SLAPPING THE MOSQUITOES
“Talk
sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”
Euripides
One
of the things that I have learnt the hard way – and, now, try to practice
consciously – is not to get into arguments with people with extreme bias –
political, religious, racial etc. It has become easier for us to trace such
people on social-media platforms. Those who relentlessly and indiscriminately
keep displaying their bias towards what they don’t like – people of other
religion, political affiliation or race – are the ones I do not like to argue
with on public platforms. I leave them alone. And, when they cross all the
boundaries, I simply unfollow them.
Is it advisable
to get into ‘ugly fights’ on social platforms? Does it serve any purpose, except
by giving us that strange ego-kick? We can watch what happens when some of our
friends indulge in such ugly fights on social-media groups… We can, also, see
it on daily TV debates…
All of us are
capable of recognizing what is ugly and toxic. And, all of us are, also,
capable of recognizing how ‘biased’ we all are. The only thing we do not seem
to be capable of is: self-control!
We lose it…
and, lose it badly!
As human beings,
each one of us has a settled opinion on things that happen around us. We have
our respective affiliations – religious, political, racial and all kinds. Even within
our homes, we have our differences in this regard. So, trying to change others through
our heated arguments is like, what someone said, trying to kill the mosquito,
who is sitting on your cheek, by slapping him hard…You may or may not succeed;
but, you’ll certainly come out hurting yourself!
You and I have sufficient
experience of this misadventure of ‘slapping the mosquitoes'. Through this
experience, some of us become wise enough to know what not to do… And, some of
us remain hellbent!
You see, those
who try to argue with ‘stupid people’ only reveal who they are!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Internet
Video: Pets Planet
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