By- Sparsh Sharma
“Apply your lessons on yourself before you go public to teach, Let’s be more real and try to do you preach”
There is an old saying that do what you preach and this has become almost useless and non-existing in today's world especially in Indian society. What we speak to show us and what we are actually is now two things that are poles apart. There is an urgent need to address this topic because it is enough we have been ignoring it, calling it none of our business or the ‘this is what it is' psychology. But consequences that are coming because of this hypocrisy are unbearable. There is a thing that if it doesn't concern you, you keep shut or if you choose to express otherwise then you must stick to it.
Today in the light of trends and controversies, people don't hesitate to put their opinions and views which may or may not be their own but the problem starts when after saying everything people again indulge in activities that are exactly contravening of what they said. Even people don't stand on their opinions and keep modifying them according to others. It is because of all this that today having an opinion in true sense is so underrated. This is all what we call the hypocrisy, when we say something once and then act opposite or even change our opinion the next time.
There are uncountable social evils still present in Indian society. Even after continuous and hard core efforts of socialists, we still are surrounded by innumerable evils, practices and ideologies that are a serious roadblock in our development as a country and an educated society in real sense. Most of the problems include those which according to law and papers are now eliminated, but they still exist in the souls of hypocrites who claim that we are now modern people but when it comes to them personally they still refuse to accept the truth and are extremely repugnant to change or even status quo that is against their thoughts and ideas.
To list a few of them, issues like LGBTQ rights, racism, women empowerment, feminism are some issues which seems like we have achieved but in actual we are far behind the destination. We all will post quotes and lectures on rights of LGBTQ community but when it comes to accepting one of our cousin or sibling or a friend who comes out, we suddenly change our views. This is what hypocrisy is.
Feminism or women empowerment is an issue which was in trend on social media recently. Nobody stayed back to put their views on the issue but those who claimed to be feminists fighting for equal rights of men and women were the same who were next days generalizing the male community being rape promoters. And this goes both ways, even those who claimed that women have been empowered today, were restricting their wives, sisters and mothers to do what they wanted. The sad truth is that we don't process before we make some opinion. We today in the race to be the latest, are just interested in being updated with or without authenticity.
There are serious psychological and mental consequences of a person who gets damaged because of sheer hypocrisy of their family, friends and society. Because it is true that uncertainty causes anxiety and hypertension. It is totally okay if you support or don't support something, but when you pretend to be someone and then act like something else then trust and humanity gets shattered for a person. You show that you support someone or something and then you refuse the next moment when actually the times comes to prove it by actions. This leads to a world which is based on lies which is totally against our Indian culture but sadly is the harsh reality of today.
In our general lives also it has become very common, and we are easily taking it negligently until and unless the bottle end stops on us sometime. Selfishness in motives, lack of humanity and highly competitive world has led us to a new place where words have no value and are of no authentic nature to be true. Lack of knowledge and ignorance is to be blamed equally for hypocrisy. Because sometimes it is possible that people literally have no knowledge about something, and yet they come to know about it, thanks to our highly developed information technology, with half-truth and half misconceptions and when they face the problem in real life they have to stand helpless. Hypocrisy exists in every field of life or profession especially politics where personal confidence and trust between leaders and the followers is supposed to be utmost.
Quickly to add one more instance where we recently got to have a look at hypocrisy in film industry Bollywood where after the demise of actor Sushant Singh, the greatest shock and surprise for everybody, everybody started posting and mourning about his death who were people who never accepted him and caused hardships for him to survive in the industry. Even after getting a lot better and being called a place where everybody gets a fair and equal opportunity to showcase their talent, Bollywood again proved none less than anybody else in being promoter of hypocrisy. Even if someone gets a chance, he/she face discrimination, doesn’t get acknowledged and face so much torture that death remains the only option to them to resort. It is highly irrational and evil behavior to be a human.
It is very true that we have many problems in our society and it is we only who directly or indirectly contribute to it. The gap between what we say and what we do is the biggest problem we need to wipe out as soon as possible. Because if it doesn’t happen then there is nothing to stop our demise as a cultured society where blurred images of social achievements will prevail at the back of which will a black truth, unaddressed and unresolved. It is high time that we raise our voice against hypocrisy and don't take it too lightly as we are doing it now. And it has to be started from within us because we are the society, and we are the change.
So next time you express your opinions, process it rationally, stick to it and act accordingly. Because you would lose nothing but someone can even lose their lives at worst. Today we live in a world which has made us highly sensitive and emotionally and physically weak as a human. Beware of what you say because it does has an effect on others and might even cause harm to them. Try to be trustworthy and real. As I would always say, being real and more human can lead us to making this cosmos a better place to live.