We won independence in 1947.
Freedom. Not yet.
No this is not going to be one of those “How can we be free as long as there is poverty and exploitation” rant. The cynic in me knows that want and disease and violence and injustice and Salman Khan movies that make 500 crores are what define the human condition. The order of the world is one giant step-ladder of exploitation, that just as we get exploited by our masters above, we too must exploit, be it the earth we claim we want to leave for our children or indentured laborers making Apple components in sweatshops. Freedom in that sense is an unattainable ideal, or to put it in the words of Robin Williams, “Only in their dreams can men be truly free. ‘Twas always thus, and always thus will be.”
What I am talking about is individual liberty, not as an ideal, but a very low economy class version of it.
The ability to send cartoons of politicians without being hauled to jail. The right for two consenting adults to have sex in a hotel room without being arrested and publicly shamed for “public indecency”. The right to do it in the bum without being considered a criminal. The right to not have a badge enter my house and drag me away without a warrant.
As I said. Basic stuff. Other countries have it. It’s not a big deal.
One reason we dont is 1947. We got rid of the Tom Alters but we kept its institutions. Why? Because it suited our new rulers. The British had an enormously well-thought out system for oppression and when the DVD is available, why not just “Indianize” the scenes and pass it of as our own. So we kept the structure of a police force that was designed to rule an antagonistic population. We kept the structure of laws that were built on the assumption that “white Europeans” needed to teach us natives “civilization”. and Victorian morality. We defined free speech in a way that disallowed any speech that could be considered uncomfortable to those in power.
And we just didn’t define them. We kept and we built on them. For all these years. It’s truly been one of the most marvelous achievements of our Indian polity, and in that every party should get equal credit, that they have managed to convince us that this is for our own protection. Freedom of speech, we are told, won’t work here in India as it does in Western countries, because we are, somehow, different, quick to hurt with fragile “sentiments”. Indian culture is under threat, the terrorists will shoot your brains out, and the bogeyman will come for you if you don’t drink your milk.
The fun part is we actually believe this shit. Or rather, we selectively believe them. We go along with, no make that enthusiastically endorse state intrusion into our fundamental rights as long as it aligns with our political and social beliefs. If you think your son is watching porn, you want the government to ban it. If you think your daughter is out doing bad things, you want the government to stop it. If you think item numbers are sexist, you want them to be censored. If you are a xenophobe with a distrust of “foreigners”, particularly those that are leading promiscuous lives while you can’t, you want Bharti-man in his AAPmobile to do something about it.
You want the government to be your concerned uncle, you want the government to be Superman, you want the government to fish out its nipple and pacify your hurt sentiments.
Guess what, they are only too happy to pretend to care. It enables them to keep up the lie that this fundamentally oppressive, heavy-handed system is what stands between you and the barbarians at the gate.
And again, this is not a fight for a vaguely identified ideal. This is a fight for small things. This is a fight for strong laws that protect “offensive” speech in the way the First Amendment does in the US. This is a fight for de-decriminalization of homosexuality. This is a fight for the right to have consensual sex behind closed doors. This is a fight to eat what you want, a fight to watch the films you want, and the fight to shag off to, in the privacy of your own home, to anything that involves consenting adults.
This is a fight for freedom.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
iPad
First. Give me freedom to demand the prize.
This is what fascinates me most. Greatbong writes beautifully about freedom and rights and all progressive ideas. And then he goes on to defend and condone the most heinous, regressive deeds and utterances of the Hindutva brigade, and the BJP. I mean honestly, how can one live with so much contradiction ?
Maybe because I have never condoned any heinous, regressive deed committed by anyone?
Mahan (self-styled) Greatbong-ji,
assuming that the greatest leader (arguably) of your adopted country got it wrong and that you can indeed fool all the people all the time, can you fool YOURSELF all the time?
You and your band of NRbong chamchas (what it is it about NRIs that seems to make them more strigently “patriotic” than we ordinary desis?) can continue to browbeat and subdue anybody who writes against nationalism, communalism, the BJP and jingoism in this blogspace, but the least you could do is to admit that to YOURSELF.
You continue to allow the inanities about the ipad prize, yet you censor any remark which exposes your true self!
You cannot run a tiny little blog without censorship, yet you wax eloquent about freedom!
Hi Mukesh and Sumit, I think the problem here may be that in your mind you have divided people into neat little blocks. Communal and Secular, Congress and BJP, Progressive and Regressive, Conservative and Liberal etc etc. This helps you make sense of the world. Anything that anyone writes or says, you can put them in one of your neat little blocks and brand then as say communal or secular. The World makes perfect sense.
Then someone like greatbong comes along and writes things which you cannot place in one of your blocks. It gets you all confused and angry. Dont get confused. It is very simple really. Let me explain it to you in a Chetan Bhagatish way. People are just people. They cannot be divided into neat little blocks. For example, In 2004 UPA won the elections and formed the government, but in 2014 Modi came with thumping majority. So what happened? Did all the secular people of India suddenly become communal? Did everyone who was liberal become conservative?
All these ideas such as Secular, Communal, Socialism, Democracy, Progressive, Conservative, Liberal etc are nothing but limitations on thinking. They dont let you think clearly or rationally about issues or events. When you place yourself in one of these blocks you are limiting your brain from being a devil’s advocate for the other blocks. Most regular people accept some of these ideas to some extent, but are not sure if they are say Liberal. I think this is the right way to be. Also, there are people like yours truly (and greatbong maybe?) who have come full circle from intellectual block based thinking to regular thinking.
May I suggest that you also stop the “block based thinking” and just look at events and issues for what they are.
awesome and befitting reply…..
We have too much freedom..
The right to stop parliament from functioning, throw garbage on streets, the right to cause noise pollution during festivals, right to block pavements so that you can sell your wares, right to build slums on public land, right to give birth to babies without the ability to provide for them.
Freedom of speech is limited? It is mostly abused. I see lies and propaganda in newspapers, TV channels and on FB pages.
The freedom in India is of a pretty amazing variety. Individual liberty is restricted and actively discouraged and vilified as aping the West. What we do have, though is a highly developed freedom of the mob. Mobs can literally get away with murder as long as they make sure there’s at least 15 people that can co-sign on the event.
Well written…I love the irreverence…….
made me think a lot thanks for this article it, was very interesting. too complicated it is man so difficult to find black and white causalities. it s so damn grey
becuase we are made to believe in stereotypes and that is probably because we need to be safe implicitly so we filter our generally and condemn unfavorable thoughts to our existence
so we are to believe in stereotypes – eqn 1
now the stereotype mein believing is a problem. i want to make a counter argument to your point – euqation 11
counter argument is why freedom to watch shag off to anything including consenting adults. Why not kids. Who defines the adult age. One thinks 16 is fine one thinks 9 is fine. why ban child porn. moral policing no you want. But 9 year old cant think for himself right. HOw do you know that? Why do you think you need to think about the 9year old Make him independent.etc etc thats the way you prepare a 9 year old across generations. But no you take the easy way out. 9 year old cant think of themselves. Exactly the bogeyman attitude. It is difficult for politicians to develop their literacy and higher education (actuals – that develops reason and the confidence to articulate) enough for them to be independednet. So they want to take easy way out: Ban things for subject people which a illiterate or less than mature.Thats the fucking Planning commission attitude
Its about where you draw the line – entire thing eqn 111
By equation 11, stereotype already developed in socity that people opposing point A is wrong even if is saying anything like namo followers will term everything opposing sickular and viceversa. Easy way out. So if i write/talk about/mention/whatevrr euqation 111, then by equation 11 and the eplanation above sir regarding namo, you will think i am exactly the opposite. I mean if i write only the above and you dont know anything else about me obviously. Then in that case, we will immediately think the extreme opposite (because centrifugal brain is when we are high or scared or excited or aroused or agitate or annoyed or any adrenalin related activity or fucking or listening to crazy guitar when you are high or getting blown or watching tip tip barsa pani or halki si ek shaam hai dekho na saath hai ajnabi…last loop)
so you will think i am the extremist RSS or babu bajrangi or owaisi or ajay gautam or hindu mahasbha or muslimeeeeeeenalmuslimin then you will again go back in loop right
because if few people are allowed to make money hoever they want and make people believe in trickle down economics through media that they have brought through hard earned money, talent to netowrk and understand the pulse and are now deservedly in a place which they deserve
then
power corrupts man everyone knows that. everyone is corrupt. what will they do they will be bhartiman
its just like somnath bharti wasnt growing in a scoiety where he could get ready action nor was he intelligent or dilligent enough to strategize and then execute what could still make the ladies fuck him every night so he becomes law minister waah bhai waah vigilante famous ho jayenge sala big boss junk food politics and big boss and talent shows and youtube channels and startups and news channel debate noise and the intricate selling arms and selling dollar policy of armsmanufacturing or rape trauma all life or death still being not out understood, outmaneouvred and overcome by science
so fucking insane network we have created man. sone ke pinjare mein hain sabhi.SAB
not just super rich, even the rape trauma survivor
somehow the soicety makes everyone believe in the biggest lie ever said – that there is a point in living and carrying on your genes WHY THE FUCK IS THAT THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD MAN… THIS IS WHY EVERYTHING IS….YES…
sO WAR BECAUSE MONEY SO BRING NATIONALISTIC SENTIMENT. BECAUSE YOU NEED SOME COMMON THREAD THAT IS IMPORTANT EOUGH FOR THEM TO DIE FOR THEIR KINGS
KINGS WHO WILL TAKE ASYLUM AFTER – BELOW LOOP REPEAT
For arvind kejriwal, mulayam singh yadav, laloo, nitish, modi, sonia, rahul, rajdeep, arnab, srinivasan, kohli, mandela, castro, musharraf, jinnah, nehru, indira, valid for both good and bad movements – in some of other minor tweak but mostly valid – because all good movements will be bad one day because infintie loop
1. make people understand present system is chut
2. try to understand the chut system and find flaws
3. make people really believe in that through positive and negative reinforcement
4. beat the chut sytem
5. install a new system chut-2 but be easy use the existing resources develeoping is difficult
6. make yourself the king of the system (if good administrator, curious, good networker and orator and understander)
7. baap ki jagir banao chut-2 ko – you make chut-2 very weak so that your cronies can enjoy and be grateful – true synergy in interdependence
8. make your son the owner of the company
9. son chutiya hai ya bete ko dene se pehle point1o ho gaya – klpd – short time politicians
10. some one goes to point 1 of this algo and starts and eventually installs chut-3 and the loop continues while chut1 installer takes asylum
this is wave nature of light
but there has to be a start because it was THEY ..they…WHO WERE THERE WHEN THAT FARMER mm WAS TAKEN INTO WORLSD OF FIFTH DIMENSION BUT IF TIME IS A DIMENSION YOU HAVE THE POWER TO BRING YOURSELF PROBABLY BY ELABORATE PLANNING – EVEN MORE ELABORATE THAN AKSHAY KUMAR IN AJNABEE SAALE AISE HI MAAR DETA GAAND PHAAD DI BOBBY DEOL KI
sO THERE was they. That they is start. Now where is wave nature??? There is a single truth…and there is infinete loop…what is correct? single truth or infinite loop?
WE BELIEVE IN THE LIE THAT THERE IS A POINT IN FUCKING LIVING. – starting point of everything
But who did it for rthe first time
who discovered milk what was he doing looking at cow breastfeeding or his chick breastfeeding jo jaanwar mila uske dabaa liye…EUREKA>>>DISCOVERY
1. What are you smoking, bro?
2. If there is no point in living, why are you alive?
free speech – content moderated
if excuse: you are running a blog privately, goverment is not private. it is for people.
then why goverment is for people – why does it have to be responsible
infinite loop it is…no one is correct…opinion of yours will be taken like an opinion if its favorable otherwise you will intrinsically be thought as other extreme so chut 1, chut2, chut3 system
You are talking of (child) porn ban etc in India. Well…I will have to go to india to see what is going on there. Yhea pe media stream media ke mutabik, there are problems to freedom etc. But not sure what the ground realities over there are…..hmmmm
It was a porn ban. Now cycled back to child porn ban.
Excellent and well written. Who will stand for these freedom ?
My friends had following needs of freedom : freedom to have cigarettes at 15. Freedom to have child at 13. Freedom to commit suicide at 14. freedom to lure people and have sex at 17. Freedom to ‘fall in love’/ ‘cheat’, after marriage. Freedom to watch teen porn( below 18). Even the Sastras says that having sex with a 16 year old virgin will improve your health and mental being.
hilarious
Nice one Arnab….i guess many has not actually got the point…..
the real reason…”another brick in the wall” or that “mostiskoprokkhalon jontro” is working too good…….
I don’t know why your blog is titled ‘Demented mind’. If THIS is demented, then give me demented all the time!
Truly, you have explained in a few words what used to vex me. It’s now very clear why for example the “Police force” actually police the people instead of policing the criminals….
BUT: All such thoughts need a comparison to how Bharat “was/would have been” in pre-British days. I believe there are precious few articles / insights on that.. People immediately go back to Ramayana etc. What I want to know is in what ways the “Indian system” was better (at freedom TO people) in pre-British days (including Indian-Mughal rule) than the corrupted anti-people system and the joke that passes for “justice” system in this country.
Would like to read some book / references on the above topic if you / any of the guests know of it.
Brilliant man! Keep writing!
The right for two consenting adults to have sex in a hotel room without being arrested and publicly shamed for “public indecency”
What if the “two consenting adults” were already in a committed relationship with someone else (girl with her husband and guy with his wife)….would you still call it “freedom”?
I would call that “cheating” instead of “freedom”. You are free to disagree.
Reblogged this on Subhayan's Web Log.