Circles?
The Imitation Game - I had watched this one while in college, unable to realise the real message the movie was trying to convey. Put the blame on me, too immature to understand the crux, the man behind probably the highest level of intellect human history might have ever seen, Mr. Turing. I had known about him, the enigma machine, had a whole subject based on just a fraction of what he had uncovered, one of the toughest one to be honest. That was the beauty of the subject, automata for those of you who might not know. No matter what, his creation could solve any damn thing. And the beauty of the Turing test? Too apt to fit today's scenario philosophically. An unbiased opinion on whether you're a machine or a human. I was impressed, even though 99% of what was involved in the depth of the subject was beyond the little intellect I held.
I watched it again, very recently. But this time it was different. I was already aware of the genius Mr. Turing had, the respect for his work stayed the same, or rather increased. What grew on me instantly was the soul of this man. The sincerity, the trouble, the pain he went through and the stigmatised society that just wouldn't consider humanity above norms. A lonely man, with little interaction with the world, traumatised in the childhood does so much for the whole world only to see societal norms overpowering his will to do something different. It feels sharp, hits hard seeing his suffering, the suffering of a man who literally led a nation hold grip in the world by cracking the most complicated puzzles of all time. It just didn't feel right to watch what he must have gone through in real life.
But then the moment it ended, it felt as if things were better now, or are they? A world where hypocrisy and self righteousness has risen to an extent that we are ready to bombard each other with the very next thought that comes to our mind, forget the intent or reasoning behind it. We say we have come a long way from being stereotypical or socially orthodox but I guess we have merely moved on from the older norms, to newer ones. It feels like our moral duty to let the others know how they should be living their lives, in peace or not, but definitely in accordance to what we'd like. It feels modernised to blame someone to quit social media if her religious beliefs do not permit her to be in limelight. And the moment she comes back on, we lash out on calling out the hypocrisy. Aren't we missing out on a key point here? Following religious beliefs or not is her personal calling, we don't get to decide. Respect it. Simple. And then there are these intellectuals, capable of deciding what's right and what's not. "You're a celebrity and not posting about social injustice?"- You're labelled inhuman. They seem to know everything about everyone's life, things that are not supposed to be discussed publicly, that are not supposed to even be brought out, as it hurts someone's sentiments. But being 'good' in the eyes of the social media world matters more, no matter how a family, how a person, a human being might be affected by it. Try waking up with 2 negative, or revealing tweets about yourself, I bet half of these self proclaimed speakers will lash out instantly. And it's surprising, what norms we can end up shaping unknowingly. Apparently, not having a social media account, or a profile picture either makes you 'a sad person who doesn't want to come out to the world', or 'someone not confident enough to be public'. What? I can quote example that exactly contradicts this fact. Take Sia for example, she has her own way and I bet she's one of the best natural singers out there!
I remember this funny yet befitting joke Ricky Gervais mentions in 'Humanity' - People take everything personally. They think the world revolves around them. They could be following me without me knowing. They choose to read my tweet and then take that personally. That's like going on town square and there's a big notice - "Guitar Lessons" and you go, "But I don't fucking want guitar lessons". That's like calling up that number, confirming if they do guitar lessons, and then ranting about how you don't want guitar lessons!
Fine. It's not for you, just walk away. Simple.
Funny, brutal, but true.
And it's not just the social norms. I've seen this in person. Making assumptions and deciding what's supposed to be the 'right' outlook. I've seen people deciding my religion based on my beard, deciding my culture based on the dress up. Funnily, if you're someone who roams around with a shirt over a T, you're too westernised. If you're someone who speaks in a combination of Maharashtrian and English accent, it's easy to infer your religion again. I find it funny, but it scares me sometimes. What if this gets to an extent that we become incapable of welcoming a change? What if we're too focussed on being 'modern' that we stop respecting someone who diligently wants to follow her religion? What if we're so blinded by faith that we stop believing that atheism is something that exists and is totally normal? What if we're so lost in correcting people online that we forget the fact that it's a human on the other end we're mocking, no matter how haughty they are, it'll ultimately be hurtful, unintentionally? What if we're under an illusion of progressing towards a misfits friendly world, while we're just going around in loops, with stigma following us at the same pace as always?
