Sunday, March 12, 2017

Day 12 - We, the Judgmental

For centuries, we've stood at our doorsteps and passed judgment on the goings-on in our streets. Now the whole world is our street, and there is no dearth of subjects for us to pass judgment upon.

Take for instance, the BBC dad video that everybody is talking about. I am pretty sure you would have watched it already, but here it is anyway.



Every bit of this short video is hilarious. The seriousness of the topic. The carefree toddler skipping into the room. The clueless child rolling in. The supermom sliding in. Even if you tried and planned, you couldn't make such a funny video. Truth is definitely stranger (and funnier) than fiction.

Although the video was largely received with laughter and delight (and commiseration for work-from-home-problems) judgment is being passed on the family. That the dad ignored the child, that the mom looked terrified, that the children were mishandled, that this is patriarchy at work, and what have you. [It is also worth noting that many assumed she was the nanny, and not the mom. Care to analyse why?]

Seriously, all of us, sitting at our desks on the other side of the world, what can we possibly glean from this tiny slice of life? How can we possibly know the workings of their family? Even if we did know, why do we think we have the right to pass judgment on them?

I think that we comment and judge other people so as to feel better about our own selves. We are all after all, struggling with our own lives and decisions and the rights and wrongs, and self-doubt, and any bit of looking down upon others probably make us feel temporarily superior and righteous.

This video is one of the funniest things that have come along in a while, and I for one am going to watch it till I squeeze out every bit of laughter from it.

1 comment:

Revati Upadhya said...

You took the words right out of my mouth. I saw this video soon after it went viral, and I found it just amusing. The carefree kids, as kids should be, and the father obviously trying to work. As someone who works from home and often contends with unplanned surprise interruptions, I thought it was cute and funny. I was aghast to see how it blew up and turned into judgement central in the days after :-/

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