True.

But some habits of depravity are truly in the realm of taboo.
The obvious ones being drugs alcohol and the like. the not so obvious ones being fatty food, excess carbs, coffee.

The fact is that biologically , we are conditioned to do the things that bring us pleasure. Each human beings will power is limited. Thus, if we put poor habits into play, it is even harder to focus on the habits, activities and actions that are more in our long term favour.

Thus if I develop a taste for womanizing, it is going to be tough for me to commit to one woman. And so on for many other pleasurable things.

One consequence of the sexual revolution, that you can especially see in Europe, is the low number of children being born. Also true of “white” America. I don’t know whether that is a positive or negative sign, but it is what it is.

Thus let the buyer beware, and be wary of anything that gives him a sense of excessive pleasure.

Gori, I agree with this. My point was just that in India, I remember spending a lot of time with my friends offline. I developed social skills and emotional attitudes that helps me when I deal with people. When kids spend more time with the media, this is lost.

Also, when you read, hear, see things from any “remote media”, i.e books, the web, radio, tv, the perspective is heavily coloured with the perception of the translator. Dealing with people and reality focusses you off of that. Giving rise to the phenomenon of “nerdishness” or “geekiness” or theoretical mindedness.

Isiliye, yeh blog toh hai bahut accha…lekin agar tum log jyaada time spend karoge internet par, tho tumhare dimag affect hoenge.

This is the common use of the term “rational” in my field of study, economics (economists don’t judge end goals, typically, they just judge whether a practice is efficiently getting you to whatever your end goal is) – but I’ll keep in mind that that’s not what most people think of as “rational”.

The second point I listed – be moral – describes the process of judging the end goals as good or not, and that requires me to pull out my philosopher hat, not the economist one.

Oh. Wait. I’d be dead in that case. Well, then, nevermind.

<—has a very Hobbesian view of the world, at times. Both the human & the tiger.

1. be rational – actually help the society & people that practice it
2. be moral – not hurt individuals or their free practice of their basic human rights”

A tradition (as long as it’s harmless) can have some aesthetic value as well as emotional value, in addition to the two you mentioned. I personally have stopped making a fetish of “rational”, though at one time, I used to look at traditions strictly through the “rational” lens. Traditions have values that the practitioner imparts to them – whether rational, moral, aesthetic, emotional or any combination of them (or some other factor), which is not to say that we must blindly follow any and all traditions.

Would you like to give some examples of this individualism that you find in the wild? I can cite three examples off the top of my head that contradict your idea – wolves, bees, ants.

And why is your logic – as best I can deduce it from your statement – that if it’s found in the wild, then it’s desirable for humans too – a good logic?

Individualism is imperative and imminent in India. It’s natural, and most close to what you find in the wild.
Perhaps the best thing to do is to actually become more self concentrated in many ways.

- From a sermon preached by Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274″

It is true that people of a similiar generation think alike. My parents and their friends think more similialry than even me and my parents in some ways.

Good job all round on the blog, GG.
Are you doing your PhD in economics or sociology?

As far as youth today, I’m inclined to take the long perspective, and suggest that adults always think that the upcoming generation are troublesome:

The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress.

- From a sermon preached by Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274

More here

That’s not to say that children who grow up in India won’t have a different cultural outlook than children who grow up in the US – just that I suspect that complaints of the lack of tradition/values/culture in youth in general is simply a common complaint through the ages – and we aren’t completely depraved yet!

1. be rational – actually help the society & people that practice it
2. be moral – not hurt individuals or their free practice of their basic human rights
”

GoriGirl, thats very logical. But fact is, that kids usually learn from their parents and peers behaviors from a young age. I have cousins growing up in Boston, who are very young, and both their parents are from India. They have excellent social thinking, but I have to say there is a certain emotional disconnect which develops in them when they grow up in a work oriented and individualistic society.
Honestly, even growing up in India, I say certain things to my parents, which might have been unthinkable for them to say to their parents. Kids in my school in Mumbai, also seemed to become more “rude” as the batches went on. Thus being emotionally there for people, and also being relationship focused with people, is different. The advantage of kids growing up in America, I see is that they have much greater levels of self confidence than when they grow up in India. But in terms of traditions and values and culture with the high influence of the media and the internet , is poorly done here.

Culture, as I understand it is a collective programming of the mind. It is also a changing, non-static thing. Therefore the idea of “preservation” of culture is by force making it stagnant. It needs to change, to grow, to evolve, to transmutate. If in the process some things are lost- that will be, because new things will be created too. I am coming to this from the Hofstede definition of culture.
In my personal experience, there are so many things I adopt and change and yet carry on- and so many newer things that I have learned from my Indian (but from a different state) husband, things that will alter and keep flowing and changing as we grow together that the idea of holding it still , I find rather strange. For instance the argument about language,being the visible part of culture, with Bollywood becoming so predominant, and with mobile-texting speak becoming so popular, how easy it is to write Hindi or any other language in an English Script or speak in a patois composed of several Indian and other languages. Isn’t that as “valuable” a part of current culture, as say Sanskrit or “older” culture is. I personally think that people who say that culture is the reason they would not be in a mixed-race relationship say so because of a deep rooted racism, not a fear of preserving their roots, but that is just me. Deep down whatever we are- Indian or American, Japanese or Russian, the same universal values hold- we value our families, we believe in the golden rule. THe other distinctions are surface and with love and understanding can easily be overcome.

Case in point: I'm supposed to go with my child when s/he wants to be left alone and/or pursue her own calling ('my' said by way of example – my own son is too small for that). However, I am myself not supposed to be individualistic and, perhaps, go on a fishing trip on my own? At those times, I'd perhaps be branded a 'selfish' person for trying to 'enjoy' life on my own.

Or take another. My progeny can do as s/he wishes without any 'interference' to his/her life, but will still sit in my lap and expect me to bankroll her education, luxuries, whims & fancies, the works. I am NOT supposed to save some of my own money for rainy days instead of spending on those things – THAT would be 'selfish', no? And how about mature people (even non-attached) getting into relationships? How would their (grown up) children take it – for the answer, just refer to the recent movie with Rishi Kapoor & Dimple.

So you are absolutely right that “In India, the virtues of self sacrifice and putting the community's interests above the self are glorified”. And glorified they are, in every way possible. While my next generation can garner all the advantages of the trend towards individualism, I'm supposed to plod on with all the 'responsibilities'. That's how life works.

Sorry for the diatribe. But there are two sides to every coin.