அறம் வெல்லும் அஞ்சற்க!

 

I'm a huge fan of Bigg Boss Tamil. I always look at it as a massive social experiment. A platform that can be used to assess the mindset of Tamil society as a whole. One key positive takeaway from this season is that Shivin, a transwoman, became the second runner-up. This shows how the Tamil community has become very progressive in accepting the transgender community. Several of my friends were angry when Azeem won BB 6 Tamil. There was even an article today in "India Today" detailing how Azeem's victory on BB 6 set a terrible example for Tamil society. I have no doubt that Azeem is a toxic and misogynistic abuser both inside and outside the BB house. The fact that Tamil people voted him for the title of the most-watched reality TV show in Tamil is indeed shameful. But I don't see this as the collective downfall of Tamil values. Azeem's victory only shows the danger of a divided Tamil Nadu youth along religious, political, and caste lines.

The ideal candidate for winning this season, Vikraman, lost due to a variety of factors. Unlike previous seasons, this time voting is only available through the Hotstar app. Therefore, the voting audience is automatically limited to people who live in India with internet and smartphone access. So the older population of Tamil society and Tamils outside India didn't have a voice this time. Despite being a well-mannered, kind person, Vikraman mainly portrayed himself as a politically correct person. Throughout this season, he repeatedly pointed out the hypocrisies existing in Tamil society such as casteism. He is at heart a social reformer. But Tamils are always fiercely resistant to major changes. It is both a positive and a negative aspect of Tamil society. This attitude helped the Tamils to preserve their core culture intact for over 2500 years. This attitude made Tamil culture the only classical civilization to survive into modern times. Conversely, this attitude can also delay immediate and meaningful changes that are needed within society.

Vikraman's ideologies and political views antagonized different factions in Tamil society. Azeem easily won the votes of toxic retards, who make up a sizable minority in any society due to his destructive behaviour, and hard-line Muslim votes due to his religious identity. Factions of Tamil youth who are antagonised by Vikraman's ideology also supported Azeem just to defeat him. For instance, young people aligned with political parties like PMK, which talk about caste supremacy, actively urged their members to vote for Azeem. Youths supporting hardline Hindu ideologies were against him since they believed his ideology would destroy Hinduism. So they also voted for Azeem who they saw as the lesser of two evils. As a result of polarization along religious, political, and caste lines, such an undeserving candidate won. Azeem's victory is a stark warning to Tamils about what will happen if we continue to divide ourselves and put our differences ahead of our values. அறம் வெல்லும் அஞ்சற்க!