The influence of systems is deeply entrenched in our society. Man, however unwilling he may be to admit that he is not bound by those invisible fetters, has bruises all over him showing signs of defiance and escape, yet finally coming around and learning to live with it. So if this piece mirrors flippancy and crudeness on my part, ascribe it to the fact that I come from a professional background where fineness takes a back seat and man is taught to enjoy the groaning of machines as ballroom ragtime. I intend to shed my shallowness in near future as the caterpillar sheds its cuticle through moulting. But for now, I have not cast off my slough yet.
Love and hunger are the two passions man commonly shares, and in most cases the latter overpowers the former. Maybe it is the invisible fulcrum on which all other emotions are hinged. It is easier for a person afflicted with hunger to abandon dignity and allow nefarious emotions like jealousy and hate to slink into the human heart, in order to survive. For what value does dignity and self-respect hold other than the respect that he receives from his fellow beings, and how many of his fellow beings actually respect him when he is unable to provide food for himself? And so the chains of systems arrive, binding man's free will against the background of hunger, often making finer emotions redundant in life.
An industry is a congregation of hungry people, the only difference being that the system is being worshipped here instead of a deity. From the light of dawn, man is numbed by this routine of playing pawns at the hands of magnates who promise him food. But what is most haunting is the way his pride is made malleable. The act is carried out with such diabolical precision that you almost come to admire it's sheer artistry. Greed is being fed in a systematic and orderly manner, the image of going up the social ladder appeasing his material needs shining in his mind with respectable regularity. And through repeated distortions, this greed becomes mechanized, sparkling with the lights and gushing hot metals and roaring with the machines, transforming men into insentient, vast grotesque beings like the undead Orcs of Uruk-hai, scoffing brutishly at the fragility and innocence which once made them more human like. They repeat what the Dark Lords ask them to repeat, fight for mere appraisal points, bicker and bemoan about life like an animal tortured.
But the consequences of this can only be described as the worst things happened to mankind. After some time, they actually take pride in this living, celebrating by surrounding themselves with material luxuries and ready to destroy anyone who does not conform. Their successes are attuned to the success of the system, which can be described by one word only- Profit. For profit they toil, for profit they manipulate and for profit they sacrifice. Polestar statements like "respect for human dignity" and "honest, decent and fair behaviour" are made a mockery of. In all fairness, the behaviour is fair, as you can see the same behaviour existing uniformly, but it can hardly be called honest and decent. As Thoreau rightly says in Walden, "And if the civilized man's pursuits are no worthier than the savage's, if he is employed the greater part of his life in obtaining gross necessaries and comforts merely, why should he have a better dwelling than the former?", man's entire life is spent in getting the extra fraction of the appraisal point to pay the extra EMI at the end of the year. Thus houses are bought and souls are sold. All for the sake of hunger and greed.
Of course there are Smeagols, who still have doubts whether this is the way man intended to lead his life, who try to keep themselves untouched, but isn't the resistance too feeble? Liberation from systems , injecting objectivity in human lives and going out of the way to extend your hand without an outcome is Utopic, but not a harmful thing to pursue. At least it is more human, instead of pursuing customized goals which fills the world with sardonic horror.
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