“Einstein and Newton misled the world with their theories”. “Ancient India had perfected stem cell technology and had developed guided missiles”. “The Kauravas were test tube babies”.

These sentences haven’t been lifted out of a novel or a fantasy movie. They were stated by the Vice Chancellor of Andhra University, G Nageshwara Rao and Dr.Kannan Krishnan, a research scientist at the Indian Science Congress in Jalandhar.

The scientific community in India and abroad naturally reacted with shock, for the basic reason that stem cell technology, invitro fertilization and plastic surgery are recent advances and have emerged after years of research and experimentation. It’s very simple. For any technology to be called scientific, it must possess the capacity to be reproduced by anyone anywhere. Did that happen? The answer is no. It is very worrying that Indian academics are making claims by misreading religious texts, and not on the basis of hard facts and evidence.

In fact it was Prime Minister Modi who set the trend of outlandish claims back at the Indian Science Congress in 2014. He said that since Lord Ganesha had the head of an elephant and the body of a human, ancient India was well-versed in plastic surgery. Another minister claimed that since the Ramayana spoke of Ravana’s Pushpak Viman, India of those times had planes, complete with functional airports. This is a familiar strategy by Hindu nationalists of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to invent the greatness of India’s past. They smack of religious nationalism and an attempt to whip up a sense of Hindu religious pride, to undermine the truth for their narrow political ends, not quite unlike the Nazis did in Germany in the early 1920s.

But why are scientists and academics at the Indian Science Congress giving into this false rhetoric? It is clearly to please their political masters and land plum postings. I see similarities with what the Telugu poet C.Narayana Reddy did by introducing astrology in AP textbooks to get into the good books of the then AP Chief Minister NT Rama Rao, himself an astrology enthusiast. What resulted was an entire generation of students fed on pseudoscience.

There is no reason for Indians to resort to fake, unsubstantiated claims to have pride in their history. India has a very strong place in global scientific history, as the birthplace for key mathematical ideas, metallurgical technologies and home to the sophisticated Indus Valley Civilisation, which had weights and measures. Indeed, our country has produced geniuses like Ramanajun and Bose. What the ISC is doing is to make our country a laughing stock in the eyes of the world.

India’s is the only constitution in the world that urges its people to develop a scientific temper. Sadly, the ISC is doing little to achieve this. At the Jalandhar meet, the students should have been allowed to mingle freely with scientists and exchange ideas. Many students could very well have been inspired to take up science as a profession.

Silly stories per se are not of concern. What is worrying is when important people say dumb things, especially those manning major universities. Instead of instilling a spirit of enquiry in students, our academics are doing just the opposite. And it is sad that urban, educated, working professionals fall for such cock and bull stories. A major catalyst for this is Whats App. Even those who cannot separate chalk from cheese believe they are experts on the basis of Whats App forwards.

Amid the uproar, the Indian Science Congress has clarified that it does not subscribe to the worldview of a few scientists who made the mundane claims. This hopefully means that the prestigious science event is on its way to regaining its lost glory. The time has come to throw pseudoscience out of the window. I am tempted to quote from the motto of the Royal Society which reads “Nullius in verba” , latin for “Take Nobody’s word for it”. The ISC is in urgent need to imbibe this slogan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gillete short film supporting the Mee Too Movement with the tagline “The Best Men Can Be” has generated a lot of interest. It condemns toxic masquilinity, urges men to step in when they see their friends/colleagues cross the line of decent behaviour and puts the onus on them to stop sexual harassment. The film also blames mascuilinity for sexual assault and urges society to show compassion towards sensitive boys and men. Many welcomed the ad, praising the razor company for taking up an important issue like sexual harassment in the backdrop of the MeeToo movement.

Critics have accused Gillete of playing to the gallery and make hard working, innocent men look like monsters. They feel the short film makes scapegoats out of men and that there is nothing wrong with mascuilinity. They stress that the majority of men, like women, are good people. Piers Morgan, on the show Good Morning Britain, said that the Gillete ad is eager to fuel the current pathetic global assault on mascuilinity and that “Let Boys Be Damn Boys, Let men Be Damn Men”.

However, many were on Gillete’s side. Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown tweeted : ‘I love everything about this Glllete ad. Great message’. Some suggested that the men who were left offended by the ad were in fact part of the problem and that far from eroding mascuilinity, the ad paints men as strong and responsible people. Gillete brand director Pankag Bhalla told the Wall Street Journal : ‘This is an important conversation happening, and as a company that encourages men to be their best, we feel compelled to both address it and take action of our own’. Some were of the opinion that the ad would boost sales and by attracting a new generation of mellenials, similar to what Nike achieved with its controversial ‘Just Do It’ ad starring Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback.

The depiction of men in the short film nudges society to rethink its value system towards women and treat them as equals. We have come a long way from the heady days of the Anti-Vietnam War protests when slogans like ‘Make Love, Not War’ were common parlance. It was only in the 80’s and 90’s that sex became taboo, owing largely to Feminism.

As far as blaming mascuilinity for sexual assault, Gillete has hit the nail on the head. Since boys are taught from a very young age to be tough, not to cry when in despair and never be girlish, they end up suppressing their feelings. And when they find other boys bullying them, they turn into bullies themselves in self-defence. As they grow up, this mascuilinity turns toxic. Men find no means to vent their suppressed feelings. With age comes loneliness, and what follows is self-destruction. The fact that boys are silent sufferers of sexual abuse could also explain the anger against the ad.

Any change, however small, is welcome, whether in the domain of the family, school or workplace. If boys are told that it is ok to cry today, they may not turn into monsters tomorrow. Schools and families must jointly tackle the menace of bullying and strive to mould students into more compassionate human beings. And society must be sensitive to the emotional needs of men. Let us not dismiss the crying boy, the confused teenager or the lonely man as a loser. Instead, let us try and and understand his source of despair.

Some people are of the opinion that Gillete has used this ad to gain more customers. It may be appealing to the Mee Too sentiment that women feel strongly about. And since women happen to be the ones shopping for groceries (that includes razors), Gillete might just have cemented its place in the market. But if business and market forces are urging people to rethink on unjust value systems, then so be it.

 

Also Read Gillette’s defence : https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/gillette-defends-controversial-short-film-the-best-men-can-be-20190116-p50rrl.html

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Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton