WHEN COMMERCE CORRODES CULTURE AND HOLDS A NATION TO RANSOM

WHEN COMMERCE CORRODES CULTURE AND HOLDS A NATION TO RANSOM

Commercial advertisements on television are corroding culture. Were it not for abysmal poverty of the masses that comes in the way of their exposure to such debasement, the situation en masse would have been dire.

Capitalism fuelled by lowly greed is eating into the vitals of the nation. It is making men frothy, superficial, full of puerile proclivity, reducing reason, collapsing national concentration and inducing an unwholesome levity of national personality that is most damaging. Resist this pervasive perversion of our culture.

Do not hold those caricatures of men and women, greedy individuals who despite seminal achievements in their respective fields have chosen to give in to posing before the camera and acting out stupid roles advertising products for pure pecuniary self-benefit, oblivious of its negative national fall-out. Shame on such a Bharat Ratna, such Padma Vibhushans, Padma Bhushans and Padma Shrees who can sell their souls for filthy lucre despite already being tycoons who can feed their next several generations with the wealth they have accumulated! Their State-conferred titles have not made better individuals out of them, neither have their great achievements in their respective fields developed character enough to consider what after all is good for the nation -- commerce or character?

Go back to the revolutionaries, my countrymen, and give up this filthy worship of 'the almighty dollar' [for American influence thus is pervasive today the world over and our people have succumbed to its snares as well]. They had shed their blood to free you. Do not insult their sacrifice by enslaving yourselves to the dirty designs of crony capitalists who can sell their motherland for the sake of upholding their corporations' share price. Vande Mataram!

Written by Sugata Bose