Murdering family members is sickening, not an illness

Let’s look at a couple of recent cases. In the last few days, two murder cases have made news. In one case, Mohan, an employee of state run Tangedco, his wife and their 23-year old daughter were found murdered in their house in Vellore. Their young son was found injured. Later police has been quoting as saying the son confessed to murdering his family since they refused to permit him to marry the girl he had fallen in love with. There were also reports that he had spent money lavishly, after borrowing from his parents. In another case, a 30-year old man, Gopalakrishnan, was murdered at home allegedly by his wife and a colleague she was close with. 

In my experience, someone who can plan, execute and sit a close family member and wait to kill him or her is thinking clearly. Why do people murder others? In a larger context, I would say that our value systems are coming down. I wouldn’t call it a psychological aberration at this point. A person who can sit and systematically plan the murder of a husband or a brother or a sister appears to be in full control. 

What we have to look at is how our moral and ethical values are down. Compared to the past, family attachment as we knew it is down. People are increasingly turning selfish and self-centred. It is the consumerist society we live in, and the me-first selfishness we see all around us. Increasingly, people do not see murder as a crime, like we used to, when we were growing up. 

Additionally, our popular culture is to be blamed. The shock value that such behaviour created in the past has been replaced by a nothing more than a mild curiosity. Our films in particular are to be blamed for this. Today, every hero is glorified when he takes to vigilantism. When a hero roughs up 10 men, or kills them in the name of justice, we all watch passively. Cinema was not like this in the past. Take MGR’s films. He always advocated good points. Even his songs were a vehicle of good sense. Songs advising youngsters to refrain from lying or being lazy were not only top of the charts, but have an enduring popularity even today. We need such value systems back in our popular culture.