Sarcasm
is a technique to damage, attack or insult one’s image, character, reputation, social standing or personal belief. It is delivered through verbal outburst, facial expression and body language directly to the person concerned or through press and social media to the people at large. The idea behind sarcasm may also be to make fun, mockery or
ridicule a person or group of persons. It may also contain double meanings to
insult or hurt someone. Sarcasm is a distorted form of politeness intended to underestimate
the knowledge, attack on self respect and humiliate the person. It may be the unsophisticated
and least interesting form of irony which conceals scornful meaning. It is also
a cognitive dissonance and emotional tool to test the limits of one’s patience,
politeness and gentleness by sneering or making cutting remarks. It is also
used to make scathing comments or down play the popularity or position of a
person.
Sometimes
sarcastic remarks make a huge impact on a persona and damage the cord of
respect, belief, understanding and harmony. It may also result in mistrust and
develop enmity. It has the power to destroy trust in relationships built over a period
of time. Psychologically it may give rise to frustration and depression on whom
the sarcastic remarks have been delivered. History has witnessed several wars
between the factions due to the insult made through sarcastic remarks. For
example, the Battle of Wagram was fought in the year 1809 because of the
sarcastic remarks aimed at Napoleon Bonaparte.
Sarcasm has also brooded animosity between kin. It has a negative impact on the harmonious environment in a family or in society. Sarcastic remarks also demonstrate the ill motives and may prove the quality of education and understanding one has. It also demonstrates the character of a person and his distorted trepidation.
On the
flip side, sarcasm can also be taken positively in expressing frustration
against the system or governance. It may be an important tool to release
anxiety and dissatisfaction. If delivered intelligently then it may also
provide subtle message to improve one’s personality or thought process. A
thoughtful sarcastic remark may help a person in overcoming their shortcomings.
It can also help a person to think before making another move. And it can also
dissuade the blabber mouth, or silence the boastful people.
However,
sarcasm, sarcastic remarks or demonstration of sarcastic presentation through
media or film on a particular race, religion or sects can prove to be a
dangerous move in inciting people’s sentiments especially if it involves one’s
belief in a particular religion.
Religion is a matter of personal belief through which people derive strength to combat their personal woes or thank the unknown for their blessings in successes and maintenance of their happiness. In a situation when known entity cannot do anything or does not want to help people or when people become helpless then having belief and praying to unknown, sails them through the tribulations of life. It is like clinching to the crest of the tempest and hoping for the unknown power to help them in navigating through the distress. This belief and hope in unknown (God) triggers all hidden strength and resources within the person to overcome their misfortune and sufferings. Therefore believing in God through religious practices is the most important tool for survival in the world.
In the past,
sages and seers have experienced the existence of God and based on their
insights, people have interpreted different versions of their understanding of
God. According to them, Godly people or messengers of God have been incarnated
in different periods of time and have tried to convey the message of God to
people. Hence, the existence of God has been portrayed in different forms and
figures, directly or indirectly or through pictures of their holy places. Some
claim to worship formless God but they cannot pray in the absence of the form
or picture of their holy places. Whatever route they adopt to pray God is the means
to reach the same almighty.
Therefore,
it is foolish to prove or debate whose version of God is more authentic. To my
mind it is the personal belief and understanding which fortifies its existence.
In my previous articles, I have already quoted the remarks of Karl Marx, the famous
German philosopher and economist’s as - “Religion is the opium of Man”. I have
also quoted the story of six blind persons and an elephant and how they have
described the shape of an elephant by touching a particular part of its body
and vehemently disagreeing with others experience. Therefore debating on
religion or God may continue for eternity.
I was
inspired to write on this topic after watching an Indian film called “PK” where
a distorted version of religion and belief in God was sarcastically presented and that too by
humiliating the belief of one sect of people and not taking into account of blind
faith of people of other religions on the fear of backlash and
repercussion.
This
controversial film has been made on the face of the belief of the majority of
the population of India, yet it has made record sales in the box office. This shows
the bankruptcy of people’s belief and wide spread religious hypocrisy in
society. The producer of the film Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and
Siddharth Roy Kapur have made a mockery of one of the oldest civilizations of
the world and their belief system. They have forgotten that because of
religious tolerance of the majority in India they are able to get away with the
sarcasm otherwise they would have been persecuted.
Those
who have not seen the film, a brief synopsis is mentioned here. To prove the
non existence of God of one sect of people, the main actor of the film Amir
Khan portrays himself as an alien from a different planet who lost his remote
control for going back to the spaceship in a dessert of the western province of
Rajasthan in India. In order to find his remote he visits all places of worship
and everybody advises him to pray to God for the same. Therefore, he starts
looking for God everywhere and prints flyers with ‘Missing’ headline having
pictures of Gods of Hindu religion only. Thereby the producer, director and
actor have tried to portray the non-existence of Gods of the majority
population while not portraying or printing the photos of Gods of other
religions due to the fear of backlash.
Many
confused people and the so called intelligentsia have tried to see the positive
side of the film and exposing of the so called God man in India. But they have
forgotten that these God men are everywhere and in every religion. These God men
play with people’s ignorance, sentiments and emotions by inculcating the fear
of God. This is the reason that it has become a richest industry. In some cases
these God men have been converting people throughout the world in the name of
charity and social services and in other cases they have been inciting people
to fight for a frivolous cause and induce them to commit suicide so that the
inciters could gain political and religious advantages.
Therefore,
this film PK has thrown sarcasm over the belief system of one of the largest
populations in the world. The picturisation of the film has been very sarcastic
and it has been an attempt to ridicule their faith and their belief in God. If
producers of film were genuine in their motives to educate people about the
non-existence of God or conveying the message of humanity then they should have
adopted a balanced approach in projecting pictures of Gods of other religions
as well such as Christ, Mecca, and Buddha etc in the flyers looking for the ‘Missing’
Gods.
I think
people must wake up to protest and express their resentment over such sarcasm
through films capable of insulting a large population of India.
I will
look forward for your comments on the topic.
Wish
you all a very Happy New Year 2015.
Suman S.Sinha, CMC
A pursuer of logical quest.
