Morals, anyone?

 

I am back again then. Not really in a better place in life, as I had hoped when I went off the blog. But I figured if I waited for that to happen, I might as well give up blogging for good. In the last few months, we've had countless coffees, endless hours in the lab, a few semi-succesful attempts at publishing some research and more abortive attempts at doing SOME work that's worth more than piss. Cigarettes on the working days and booze on Friday nights have been kind and faithful companions. The cigarettes especially are about the only thing keeping me sane at the moment; I am going through them like Warney through the Poms. Add some more things I don't find suitable for mention on the blog, and the darkness is complete. Yet strangely, I don't feel as unhappy as I should be. Scary, but at the same time liberating. Liberating, because it's allowed me a chance to indulge myself in debate over one of my favorite topics. Morality. What constitutes morals? Something religion teaches us? Or our parents? Or grandparents, maybe? What if, you, like me, are not a follower of organized religion? What if you question some of the morals that were inculcated in you as a child? It isn't enough to say that your parents, being experienced people, could tell right from wrong, and tried to pass that sense of judgement to you. I am older than my Mum was when she had me, and I sure can't always tell right from wrong. What your parents did pass on to you was less their experience and more the things their parents taught them. Is that how it is always going to be? Turning morals into this inscrutable, immovable rock that doesn't change with time? For e.g., in Indian society and also in some religions, pre-marital sex is considered immoral. I am yet to understand the reason for this. What dictates this morality? And why are we bound to follow it in that if we don't we are branded immoral? Is there no room for relativsm? I get frustrated when I hear this whole virginity thing touted as one of the cornerstones of Indian morality. Who the f**k gave you that right? To make a virtue out a necessity imposed by our society? Chicken and egg, really, chicken and egg. Take it to another extreme. Almost everyone agrees that prostitution is wrong. When I am asked if I would get a hooker when I go to Montreal or Amsterdam, the first natural answer is always a resounding no. But why? No one ever told me why it was wrong. But I've been brought up to believe it as an absolute truth. What if I said, and I am purely hypothesizing, that there is a possibility that the frequency of sexual crimes, big and small, (if there is such a thing as a small sexual crime) could be cut down if people could buy sex and power for the time they could afford instead of forcing it down some poor woman? Again, in a purely hypothetical scenario, if that is indeed true, would that make prostitution moral? On a personal note, no, I fail to see the bad part of premarital or even casual sex. On the prostitution issue, no,I wouldn't pay for sex because my morality still stands divided on the issue, so I would much rather be a confirmist in that regard. It would be interesting to hear from you ( Sandipan especially) your take on the matter.