small turn and we started discussing about the rights of animal-rights organisations to stage protest marches and physically stop research using animals as guinea pigs (pun!!!) for their experiments.
Read: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2047868,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/0,,687263,00.html

My take on the same: The animal-rights organisations are well within their rights to protest against the experiments, but to disrupt and physically stop people from doing them is wrong, simply because the people doing this are not harming them. Secondly, the honest tax-payers money is being utilized for the projects, no individual has the right to disrupt it. If you really want to stop the practice, file legal proceedings.

Update: (29MAR2007) : A 6 month old baby killed by strays in Hyderabad
Read: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/03_2007/strays-maul-6monthold-to-death-37211.html