When ostracized norms are accepted

My mother often tells me about the abundances and scarcities of her childhood and the transformations over decades. She also educates me about the arrogance of social hierarchies and the cohesive society configuration of those times. I scorn those traditions of untouchability and ignorance, but what bewitches me is the practise of ostracising families owing to misconducts. The people ostracised the family and condemned anyone maintaining associations with them. This instilled fear and responsibility in people to practise righteousness.

Today we do not witness such customs of ostracising families due to misconduct. If this had been prevalent I wonder what would be the structure of today’s society? I don’t know when exactly this tectonic shift in ideology took place? But, we evolved into a benevolent society that embraces fraudulent, slayer, rapist and adulterous without a frown. People retain their respect and dominance in spite of being known for stashing money by dishonest means. Such dominance can be experienced in families where such rich relatives gain respect and influence over pertinent issues. A ridiculous example is the pursuit of a groom. A low salary is accepted only because ‘ooperi aamdani to hai hi’.

Incidents of atrocities against women are mounting and have become part of our lives. Women are unsafe within the fortifications of our homes and situation is doomed outdoors. Their silence is expected to uphold the family’s dignity and perpetrators take liberty. Affluent fraudulently usurp common people’s hard earned money yet, continue to enjoy the privileges of society. Society has also accepted the adultery though under wraps. It might be audacious, but we granted these laxities in the social structure owing to our lust for monetary advancements. Had we been the same old ‘primitive’ people who preferred banishing than befriending the immoral, we might have not evolved materialistically.

Accepting the ostracised has not unleashed the pandemonium. But an incorporation of such predispositions into the social fabric has certainly accomplished the task. We chose to accept the unlawful and look what mayhem we have entered?