Cannibalism: Can you imagine eating human flesh?

Can you imagine eating human flesh? This was the topic discussed by Magnus Suderlund in Gastro summit. Humans should now start to eat humans. It can save earth. The climate change is so conspicuous that we can ignore it but we can’t escape from its effect, the effect of global hunger. So a new form of Cannibalism: eating human flesh is needed as mentioned by this professor from Stockholm school of economic.

The term Cannibalism is coined from a group named as Caribs. From Caribs group Canibe was extracted. And finally from the term Canibe the actual term Cannibals was originated. As per some historical writings Columbus coined the term Cannibals. It was referred to an indigenous people in Guadaloupe Island. It is also believed that Columbus and the queen of Spain had connived and stigmatized that community as human eaters for some economic benefits.

In real, there is less documented evidence to support cannibalism. In contrary, there are many tales and narratives which also support this disgust act. Culture plays a significant role in promoting cannibalism. “Fore people” in New Guinea eat their own dead relatives as a community event. This form of culturally induced cannibalism is regarded as a ritual honor. Eating human flesh by fellow community members spread a disease, which is known as Kuru. This kuru disease is fatal in nature. In some parts of China, young offspring (sons and daughters) would offer their own flesh from thighs or fingers to their sick and weak parents as a food to recover. This type of cannibalism is called as filial cannibalism.

 In the year 1972, passengers waited for a long time and started to eat dead co-passengers in Andes plane Crash. This cannibalism is accepted because of extra ordinary circumstance. Famine and unfortunate expeditions are the examples where people eat the bodies of the dead. They eat to save themselves from starving to death.

Journal of Forensic Science has categorized the cannibals. This journal terms this as pathological cannibals. Paraphilia a state of pathological cannibals is referred to those who experience an extreme form of sexual desire which are gratified by dangerous activities. Nithari case, Noida in the year 2006 is the best example to refer the paraphilia cannibals. The businessman Moninder Singh Pandher in Nithari and his servant were accused of killing more than 10 children and suspected to consume children’s livers and other body parts. Another type of pathological cannibalism is the result of severe psychotic mental illness. Ego, narcissism and mental imbalance instigate this act of eating human flesh.

In 15th Century, a brown powder named as Mumia was used to cure certain medical complicacy and diseases like epilepsy, hemorrhage and nausea. This Mumia powder was made by mummified human flesh. This powder was medically approved at that time in Europe.

Cannibalism is a savage act. But still exist in a covert form with a cultural and psychological shield.  Many biologists studied this cannibal behavior among species. But in case of humans it is a taboo. Tribal and aboriginals are dehumanized and demonized as cannibals. Most of us are some extent cannibals because we eat meat. Scientifically there is less difference between human flesh and animal flesh.

Secularization and Modern Society

Secularization is important. But whether is it important to civil society or to a state. For the modern society, secularization of the larger society is very vital. It can promote and assure a secular state. But in some countries, secularization is associated with secularism. In other words it is also known as religious tolerance.  If we wish for a secular state, we must abandon the doctrine of intolerance & we need to accept the irreversible process of modernization & the resultant decline of religion.

In the initial phase of modernity, secularization was treated as an effort of market condition, it means secularization should be analyzed in economic way. Again the modernity sees the process of secularization in political way. The advocates of secularization tend to be also opted of a centralized bureaucratic state, in which local elites have been replaced by national elites. For them, secularization is also a process that implies political centralization, the abolish of local and religious autonomy, the marginalizes and disestablishment of old elites and revolution in social morals. In nutshell, the concept of equality comes in to front.

Religion can be understood not as an ideology to fight with secularism but an option to cope with the contingencies of life. The failure and the lacuna of secular regimes can be addressed through religious resources.  Till to date, we have been struggling to understand religion. It is a gift of western modernity. In sum, we can say that the secularization is the combination of an assertion about changes in the presence and nature of religion and a collection of related explanations of those changes.

A Rape Video: Re-imaging The Porn Or A Digital Violence

A rape video of a teenage girl is viral on twitter. I mean to say, yes it is on twitter. Twitter is the intellectual Face Book as claimed by the users. This video is circulated and re twitted in thousands. A rape video does exactly what it connotes a woman or girl, getting raped, filmed by somebody, shared and went viral. It reaches to us by any means but social media.  The motive behind the rape video is not fun. It is done for blackmailing. Blackmailing for what. Money ..no. The real aim is to make her silent. The fear and threat to upload and circulate the video online or offline is used to compel rape victims into silence. A silence of shame.

When a rape video is uploaded into an online platform it violates the digital sexual consent. It becomes more dangerous when that video is used as porn. The definition of porn has been changed since the arrival of Mobile phones, CCTV and Web Cams. When a jilted lover uploads a live feed or hidden camera shows a girl changing her clothes in mall trail room or a rape video which is circulated in Social media does not help the victims or even we are not thinking to report those but it is helping to fuel our sexual fantasy.

People in my age group must have remembered 2004 DPS MMS. It was a buzz thing at that time. Still many videos in same name are floating in porn sites. Just to revitalize the memory, that DPS MMS depicts an act of oral sex between a teen age girl and her boyfriend. Viral term was not coined at that time. Scandal was the popular term at that time. So that video was scandal not viral. Middle class section was not prepared to accept the video content, they wondered how a girl was doing all those things..mean that kind of thing. Only white people in Pronos could do all these. Awwww… this was because of western world.

It was not circulated in western world; in India a Pan Shop keeper also had the access to sell that DPS MMS cd (CD was a popular medium for storing digital content at that time).  That video which was a scandal had some effects. Which are gendered? The boy who was involved in that video, whose identity remained unknown for public, who was hidden behind the camera only missed a cricket match. Remember the girl. Off course we do. Who was involved in that video, who was visible not only in video but in every media, paper, in CD, in porn site and in fantasy, was forced to leave the school and eventually left the country.

So the take away from this piece is that like all sexual violence, digital violence is gender specific. It targets women. Sunitha Krishan #ShameTheRapist campaign against viral rape videos is involving CBI and Cyber Crime to give justice to rape and victimized by digital contents.

Lets talk about Sex...Secretly

The institution of marriage is in danger, divorce rate is increasing worldwide whereas Sex without institutionalization or legitimatized by society is growing.  It means we are searching for sexual pleasure outside our societal norms. Prostitution, virtual sex, sex toys and pornography are the new mediums of sex or self-sex. The imagination of sex and availability of cybersex has distorted our cognitive power to define sex. The hard-core contents of sexography have made women as receiver and passive. The woman body is consumerized through these sex contents. A female body and her sexual desire are myths. Its instigate male to decipher female perplexed sexuality. We get addicted and try to imagine  things, which shows female desire and sexuality in a romantic way. 

History has witnessed the misinterpretation and the misrepresentation of female sexuality by the patriarchal society.  Controlling the female body is always symbolized as the exercise of male power. Cyber bulling , misogyny and believe in controlled relationship are the reflections of disrespecting woman body and her sexuality.

Woman sexuality and sexual pleasure have cascaded through the religious interpretation of controlling sexuality. Most of the religions and religious leaders never support the openness of female sexual desire. In modern era, Sexuality is empirically analysed and medically decoded. A psychological substance is added to define sexuality and showing desire for sex is considered as a disease and mental illness. Now, the society has adopted the social instruments to define sexuality and tried to provide a freedom to discuss about women’s desire.

Sexuality is not concealed itself into the biological sphere. It has become sociological.Human sexuality is open to a wide range of socio-cultural variations. Still, sex and sexuality are the taboos, a less discussed topic and a theme not be chatted publicly.  We are addicted to cybersex and looking for things which can enhance our sexual urge. Gandhi ji said sex education can be achieved in true sense when we use our sexuality for progeny and when we learn to control our senses particularly our sexual urge.

Media Diplomacy and Media Trial

Media has shifted its attention from kaleidoscopic views of news and communication. The new identifications of media are “media‐broker diplomacy” , “alternative court trail room” and “marketing consultancy"

In media broker diplomacy, journalists temporarily adopt the role of diplomats or officials. The journalists serve as mediators in international negotiations; currently we see some News channel anchors are acting as diplomats for India to solve Kashmir issues with Pakistan. They are journalists, not foreign secretaries or high commissioner. A mock fight makes the situation real as if media will solve the international and bilateral issues.

Media becomes a court room and the its judgments are based on the prime time survey. Twitter and Whatsapp message decide the media justice. Do you think that Media can be an accuser, an investigator, judge and executioner? It is difficult to play such roles at a time. Dr. Kafeel Khan was accused and stigmatized as a murderer of 60 children at Govt hospital Gorkahpur by Electronic media. It has happened much before the court’s decision. Recently he got a clean chit by Allahabad high court. Now what will be the media’s stand to reinstate his lost esteem?

The popular social media apps like Face Book, Twitter and WhatsApp are the New Media for accessing news and worldwide views. They provide so much news, information and facts that generally users don’t want to read or to access. Plethora of news, information and facts put people in a dilemma between knowing and understanding. It also places us in a paradoxical situation of trust and distrust. This creates a gap. Modern digital society is very personalized in its selection and always prefers to live in isolated state of information. Then it is becoming very hard to fill the gap between belief and disbelief. Fake becomes real and Real becomes Fake in this gap. Media is taking advantage of this situation. It hypes, spins, twists and lie. Sometime we are convinced; if not then we are confused.