Stop The World, I Want To Get Off – Reflections By Averthan

Goa, June 28, 2007, 15.30 Hrs (CBCI News):

The world has a curious habit of twisting the rational faculty of people. In spite of the “high” quality of education, we find non-sense abounding everywhere – in the newspapers, the electronic media, and even in academia.

Some years ago, there was a musical play entitled “Stop the World, I want to get off.” It was a parody on the prevailing culture of that time. It would not be incorrect to assert, now, that the world has become even crazier than it was then.

If an alien from another planet came to Earth, the person would be thoroughly confused at the utter confusion which prevails here. In the name of promoting peace, the nations of the world are spending billions (nay trillions) of dollars producing weapons of mass destruction and spreading these all over the globe. More money is spent on the manufacture of armaments than is spent on education, public health and on research to prevent deadly diseases.

Under the guise of promoting good health, scientists and large research facilities are deliberately and knowingly destroying lives in the form of embryonic stem cell research. Creating human embryos in order to kill them is seen as a sign of scientific progress.

Murdering unborn children in their mothers’ wombs is touted as an expression of the “Right” of women over their own bodies.

Inciting widows to commit suicide by burning themselves on the funeral pyres of their deceased husbands is defended on the ground that it demonstrates loyalty and fidelity of wives.

The frantic (and frenetic) efforts of homosexuals to alter the existing laws of marriage by claiming that they have a “right” to homosexual unions is sought to be justified on the ground that they have a fundamental right to freedom of choice.

In the name of “freedom of choice” manufacturers are spending billions of dollars trying to influence buyers to buy their products instead of the products of their competitors.

This insanity has taken curious forms. Homosexuals, for example, are foolishly trying to reverse the immutable Laws of Nature merely to assert that their aberrant behaviour should be socially and legally acceptable. They ignore the fact that all of Nature manifests a healthy balance (combination) of two opposite but complementary elements. In electricity there is the “positive” current and there is the “negative” current. Without the proper adjustment of these two poles, there would be no electricity.

Fundamental physics has discovered that even the atom (which is the very basic building block of matter) is composed of protons and electrons. We simply cannot find in Nature a unification of two similar “poles” to get a composite. Whether it is in magnetism (where you find a positive and a negative pole) or whether in biology, where life is generated by the union of male and female, Nature is clear and unambiguous that the male and female are necessary complements and cannot be disregarded.

In spite of this, the homosexuals are clamouring for laws to be passed legitimizing the “union” of two persons of the same sex. This is insanity in its extreme form. They might as well try to pressurize governments to legislate that the Earth has two North Poles or two South Poles; or they might try to persuade governments to declare that there are only peacocks and no peahens.

They try to justify their claims by resorting to the specious argument that they are only exercising their “right” to freedom of choice and freedom of expression. Such “freedom” should only be tolerated within the confines of a mental health facility. G.K. Chesterton has pungently observed that you may release a tiger from his cage, but you may never release him from his stripes.

The homosexuals are not, however, the first agitators on the social and political scene. The prostitutes got there ahead of them. They have managed to find a veneer of “respectability” behind the façade of the claim that they are “commercial sex workers” and that they provide an important service to society. They have already demanded that their employment/ activity be recognized as a “profession” on par with those of teachers, doctors, airline pilots, management experts and university professors. They have organized themselves into unions and will soon stipulate rates which will include “overtime” and this will be followed by demands for “bonus” payments for special services.

Contemporary insanity has also become manifest in the area of advertising. The alien observer from another planet will find it very hard to understand why a white toothpaste (for example) is superior to a red toothpaste or a multicoloured toothpaste. He will find it difficult to understand how a motor-cycle can run faster than a jet aircraft; or how a car which is designed to achieve a maximum speed of 120 kmph can be made to go any faster by simply changing the brand of petrol which it uses. And, believe it or not, the “highly educated” person of our times actually believes these claims. These “educated” people, however, do not believe in “miracles.” They will continue to buy skin whitening creams for years, even though their skins have not shown any signs of whitening after the two weeks stipulated by the advertisements.

In our crazy modern world models and film actors earn more than Professors and Teachers. Our educational establishments have ceased to be citadels of learning and have become factories which churn out marketable products for the industries. In fact, even the curricula of our schools and colleges are determined by what the “market” requires rather than what is good for the students.

Our crazy world decries religion as being irrelevant and unscientific; but our “educated” people have made a religion of football and cricket and tennis – complete with rituals, banners, patriotic songs, fan clubs, distinguishing colours et cetera. For the non-sporting devotees there are the beauty pageants –(Miss World, Miss Universe), and the sickening Fashion Shows. More money flows into organizing these events than has ever been collected by charitable organizations.

Truly, this world has gone stark raving mad. STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO GET OFF.

Averthanus L. D’Souza
D-13, La Marvel Colony
Dona Paula, Goa 403 004
Tel: (0832) 2453628