By Sushil Kutty
Call someone an ‘incel misogynist’ in the United States and consequences will follow. That someone will threaten to sue and rub noses in the dirt till they choke on manure. An ‘incel’ is shorthand for ‘involuntary celibate’, a person who “cannot attract women as sexual partners and is compelled to check out of the dating scene”. No man will take this label lying down. Not even an incel!
Curiously, ‘incel’ is more a Canadian phenomenon. A recent multiple homicides in Toronto were linked to a bizarre social media club called ‘incels’. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to link the homicides to any terror organization, he stuck to the less bizarre ‘misogynists” to describe those accused of the homicides. Main suspect Alek Minassian is reportedly fascinated with the incel phenomenon as “an examination of his Facebook posts” revealed.
Many incels on social media describe themselves as men who “cannot have sex despite wanting to”, basically because they are unable to attract female sexual partners. That makes incels an all-men frustration club. Apparently, this “massive sexual frustration” is leading to an “imminent incel rebellion” as referenced in the “nether regions” of the internet.
Going by the social media definition of incels – men who cannot have sex despite wanting to… – half the Indian male population must be incel! And that is taking a conservative estimate. Fortunately, Indian males afflicted with incel symptoms haven’t so far formed themselves into clubs.
But if awareness on the incel phenomenon spreads in the subcontinent they will be a force to reckon with. Defence lawyers will without batting an eyelid contend that rapists and child molesters be given the benefit of doubt because these deviants were likely driven by the ‘incel’ they were victims of. Imagine, something like that happens and the number of confirmed rapists and child molesters walking free in cities and towns on the subcontinent.
The only grace: India has been home to “voluntary celibates” from time immemorial, our rishis and munis, the Naga and Aghori sadhus, who have fascinated generations of westerners with their powers of celibacy. An Indian male has the luxury of hiding his frustration of not being capable of “attracting women sexual partners” with a vow of celibacy.
A vow that is very public. Godmen and cult figures often take that vow to attract devotees. But they are also prone to break the vow in a very criminal manner. Who doesn’t know of Asaram Bapu, the old goat with ram-like sexual prowess? And, now, there’s this chap called Dhatti Maharaj in Madhya Pradesh, who has got Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev’s goat.
Clearly, the involuntary celibate or ‘incel’ is with his actions casting a dark shadow on the voluntary celibate, among who are top names, highly respected people, including that of Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Yogi Adityanath, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi! Whether to include the name of Congress President Rahul Gandhi in this power-club could invite the charge of speculation, so ‘nada!’
More so, when the one factor that binds Yogi Adityanath, Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri is ‘Yoga’. Rahul Gandhi by his own admission has nothing to with Yoga as a stress-buster or as a muscle-builder. For him bro-in-law Robert Vadra’s gym with its heavy weights is the more fitting challenge to undertake. Rahul Gandhi was not impressed by Modi’s #HumFitTohIndiaFit challenge video.
But it seems #HumFitTohIndiaFit was a carefully calibrated and orchestrated campaign to build up to International Yoga Day, which is today, June 21, 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes credit for establishing June 21 every year as the International Yoga Day, with June 21, 2015 marked as the first International Yoga Day.
Of course, the Congress and Modi’s other political rivals laugh at the boast that Modi internationalized Yoga. That accomplishment, they say, go to selfless yogis like the late BKS Iyengar, who is said to have given to China yogic power long before Modi travelled to that country to teach the Chinese rudimentary Yoga.
The Chinese wouldn’t split hair on that. Neither would the rest of the world. Modi said today (June 21, 2018) that Yoga is a great unifying force; that ever since he made it an international force to reckon with, the world has taken to Yoga like fish to water.
Modi says Yoga helps people lead a calm, creative and content life. “Instead of dividing, yoga unites. Instead of furthering animosity, yoga assimilates. Instead of increasing suffering, yoga heals. In yoga, we have the perfect solution to the problems we face, either as individuals or as a society,” he said. “Yoga is beautiful because it is ancient yet modern, it is constant yet evolving.”
For the incel in the nether regions of the internet it is a message to ponder on while doing a ‘yoga asana’, preferably the ‘shavasana’, play dead, the better for the entire world it would be. (IPA Service)
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