I am appalled to admit that the creatures who did this are of my same species:

An elephant that was pregnant died in Kerala, standing in water, last Wednesday, after she faced one of the most brutal forms of animal abuse. She ate a pineapple filled with firecracker, offered to her allegedly by some locals. The fruit exploded in her mouth, leading to the inevitable tragedy.

[…]

So powerful was the cracker explosion in her mouth that her tongue and mouth were badly injured. The elephant walked around in the village, in searing pain and in hunger. She was unable to eat anything because of her injuries.

I am more disturbed by this incident than I can put into words. Poor, poor elephant, expecting a minimum — the very minimum — of cross-species friendliness, and receiving not just death, not just agony, but excruciating, hours-long torture. The creatures that did this don’t deserve to share the Earth with anyone.

The news report was based on accounts from a forest officer on social media who went to respond to the situation, and has no mention of whether anyone has been arrested for this. The creatures that did this should face consequences at the very least according to the laws of their own species, surely. (That would be inadequate and the bare minimum, but the rest of us are, after all, bound by such things as codes of conduct, and laws, and morals.)

Anyway, this here is the relevant Indian Penal Code section:

[Section] 429. Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc., of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees.—Whoever commits mis­chief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox, whatever may be the value thereof, or any other animal of the value of fifty rupees or upwards, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both.

Whoever did this needs to be behind bars. Anyone that could have spoken up and didn’t needs to be behind bars too. 5 years, the penal code says. I think that’s too few; there’s no mention of torture in the code, and ‘mischief’ is quite inadequate to capture the extent of this monstrosity. Put them all in jail, and slap fines large enough that they spend the rest of their lives just paying them off.

Poor, poor elephant.

∞

An Indian comedian, known for “edgy”, “controversial” material, apparently created something that pokes fun at Indian mega-stars and national heroes Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar.

And of course, this being India, some people found reason to be outraged. And of course, since these people have political affiliations linked to the government, the police are now “looking into the matter”.

Mumbai police has begun an inquiry into complaint against comedian Tanmay Bhat’s video of a mock conversation with Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar that prompted the Shiv Sena, Bhratiya [sic] Janata Party and MNS to call for action against Bhat and AIB.

The inquiry is based on the complaint by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Bollywood has also reacted sharply to the comedian’s portrayal of the music and cricket icons, saying it is in poor taste.

Making videos in poor taste is not against the law, people. I have not seen the video; I will go ahead and concede nevertheless that the video is not worth its time on Youtube. OK, then don’t watch it! If no one watches it, guess what happens: they stop making such videos!

I find stuff like this maddening. “Freedom of speech” should be simple to understand, no? I can speak my mind; you can speak yours. Unless you’re putting words in my mouth, or are preventing me from living my life fully, I have no right to stop you making your speech, however offended or outraged I feel. Yes, if I feel your speech is “wrong” or “bad”, I might encourage my friends and family to boycott you. But only my sense of offense should have no effect on the legality of your speech!

The only people with say in the matter are the celebrities in question. Did Sachin Tendulkar complain? No. Did Lata? No! As long as everyone understands that the video was made by someone else and not the celebrities in question, how in the world does legality come into the picture?

Please, let the police do their thing and go after actual crime and actual criminals. “Distasteful” and “offensive” mean very different things than “illegal”.

∞