Animal Ancestry of Man

If Darwin were alive today, it would have been a cakewalk for him to prove the animal ancestry of man! That is, if Darwin were to use Indian subjects such as personalities from Indian media who are a part of the new genre of reality shows and so-called talent hunts.

Before I get into the flow and let my thoughts take over, let me forewarn the reader (as I always do) that I will speak my mind and therefore if I seem to cross the line, it will be because I intended to do so! For those like me, who cringed at the sight of a 16 year old girl being hectored by so-called ‘responsible’ adults, it is time to introspect and investigate the root cause of such animalistic behavior on part of the judges.

Yes, the Shinjhini Sengupta incident has sparked off a National debate regarding the sanctity of so-called talent hunts and reality shows. When the judges of a dance show (telecast in a Bengali TV channel) rebuked a 16 year old girl with impunity, they betrayed the basic essence of a human being, i.e., being humane. The only conclusion that can be drawn from the episode is that, may be we are the closest link to the apes. After all, have we not aped the West in every aspect? Was it not enough that we copy the concept of hit shows such as ‘Dancing with the stars: Nach Balliye’, ‘American Idol: Indian Idol’, ‘Are you smarter than a 5^th Grader? : Kya aap panchvi pass se tez hain?’ etc? Did we really need to ape the Western/America essence and should we not have at least made these shows more Indian?

To answer most of the questions above, let me point out the root cause of such vituperative remarks by the judges of various talent/reality shows that has become a commonplace. The name is Cowell, Simon Cowell! Who you ask? Mr. Simon Cowell is one of the three judges of the hit FOX musical reality series; The American Idol. Despite all the talent on display, it is Mr. Cowell’s harsh putdowns of the participants that viewers look forward to. The popularity of the show lies in the sadist pleasure that a majority of the audience derives from the humiliation that some of the participants face. This is not just my opinion, but a conclusion that can be derived from pure numbers. More than 23 million viewers follow American Idol (and some Indians on Star World) and Simon Cowell is one of the highest paid Television personalities in the US. I am sure that most of our Indian judges would have done an Anu Malik, i.e. aped Mr. Cowell to pump up the TRP ratings of their respective shows. The term ‘aped’ is what made me ruminate; is there any reality/talent shows that we have not aped from the West? Did the conduct of the judges and their curt remarks to a 16 year old find its roots in Indian culture? At least for the latter question, I can say a firm ‘NO’! However, sadly that only makes me conclude a firm ‘YES’ for the former question.

Perhaps some of us (so-called human beings) are still evolving and have been fooled by our physical resemblance to the most advanced of the species. For what else can justify our animalistic instincts? We have been aping everything Western: movies, lifestyle, culture, etc.

Nothing comes closer to proving the animal ancestry of man than ‘The Roman Colosseum (originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre) that has witnessed some of the bloodiest battles between exotic animals and between gladiators and wild animals, with the latter being the most popular. Now, let me juxtapose the events witnessed at the Colosseum with what we regularly witness in the so-called reality/talent shows. The similarity is quite striking as you might conclude from below:

1. Gladiators were people who had to fight against their will as mostly they were prisoners of war who were given the choice to fight or be slaves. Juxtapose that with today’s participants of the reality/talent shows and at the first instance one would feel that sure they have a choice! Or do they? In the cut throat competition that we experience today in every field as a result of abundance of talent or due to problems of plenty, these shows become a platform to get noticed. Often, for this reason the likes of Shinjhini Sengupta will find themselves performing in a Colosseum like atmosphere, ready to be taken apart by the exotic animals, i.e., the judges.

2. The few Gladiators, who managed to survive, enjoyed great popularity. History tells us that women would pay large sums of money so that they could spend a night of passion with one of the Gladiators. Juxtapose that with the popularity (minus the part about women for I cannot vouch for that) that the likes of Abhijit Sawant (of the Indian Idol fame) enjoy. Surely there is no harm in that.

3. The defeated gladiator (often wounded and on the brink of unconsciousness) would plea for merci. The audience at the amphitheatre shouted either in favor of the Gladiator’s plea to let him live or in favor to put him to death. The emperor would have the final say on whether the Gladiator lives of whether he is put to death. Juxtapose that with what a participant faces at the end of a performance; often wounded by the judges, a participant would plea to the audience to vote for him/her in order to live to fight another day.

With the passage of time, the civil society abandoned those parts of the games that included the death of humans. However, history seems to be repeating itself and today Colosseums are replaced by grand stages and the exotic animals by judges such as Simon Cowell. The judges (likes of Cowell) wounded Shinjhini to such an extent that she suffered a paralytic attack. Surely man has evolved to a stage where such acts on the part of the judges will be condemned equivocally.

Surely we have left behind the animal ancestry of man and become human beings. Or have we?