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India is a democracy; this is what we proudly proclaim to the whole world. Democracy means "Rule of the people, By the people and For the People" was what I learnt from my Civics textbook back in high school. Sadly, this definition is hardly followed today if one takes a look at the unnecessary and senseless legislations being passed today. The situation is no different than what exists in China or Pakistan!

The court order banning showing of adult content on TV is one such case. The Mumbai police with nothing better to do on its hands raided a few cable operators showing such "adult" content and seized their equipment. The cable operators decided to block all satellite channels except Doordarshan(!!) in retaliation.

Cable operators block satellite channels.

This brings to my mind two things. The first & the most important one is: If we are indeed a democracy, shouldn't we have the freedom to decide what should we watch on TV? We are a nation of extremely diverse culture and sensibilities and what is offending to one culture may not be necessarily offending to another. So, should we just go ahead and block anything and everything? The court has apparently acted on a complaint filed by one such ultra stupid lady who was offended watching such content on her TV. Heck
woman, doesn't your TV come with a remote control? It takes just a flick of your thumb to switch to another "less offending" channel!! If the high court starts banning stuff based on such complaints, I have a whole list of things that I want to complain about? Are you ready??

The second thing is: Who decides on what is "adult" and what is not? This is the definition of adult as per Dictionary.com

Adult: Having attained full size and strength; grown up; mature: an adult person, animal, or plant.

It is quite obvious that the people sitting up there do not fit the definition of being an adult themselves! Content of an adult nature is meant for the consumption of adults, people who are mature and have the ability to discern between right and wrong. Blocking adult content on TV implies that the millions of grown ups across the country are zombies who do not possess the ability to think for themselves and therefore are not adults at all!!

Time and again it has been proved that the more you try to restrict someone's freedom, the more rebellious they become. Take the case of states which have enforced prohibition. Its common knowledge that almost anyone can obtain a bottle of liquor on the sly, if one wishes to. Similarly, banning adult content on TV will force people to look towards other avenues for entertainment.

Its high time the government gets rid of its old socialist (communist?) mindset and let people choose what is right and what is wrong. There are hundreds of other issues that need immediate priority attention.