Invasion of western culture

But these sorts of 'cultural invasions' do not come from neo-colonialism or national conspiracies. No gang of evil men sits round tables and plots these things! They are usually triggered by fashions that are picked up by smart businesses in all nations that see a way of making money by recording music, by advertising, by suggesting styles, by pandering to pop culture wherever it appears in this global village of ours called 'the world'. Regrettably, the pornographic film industry flourishes in every country. Here in Bangladesh, back-street copiers, traders and naughty Cyber Cafes encourage it. As for drug addiction, it is home-grown to the east, rather than the west, whose drug of choice was alcohol for centuries.

I fear that the real objection to these influences is that, if we do not want our young people's minds to be filled with rubbish, it means much harder work by parents and the community! We all need to find ways of putting moral pressure on cyber cafes. It is also vital to regulate a child's tele-viewing. I know some families in the UK who are so appalled at what is on TV these days that their children's televisions are not connected to the cable and they only watch approved videos. I am very disappointed at the lack of what I would call a 'TV Times' here, with full details of each day's programmes on every channel for a whole week - so that we can all, including parents, plan our own and our children's viewing, choosing only what is worthwhile watching and switching off the rest. Flicking between channels is the way to waste an awful lot of time and to risk addiction to rubbish. There are good programmes but just try and find them! This would only need one smart employee, an office and a computer and access to the newsvendors to sell it, maybe initially at a subsidised price. Could The Daily Star plus a small grant from a donor help us? A weekly inset? The present half-page is pretty useless. As for avoiding drug dependency, I am not surprised that some youngsters find they need drugs to relax because they have not developed any social skills. Most of them are under such pressure to 'get good grades' that the rest of what they need to grow up normally is put on 'hold'! Yet developing a child's social skills in Dhaka city is really hard work!

Every country is quite capable of going to heaven or hell in its own sweet way. Don't blame it all on 'foreigners'!