{"id":3897,"date":"2014-10-08T23:28:02","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T17:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/?p=3897"},"modified":"2014-10-09T00:35:25","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T19:05:25","slug":"preity-zinta-should-stand-for-national-anthem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/2014\/politics\/preity-zinta-should-stand-for-national-anthem.html\/","title":{"rendered":"Preity Zinta – Why Should I Stand For the National Anthem?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>. 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?<\/p>\n

Let’s look at the facts:<\/p>\n

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\u00a0to stand at attention for almost a full minute? Do I have the right to grab people and berate them?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

3. Respect has to be earned. Not demanded. If a person doesn’t respect something, will forcing\u00a0them to stand up change their mind? If not, what is it\u00a0you hope to accomplish? I want to know exactly why you harassed someone like this – what was your\u00a0purpose<\/em>? 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.<\/p>\n

And despite what a lot of people might feel, there is no such thing as a thought crime<\/em>. It’s not illegal to\u00a0think<\/em> 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…<\/p>\n

Mind…Our…Own…Damn…Business<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u00a0pursue this further. You know what the answer is, so just think about it for a moment and consider your motivations.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In fact, kudos to the guy for resisting pressure, and\u00a0not<\/em> standing up or apologizing. He has nothing to apologize for. Well done sir.<\/p>\n

P.S: In case you were wondering, it’s not legally required to stand during the national anthem, as a court ruled in 2005<\/a>. I think that order has been appealed, but…good luck with that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You cannot force people to stand for the national anthem. Respect has to be earned – not demanded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-rights-and-freedoms"],"yoast_head":"\nPreity Zinta - Why Should I Stand For the National Anthem?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You cannot force people to stand for the national anthem. 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