The Game of 'M's

  Philosophers and scientists often tried to provide adequate essentialist definitions to ‘Science’, but haven’t been that successful. Friedrich Nietzsche thought that it was easy to forget that science is a social, historical and cultural activity that invents rather than discovers immutable ‘laws of nature’. Some postmodernist philosophers, like Feyerabend and Rorty, would agree with him. He also thought it was foolish to fall prey to scientism – the belief that science can eventually solve all human problems or discover the truths hidden in ancient ‘Myths’.

  Quoting Joseph Campbell, “Most curiously, the very scientist who, in the service of the sinful king, was the brain behind the horror of the labyrinth, quite as readily can serve the purposes of freedom. But the hero-heart must be at hand. ...He is the hero of the way of thought—singlehearted, courageous, and full of faith that the truth, as he finds it, shall make us free.” If we basically divide the ways and occurences of the world into the basic streams of Sciene, Arts and Commerce, the first two often falls into the pit of ‘Money money money, sweeter that honey’. The game between the three streams controls the lifestyle of our kingdom Earth.

A good example to support the above statements is a commercial advertisement launched by the Dabur company to promote its product Dabur Glucose D this summer 2014. Taking this advertisement into consideration, it is a matter of bewilderment to watch Science, Arts and Commerce actively participating in the basketball game. The advertisement features the Bollywood Star Ajay Devgan as a postmodern Genie and a 12-15 years old boy representing the sporty kids of sophisticated urban societies in India. The plot exhibits the incapability of the Genie to beat the heat, but the witty kid offering the immediate solution : “Zabardast energy cooling : Dabur Glucose D”.

  The basic motive of the advertisement is to potray the dominating potential of Food technology involved in the manufacturing process of the product (Science) over the Islam Mythology or pre-Islamic Arabian Mythology involved in the character of Genie (Arts), causing the ‘zabardast energy cooling’, aiming at the super-sale of the product (Commerce). In Islam Theology, Genie is a spirit-like creature with free-will, made from smokeless fire and air by Allah, as humans were made of clay. Likewise, the Dabur Glucose D is a product made from liquids (water) and organic ingredients (earth), by scientists (human + science). On one hand, this advertisement highlights the advancement of human and science, and overshadows the gravity of the Myths. On the other hand, this 21^st century Genie, with its cap and hooded jersey, exposes the deceptiveness of the cool and funky nature of human beings. Overall, the advertisement is a bare representation of the postmodern inter-mingling of the three  ‘M’s : Man, Mythology and Money.

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