Making sense of nonsense

January 30, 2015 07:05 pm | Updated November 10, 2021 12:33 pm IST

I could rename this column ‘Stupid Things People Say’ and I’d be overrun with pieces every week; but then who wants to read a daily column now?

First is VHP leader Sakshi Maharaj, who happens to be an unfortunate victim of verbal diarrhoea (and by that I mean someone whose words are nothing short of refuse). As my colleague recently found out, Sakshi Maharaj, yet another Hindutva airhead, seems to have eliminated the problem of polygamy and Hinduism by just one statement. He claims, “The concept of four wives and forty children just won’t work in India but it is high time that every Hindu woman must produce at least four children to protect the Hindu religion.” Maybe it’s high time he was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize where Ig stands for ignorant. 

Then there’s the case of a whole country behaving rather stupidly, like Saudi Arabia that wants a separate Olympics for men because they apparently “have a hard time accepting that women can compete in sports.” It’s completely obvious that they’re a little afraid of competition, isn’t it?

Before I’m accused of men-bashing, there’s Paula Abdul who “joked” that she was “abused” by her former American Idol co-star Simon Cowell. When the world is grappling with real claims of abuse (Bill Cosby, Uber case, a father who abused his 19-day-old daughter), trust Paula to diffuse a tense situation by joking about abuse.

Indonesian cleric Felix Siauw has taken a stand against selfies calling them a sin and questioned a woman’s purity in doing so. Now, the women of Indonesia weren’t one to keep quiet so they tweeted to him selfies with perfect pouts. If his intent was to get beautiful women to send him pictures, he has truly succeeded.

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