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CROSSTALK

Pygmies in the Parliament
***It’s not that our values have eroded, but our heroes have vanished. Akin to the calculation of an average, we are diminishing because pygmies are replacing giants.***
IT wasn't for the first time and it won't be for the last time either when our lawmakers shocked us couple of weeks ago with what can be
euphemistically called a decorum offense. They called names, shouted profanities, intimidated each other and lobbed innuendos in full play of their basic instincts as shame burned in the hearts of those who watched them on television. My suggestion to the honourable speaker is that in so much as he should enjoy the show if he cannot stop it, the next time he can introduce a rating system. When parliament members behave caddishly in front of camera, we want to ask our children in advance to close their eyes and plug their ears.
A rating of X will perhaps be too harsh because the lowly behaviour of our MPs hasn't involved nudity so far. PG or parental guidance would have been fine if the lawmakers were to keep their unruly conduct confined to verbal abuse. But they often use innuendos and physical gestures verging on obscenity. An R or restricted rating is just about right. Adult contents need mature handling.
But let me tell you, parliamentary profanity isn't an uncommon thing. Last December, Canada's Liberal MP Justin Trudeau set off a firestorm
when he called environment minister Peter Kent "a piece of shit." Back in 1971, the same year Justin was born, his father Pierre, who was then the prime minister of the country, had allegedly told a Tory MP to "f— off."
Parliaments around the world have occasionally erupted in violence. Roman general and dictator Julius
Caesar was famously assassinated by a group of senators on the Ides of March, 44 BC during a meeting of the Roman Senate. In 1989, riots broke out in the legislative assembly in Tamil Nadu, India over the casting of a single vote. Over the years, South Korean and Taiwanese parliaments have seen frequent scuffles amongst their members. In 1972, Independent Socialist MP Bernadette Devlin punched UK's Conservative Party home secretary Reginald Maudling.
Even in the United States in 2011 during a vote on California budget, state assemblymen Warren Furutani and Don Wagner broke out in a fight over a comment Wagner made that Furutani deemed offensive. In 1988 when Pope John Paul II addressed the European Parliament, Ian Paisley, then an MEP, denounced him as the
Antichrist and was subjected to booing by fellow MEPs who also threw objects at him. Even in this country a brawl in the national assembly took the life of a deputy speaker during the Pakistan days when a flying paperweight hit the man on his head.
So why should we be so appalled by the unruly conduct of our MPs? What
is so wrong if they uttered foul language that one government minister compared to "brothel slang?" Is this increasing insolence sign of something? Does it mean our values are vanishing just because elected representatives aren't careful in their choice of words?
Some twenty years later, Ralph Whitehead of the University of Massachusetts looked back at the madness of the '60s in the American society. He said that a more realistic society may be better than its leaders. People look for the best of themselves in their leaders and it is in that optimism they invest hope and faith in their leaders.
In that sense, those who have been shocked have been rightly so because they expected to see the best in their leaders. But people tell me they were-
n't shocked so much by the vile thoughts and vicious words as they have been struck by the inanity of purpose, the hollowness that rang out in that fracas. In other parliaments of other countries lawmakers have indulged in profanities and violence over an issue — a debate or a vote — when one side vigorously proposed what the other side vehemently opposed. In fact, it's in the job description of the parliament members to represent people and, by all means, defend their rights.
But that wasn't why our MPs quarreled the other day. They fought because each side wanted to belittle the other and rained aspersions on their opponents motivated by their petty interests, which weren't even remotely related to the people of Bangladesh. They reminded us of neighbourhood brawls when women fight amongst themselves in the queue for tap water. Even that sense of purpose our lawmakers failed to show.
That's because we are stuck in the rut of an absurd predicament. In our incessant struggle to worship past heroes, we have lost our impulse to look for new ones who can perform the function of inspiring us to do or be better. It's not that our values have eroded, but our heroes have vanished. Akin to the calculation of an average, we are diminishing because pygmies are replacing giants.
The writer is Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star.
Email: badrull51@yahoo.com