The Misconstrued Patriots: The Everyday Changing Definition of Patriotism

Patriotism, like religion, is a phenomenon that harbours on the highest order of conviction of the practitioner. However, like religion, it has started deriving its belief not from convictions but from conveniences. While they may sound similar, their connotation is as different as chalk and cheese. One derives its strength from unshakable belief while the other does it from opportunism. One goes beyond a person’s physical being while the other is very much confined to physical and mental conditioning. One hardly ever changes while the other can be as fickle as the weather.

 

We, the Tolerant; Now Lets Crucify the Fellow for Sharing his Opinion

We live in an amazing country. Even before one controversy is brought to its logical conclusion , thanks to our media, we are engulfed into another one, the latter being as ridiculous, if not more, as the former.

Even before the controversy surrounding Lalu’s 9th pass son making it to the post of deputy CM of Bihar or his 12th pass son being made a cabinet minister could  die its natural death, the media took one statement out of almost an half an hour long interview of Aamir Khan (the irony being that it was at an award function meant to felicitate outstanding practices in journalism), ran it as their headlines 24×7 and managed to make it into a national issue. This, at a time, when majority of Tamil Nadu is engulfed in floods, farmer suicide is on the rise and major parts of the world are on red alert. So much for the journalistic ethos!