"There's no right or wrong. Only the consequence of your actions."
-Hank Moody.
Although dear Hank cannot be considered a mascot of morality, practically speaking, he does make sense. For what is "right"?
Most consider "right" to be that course of action which is acceptable to society. Man is, after all, a social animal and yearns to fit in. But there's an inherent problem with this proposition-society is composed of a bunch of hypocritical douche bags. Look around and you'll find people staring at you with an expression of "what you lookin at?" What I'm trying to say is that people seldom practice what they preach and since people constitute society, one shouldn't expect anyone to return the favor of being "good". Another problem is that what society considers acceptable changes with time and place. This has even been proven scientifically and some claim it to be instrumental to evolution-different species behave the way they do because certain behavioral patterns were found to be optimal for survival. For example, when man realized having sexual relations with one's parents could lead to kids with more issues than Hannah Montana, he decided incest was not cool. So what is considered normal in the present might be far from it in the future and what is bad today might, indeed, be good tomorrow (I'm hoping for the latter).
Freud proposed that an individual's psyche is ruled by his id, ego and super-ego. The id is that part of your psyche which constitutes your instinct, desire, impulse etc. It is what makes you want to snatch food from the waiter's tray and/or pounce on the hottie seated next to you as you wait for a table, famished, at a restaurant. The ego mediates between the id's desires and reality (situation, surroundings etc.). It's that voice in your head that says "bro, you're in a restaurant, you'll eventually get your food...and you don't have a condom." The super ego keeps a check on the ego and makes sure it does its job. It's the reason why you feel like a dick/bitch for even thinking about pouncing. We're all born, id installed and develop our egos on the way-being shaped by factors like religion, parents, societal norms etc. So psychologically speaking, it's the ego n super ego that keep the good girls from going bad although they're born to be wild.
Now that we've discussed both the sociological and psychological aspects of our moral compass, we shall direct our attention to some questions pertaining to bad behavior that I'm sure has crossed the mind of every miscreant.
1. Is it ok to be bad?
- Of course it is, provided you know your limits. What you should be asking is...
2. How should one be bad?
- Almost every great personality of our time has gone over to the Dark Side at some point. Be it Zuckerberg stealing the idea for Facebook, Jobs dropping LSD or Gandhi beating the missus. But what sets them apart is that they were smart about it. They weighed the pros and cons and made an intelligent decision. Being bad just out of impulse usually leads to castration and/or penal servitude. S. Sreesanth, being a prime example of this. Some, however are just born bad, they are consumed with sin from the moment they claw their way out of their mother's womb. They are what one refers to as "pure evil". Be it Hitler, Saddam, Bin Laden or Vader, these men, to put it mildly, didn't really care about discretion. I do not recommend such behavior for not only does it cause immeasurable pain and suffering, it also makes for one very hateful eulogy. If being bad gets you what you need without really causing much harm to other less sinister individuals, by all means, go ahead. But look before you leap...not that leaping is illegal.
3. Where does one draw the line?
- If we were living in utopia, the answer to this question would be "right outside the gates of hell." But since we're not, I'd suggest you ask yourself if it's worth doing whatever evil deed you're planning to do. If the answer is yes, ask yourself "what would Dumbledore do?" If the answer is still positive, knock yourself out. But remember...karma is a bitch. And by "bitch" I don't mean the popular connotation of the word a la "I got bitches in my ride, all you hos step aside." I mean "canine capable of biting you in the ass with a crushing force proportional in magnitude to the severity of your sin."
Being good your whole life can be extremely boring but is also equally difficult. I do not intend to discourage people out there who are vying for Ms. Congeniality but I implore you to stop kidding yourself. There is no saint who isn't a sinner. In fact you can't even be a good saint without your own share of wrong doings. Be as good as you possibly can but don't expect life to proceed like an episode of the Teletubbies. Know when to flick the Black Button and turn on the Yin.
I leave you with that ancient Amazonian saying:
"The trees do not know the Pitcher eats the fly, although they live under the same patch of sky."
-Hank Moody.
Although dear Hank cannot be considered a mascot of morality, practically speaking, he does make sense. For what is "right"?
Most consider "right" to be that course of action which is acceptable to society. Man is, after all, a social animal and yearns to fit in. But there's an inherent problem with this proposition-society is composed of a bunch of hypocritical douche bags. Look around and you'll find people staring at you with an expression of "what you lookin at?" What I'm trying to say is that people seldom practice what they preach and since people constitute society, one shouldn't expect anyone to return the favor of being "good". Another problem is that what society considers acceptable changes with time and place. This has even been proven scientifically and some claim it to be instrumental to evolution-different species behave the way they do because certain behavioral patterns were found to be optimal for survival. For example, when man realized having sexual relations with one's parents could lead to kids with more issues than Hannah Montana, he decided incest was not cool. So what is considered normal in the present might be far from it in the future and what is bad today might, indeed, be good tomorrow (I'm hoping for the latter).
Freud proposed that an individual's psyche is ruled by his id, ego and super-ego. The id is that part of your psyche which constitutes your instinct, desire, impulse etc. It is what makes you want to snatch food from the waiter's tray and/or pounce on the hottie seated next to you as you wait for a table, famished, at a restaurant. The ego mediates between the id's desires and reality (situation, surroundings etc.). It's that voice in your head that says "bro, you're in a restaurant, you'll eventually get your food...and you don't have a condom." The super ego keeps a check on the ego and makes sure it does its job. It's the reason why you feel like a dick/bitch for even thinking about pouncing. We're all born, id installed and develop our egos on the way-being shaped by factors like religion, parents, societal norms etc. So psychologically speaking, it's the ego n super ego that keep the good girls from going bad although they're born to be wild.
Now that we've discussed both the sociological and psychological aspects of our moral compass, we shall direct our attention to some questions pertaining to bad behavior that I'm sure has crossed the mind of every miscreant.
1. Is it ok to be bad?
- Of course it is, provided you know your limits. What you should be asking is...
2. How should one be bad?
- Almost every great personality of our time has gone over to the Dark Side at some point. Be it Zuckerberg stealing the idea for Facebook, Jobs dropping LSD or Gandhi beating the missus. But what sets them apart is that they were smart about it. They weighed the pros and cons and made an intelligent decision. Being bad just out of impulse usually leads to castration and/or penal servitude. S. Sreesanth, being a prime example of this. Some, however are just born bad, they are consumed with sin from the moment they claw their way out of their mother's womb. They are what one refers to as "pure evil". Be it Hitler, Saddam, Bin Laden or Vader, these men, to put it mildly, didn't really care about discretion. I do not recommend such behavior for not only does it cause immeasurable pain and suffering, it also makes for one very hateful eulogy. If being bad gets you what you need without really causing much harm to other less sinister individuals, by all means, go ahead. But look before you leap...not that leaping is illegal.
3. Where does one draw the line?
- If we were living in utopia, the answer to this question would be "right outside the gates of hell." But since we're not, I'd suggest you ask yourself if it's worth doing whatever evil deed you're planning to do. If the answer is yes, ask yourself "what would Dumbledore do?" If the answer is still positive, knock yourself out. But remember...karma is a bitch. And by "bitch" I don't mean the popular connotation of the word a la "I got bitches in my ride, all you hos step aside." I mean "canine capable of biting you in the ass with a crushing force proportional in magnitude to the severity of your sin."
Being good your whole life can be extremely boring but is also equally difficult. I do not intend to discourage people out there who are vying for Ms. Congeniality but I implore you to stop kidding yourself. There is no saint who isn't a sinner. In fact you can't even be a good saint without your own share of wrong doings. Be as good as you possibly can but don't expect life to proceed like an episode of the Teletubbies. Know when to flick the Black Button and turn on the Yin.
I leave you with that ancient Amazonian saying:
"The trees do not know the Pitcher eats the fly, although they live under the same patch of sky."
Great read!
ReplyDeleteGood stuff :)
ReplyDelete