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Violence is the disturbance of personal and property rights of the
people. In this act of violence there are two parties, the perpetrator
and the victim of the act. Now war has become a part of daily life,
being so in both the domestic and international scene.
In our country there is a thirty year long conflict to combat
terrorism. The stand of the LTTE is that they have tried their best to
win their political rights democratically, failing that they have taken
arms to fight for a State of their own.
Democratically elected Governments can't give into this type of
threat. In the combat of this terrorist strategy, the destruction of
life and property has become the order of the day. We daily see those
incidence of war being telecast on the TV.
Those things are telecast to show the people how the war is waged.
But what would be the repercussions that would be generated in the minds
of the young ones who very often view war on TV. In the good old days,
when we were young we were scared to go to a scene of a murder which
very seldom we came across. Now scences of murders is on the TV and in
our living room.
If the war violates the personal and property rights of the people,
if that is being displayed on the TV screen day in and day out, how can
we teach the young ones to live a life without disturbing others'
rights. That is because we are asking people not to do things which have
become part of their life on TV. In my view there is no necessity to
show everything in detail how the war is waged in the battle field.
It is necessary for the media people to inform the people but without
going into much detail by bringing the war into the living room.
How far has war gone into the minds of young ones who now ask for
toy-guns and pistols. They are available in the market to meet the
demand indirectly created. Even from our young days, we were trained to
be partners of the war. That is how we are caught in the market strategy
of the West. Our media too knowingly or unknowingly led to serve them.
In most of the teledramas' aired violence against women is the order
of the day. As an Asian country we consider women as the weaker sex. So
that our culture is to give women their due place. Although they are
considered biologically less strong, we know that in every young woman
there is a mother to be.
If they are treated violently, our future mothers would be the
victims of violence. Then what would be the future generation that these
victimised mothers would give birth to. There is a proliferation of TV
channels and most private channels air foreign movies which are replete
with violence.
Our youngsters are driven to violence specially against girls, being
influenced by these films. Some of our young women get carried away in
public by misbehaving in buses, parks etc, thus becoming victims of
violence. They are actually violating the rights of the public. They
indulge in premarital sex thus destroying their marriage and ending up
in total disarray.
I recently saw on TV, a teledrama where a son of a woman living with
a divorced millionaire, raped a girl. They try to save him by arranging
a marriage for the rape victim with another poor man. This is the type
of filth shown on TV. By this way the country is becoming a place famous
for the sex industry. When violence has crept into the family
institution, how can people respect family values.
This is the result of indiscriminate imitation of the West. Now they
have brought in legislation to combat domestic violence to degenerate
the family institution further. To bring peace to the family go back to
our own culture without aping the West.
D.K. Piyarathna, Matara
Recently there has been an alarming increase in deaths due to dog
bites. The Government has initiated a programme of sterilisation to
reduce deaths due to this. When a person is bitten by a dog, he needs to
be treated with anti rabis serum/ vaccine.
This is very costly and may not be available in all hospitals. The
owner of the offending dog is not charged and most often no compensation
is paid.
The poor victim has to undergo the painful process of several
injections. I feel that the primary duty lies with the dog owner, who is
responsible to take good care of his pet. In developed countries dogs
are not allowed to roam freely on streets.
When taken out of home they have to be on a leash. If they foul on
the way, the owner has to pick it up. If the dog bites anyone, the owner
is liable. Dogs are well looked after and cared for as pets.
To prevent innocent people being victims of dog bites in Sri Lanka,
we need to effect change, all owners must be asked to have a leash for
dogs when taken in public and fined when their pets attack people. This
can be very easily done and will result in an immediate reduction in dog
bite victims.
The Government will have savings on money spent on anti-rabis
vaccines. Stray dogs must be cared for and given to good homes. I hope
the relevant authorities will consider making these changes.
C. S. TISSERA, UK
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