The flag waving popcorn slayer…

I have been meaning to write on this subject for some time now, ever since I left Bombay…

The subject is of the practice of having the national anthem played before the start of a movie…

Of course, mob mentality and pre-consciousness societal teaching being what it is, we all stand up and sing along with our gazes upturned to a digital flag waving a few feet from our faces…

We feel patriotic and dutiful and yes comfortably conventional…even if we sit down to watch ‘Striptease’ after that…

So what is it that gets my goat?

Is it the faux patriotism? or is it the truism of the Churchill statement that patriotism is the last refuge of the fool? A bit of both, i admit…I sat resolutely at the last movie I saw, to the staring eyes from those around me…but here are the reasons why I had had enough…

Its a godamn trap…I felt like i was a part of the novel 1984, where you are watched and you have to show patriotism and obedience or else! You are boxed in and everyone stands up because, well, your mom taught you to…I don't like being forced into situations which demand a certain behaviour from me without asking my choice…If I don't have a choice, I would rather be a stubborn child than a lawful coward

What is the whole freaking point anyway? To make fine upstanding gentry of us (or the unknown citizen, as Auden would have put it)? To ensure that we don't become terrorists? To trust the government and believe them to be the good guys because they put the flag on the screen? so that we don't forget the words of the anthem?

I may not go literally with Lennons utopian – imagine there's no country. But I believe in the essence…we draw borders and imagine the enclosure to be home…in essence, we are just glorified mobile wielding primitives dancing to the chieftains tune, which is the national anthem…(plus I am a little comfortable with the fact that the anthem was written in all probability as a commemoration for the King of England, but that is besides the point)

So, no, I don't believe in patriotism. I know this is something very controversial that I am putting out, but I believe that it is an over-rated concept. Its an opportunistic feeling that we cultivate – to be brought out when its convenient and bottled up when personal needs are paramount. Bring it out during times of collective danger like Kargil war and bottle up when the neighbouring state needs water…

Put Satyendra Dubey and Manjunath’s photo there (remember them?) and appeal to us not to forget them – that would be patriotic, something tangible, something actionable. Flag waving is easy when you can sit down to popcorn after a few minutes…

Anyway, the whole point of the above rant is that its a damn silly concept and its time the people who defied the Sena to watch an atrociously bad movie give a thumbs down to this tyranny as well, a tyranny, which when compared to the Sena is much more subtle and hence much more dangerous…

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