Saturday, March 16, 2013

“Unsocial”



A person in our generation often gets this unfortunate label. [...although “unsociable” would have been a more appropriate word…but anyway these days butchery of the English language has become kind of a trend much to my gravest agony.]

“He/she refuses to mingle with people…he/she refuses to show up in social meets…he/she lacks inter-personal skills.”

Our generation hears these complaints very often...At home, at office, while commuting, in nightmares…no respite anywhere.

But did anyone ever check why our generation behaves like this??

In the ancient times people lived cut off from the rest of the world and had access to about 20 people living in the same society. So they could not figure out whether these 20 people were stupid and boring or bright and witty. Simply put they did not have a benchmark. These people were not "social" by choice…they had to socialize with these 20 people as they did not have any other option.
  
Come to present times. We have access to the entire world even across eras. So even if people around you are stupid you can communicate with brilliant minds of other centuries. Yes…time travel is possible. We see movies of other centuries, we listen to songs of other times, we watch scintillating games played years ago, we read books of ancient authors…we are travelling in time all the time!! Now why would a person spend time with a boring person when he/she has access to other kinds of intellectual stimulation?

Remember how Galileo was sent to the gallows for trying to establish a truth about stupid people??? May be “unsocial” people are reincarnated versions of such people with unfortunate deaths in past lives…they have learnt their lessons and in this birth they would let the intellectually handicapped people live peacefully in ignorance.

So before we tag someone “unsocial” we need to check…may be we are too stupid for his/her standards and he/she is too polite to point that out.