Cultural degeneration?

Was watching a program called "Neeya Naana " on Vijay TV on Sunday. The program debates about a particular topic every week. For the last two weeks the topic has been "Has IT led to cultural and other forms of degeneration?" or something like that.

The topic as such was interesting and the arguments put forth by both sides were also worthwhile. But I somehow felt that the pro-IT side could have easily beaten the anti-IT side by a number of "easy" arguments.

There were a lot of arguments put forth by the anti-IT side which seemed to be total junk. More on that later. But first I want to address an important point that they kept coming back to, namely cultural degeneration. The anti-IT brigade claimed that ever since IT industry had become popular the cultural degeneration had accelerated.

So in this post i want to address the issue of "cultural degeneration".

Those of you who keep claiming that culture can first of all get degenerated, please consider history before speaking. In the early Sangam culture, a man could have more than one wife. Whereas now it is considered taboo. Does this mean that with respect to Sangam times, culture has degenerated? If it is then we have to get back into that mode!

When man was first confined just to the forest, he and she wore only pieces of cloth, maybe today's equivalent of a mini-skirt. Then at some point of time Man started wearing more clothes than before. Was that degeneration of culture? Did that generation view it as such? Of course not. Indians before the British rule had a lot of different traditions and customs that would put a lot of us through embarassing moments now. So when customs and traditions changed, are we to call it "cultural degeneration?".

My point is that "culture" can never get degenerated. It can only evolve. Women wearing mini-skirts or partying late into the night does not suggest that we have become culturally regressive. It is only the reflection of the times. That is it. Nothing more, nothing less. To harp on this point is foolishness.

The other really comic argument that the anti-IT brigade were putting forth was that a lot of women were smoking and drinking and partying because IT allows them that room and space. Here are my questions:

1. Is it OK if a man smokes?
2. I mean does a man have a God given right to smoke?

They went on to add that if IT really cares for its employees, why dont companies ban smoking and ask their employees not to smoke.

Here are my rejoinders:

1. IT companies are not parents.
2. Nobody has the right, not even the Constitution of India, to ask somebody to stop smoking.

Expecting IT companies to ban smoking and asking its employees to remain clean is stupid. If that is the case why dont we ask the government to ban smoking as such and make it an offence. Is that feasible? Of course not!

More thoughts to follow.

Manoj