Preity Zinta is in the news, and has earned the love of the Internet for harassing a guy in a theater who refused to stand up for the national anthem. Even the title of the news piece in the Indian Express “Only she can do it!” – is congratulatory. The story is being shared on Facebook with glee, lauding her. But why are more people not standing up against this act of brazen thuggery?
Let’s look at the facts:
1. The guy paid for a ticket. He paid to watch a movie. He didn’t sign up to hear music, and is under no obligation to listen to anything. Tomorrow if I start playing the national anthem in the middle of the road, do I expect all the cars to stop, all the people to pause in mid stride, and to stand at attention for almost a full minute? Do I have the right to grab people and berate them?
2. Just because someone says that standing up is respectful doesn’t mean I have to buy into that idea. If Preity Zinta thinks she’s showing respect for the national anthem, good for her! By all means, let her stand up and demonstrate her respect. She’s a free citizen after all. But please Preity – extend that freedom to others as well. It’s not a law of nature that standing up is a sign of respect, and there’s no law that claims it is. So stop pushing your beliefs and attitudes onto other people who are doing you no harm.
3. Respect has to be earned. Not demanded. If a person doesn’t respect something, will forcing them to stand up change their mind? If not, what is it you hope to accomplish? I want to know exactly why you harassed someone like this – what was your purpose? Let me tell you this right now – you cannot enter a person’s mind and force them to have respect. They either have it, or they don’t.
And despite what a lot of people might feel, there is no such thing as a thought crime. It’s not illegal to think in a certain way. If it was, all of us would be behind bars for something or the other. Think on that for a little while before going all judgmental on someone. I’ve said it before, and I say it again, as a culture and as a country, we need to…
Mind…Our…Own…Damn…Business
4. Here’s a thought experiment. If you were sitting alone in your room and the national anthem was played on the TV, would you get up and stand at attention? I’m not going to pursue this further. You know what the answer is, so just think about it for a moment and consider your motivations.
And for the rest of you mindlessly supporting this woman who willfully harassed a peace abiding citizen, think of what you’re supporting. You’re cheering on the breaking of the law. You’re supporting hooliganism and the rule of the mob. You’re encouraging people to resort to violent means to impress their beliefs on other people.
In fact, kudos to the guy for resisting pressure, and not standing up or apologizing. He has nothing to apologize for. Well done sir.
P.S: In case you were wondering, it’s not legally required to stand during the national anthem, as a court ruled in 2005. I think that order has been appealed, but…good luck with that.
Agree with you on this. First, standing is not a sign of respect and second, you can not force someone to respect something.
And tthanks for improving my knowledge. Until now I believed its legally mandatory to stand during the national anthem. But showing disrespect to the flag in many other ways is still illegal I think. That should also be changed in my opinion. What’s your opinion on that. And please don’t get me wrong… I’m not an anti nationalist.
In reply to Rajat Gaur
Yes I agree – showing disrespect to anything should not be a crime. In a free country, we can’t have anything sacred. Freedom of expression doesn’t leave anything safe.
I also think it’s sad that we’ve reached a state where law abiding individuals like yourself feel compelled to explicitly state that they’re not “anti nationalist” merely for voicing an opinion :(
Pet peeve! I don’t even know when and why they suddenly introduced this stupid thing into the cinemas. There is no point to it. I always try to go a few minutes later for the film so I wouldn’t have to deal with this nonsense. Doesn’t always work, but I do my best. I don’t have anything against the national anthem, but I am not a patriot and I don’t want to have to stand and make a show of what I don’t even have! Especially when I just want an evening of entertainment and relaxation.
In reply to Fem
Yup. I’m not a patriot either. Not sure what these people are trying to accomplish by wanting others to stand for the national anthem.
Agree
Standing’s a sign of respect if anything is, but making someone stand won’t make them respect anything. The whole point of it meaning respect is that it’s something you do of your own free will and feelings.
Ultimately, you can’t compel someone to have respect for something (and if you could, it would be really wrong-see, brainwashing). Why try to force the meaningless gesture? Do superficial actions really mean more than actual beliefs in people’s minds?
In reply to tehy
Agreed. One can’t and shouldn’t try and force people to feel a certain way. But apparently that’s exactly what’s happening.
About standing being a sign of respect though…it’s not something I believe in. From a logical point of view, I don’t believe that standing is more respectful than sitting.
There was a recent incident in kerala and the accused in question is rumored to get even life imprisonment for his act of disrespecting national anthem. I felt that it was quite unfortunate, as you said we cannot force anyone to respect anything.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/09/07/student-in-kerala-india-arrested-for-insulting-national-anthem/
In reply to Remya
Did they really? Wow, this is really heights of hypocrisy. Police don’t take a woman’s report on rape seriously, police engage in harassing or beating innocent citizens when protesting something, police are at the beck and call of corrupt politicians, but the police take their job very seriously when someone doesn’t “respect” the national anthem, and promptly arrest the guy. Sigh, we have a long way to go :(
In reply to Remya
Showing disrespect is not same as not showing respect. I read through the details of this case and learnt that they were involved in showing offensive gestures which according to Indian law is punishable. However gossip mongers (read it as media) filtered important details for their convenience
I used to stand when the national anthem played when I was in my living room. Clearly I was a very idealistic kid.
Now I don’t even believe in the idea of the nation.
Agree with the rest.
In reply to The Bride
We were all like that at one time! I was in the NCC – wanted to join the air force and all :)
Absolutely agree with every word you typed here.What the heck is wrong with people following this like sheep! People seldom question tradition and these untold rules that one ‘has’ to follow. Also I hate the idea of school kids spring up from their seats & stand, as a sign of respect to teachers.Some teachers do take it personal and disrespectful if they don’t do it. It sure doesn’t convey any sort of respect for what most students might feel about each teacher would be their own and could be different.
Thumbs up to this post!
In reply to Pink
The whole “show respect for authority” is pretty deeply embedded. We don’t stop to ask whether or not someone actually feels respect. And if they don’t, well…show it anyway!
In reply to bhagwad
True. :(
If it helps, we are not the only country with this sort of mindset…
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/10/11/two-more-students-punished-for-not-standing-during-the-pledge-of-allegiance/
In reply to Satish
Yeah. Looks like a lot of people even over there don’t know what their Constitution says!
Patriotism creates idiots. I’m no Indian, but I enjoyed reading couple of your posts and like your attitude.
BTW, Sri Lanka is kind of the. same. ; )
Even though you don’t agree with me but still I am with you on this one. Standing or not standing is the individuals decision. Film-stars doing this is more a publicity stunt than actual respect most of the times. Plus standing up for the anthem is something that little kids do, where they mean every word or the patriotism they display. Talking about adults, we all say we love our country and respect it and then are the first to go ahead and harm her. What say you now Bhagwad sir, agree with me or are we in for another argument?
In reply to Athenas Take
I agree – there’s nothing to argue about here :)