Gloves off

The term ‘gloves off’ rises from the image of removing the boxing gloves. With the gloves off, the rules no longer apply. The contestants stop being calm or civil. They begin to behave in a more hostile manner. The sport now turns into a fight without rules. The game gets vicious and violent.  

Indians are in the midst of a national election for representatives to the Parliament. We see politicians taking the ‘gloves off’. Parliamentary etiquettes are shed for fake posturing, character assassination and regressive abuse. Interestingly, the one who decries the violation of decency is often guilty of a similar misconduct.

It is pertinent to note that most supporters of different political parties are taking their ‘gloves off’ too. They are taking the fight outside the ring. The blows are not based on real issues. They are careless swings of aimless attacks that seek to fight rather than debate, condemn rather than convince, lynch rather than disagree.

Sports without ethics and dignity are crude, violent variations where might is right. It turns into a bloody battleground where the savage intention is to draw blood. We must recognise that such behaviour is stripping us of our humanity. To save ourselves, we must put the gloves back and get back into the sporting ring.

When everyone is with the gloves off, it becomes a crazy free for all. It leads to hurtful divisions that will lead to worsening of interpersonal relations and to our collective peril! We must choose to put back the gloves and fight by the rules within the parameters of the ring. To behave otherwise is dangerous for all.

Putting the gloves off is surely dangerous

Where humanity is on a brink precarious!

~ Pravin K Sabnis