Grinchness continues to cut its green swath across the subcontinent. 
First Pakistan and Afghanistan banned Indian films. Then, just a couple of months ago, the idyllic Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan banned Indian entertainment channels (via Desi Flavor):
Telecast of some Indian news and entertainment channels has been barred by cable operators in Bhutan, after local media labelled them as a threat to their cultural values, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday. “… the above decision was taken by the cable operators themselves, following a series of articles, which appeared in the media in Bhutan,” Reddy said. He said it was alleged in most of the articles that some of these channels were “culturally degrading and were undermining Bhutanese cultural values, besides distracting students from their studies…” [Link]
“Bhutanese kids… suddenly saw these big men [pro wrestlers] beating each other up on television,” he added. “They couldn’t understand it. There were several pained letters from kids saying ‘why are they doing this?’… “[Young people] want and need what they see on television – the fashion, the clothes, the whole changing lifestyle, going to bars, drinking,” Kinley Dorji said. “A lot of these ideas have come from television. And they want more now.”
Others, though, see the whole debate as largely irrelevant. They point out that the vast majority of Bhutan’s population – 70% – do not even have electricity, let alone television. [Link]
You’d think if Bhutan really cared about moral degeneracy, they’d ban public drunkenness and penis art. ‘Culturally degrading’ and ‘distracts from studies’ is kind of the whole point of watching TV. I’ll grant the argument if the Powers That Be take crappy reality shows off air. Leave Beauty and the Geek — that isn’t a reality show, it’s fantasy 
Bhutan previously banned copping a smoke, a law which is widely ignored. This from the state which enshrines the ‘pursuit of Gross National Happiness‘ in its constitution. Similarly, Pakistan just got in one final lick, so to speak:
Maintaining its ban on import of Indian films, Pakistan has decided not to exempt even those jointly produced between Bollywood and Lollywood or featuring Pakistani actors. [Link]
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p>Next, these countries will ban returning blank postcards to advertisers at their expense, scratching an itch and taking a leak when you really, really have to go. Ah, little pleasures.
Related post here.
Bhutan’s recent history is often heart-breaking but at other times entirely predictable.
The banning of Indian TV seems like some back-pedalling; too little, too late. Since Western (and Eastern) influences came to Bhutan in 1999, largely in the form of TV, the country has changed immeasurably.
Bhutan was the last country in the world to introduce TV. Not long afterwards, something unexpected happened – crime. A crimewave of murders, drug deals and frauds seemed to appear from nowhere. Heroin sales rocketted and drinking soared.
Today David Beckham and Shah Rukh Khan are effectively gods in Bhutan. Perhaps it’s foolish to blame an unavoidable shift of a country into the modern world on television, just moving pictures and sounds. But the timing is striking. A part of you feels a terrible injustice, that us heartless outsiders have sullied the last Shangri-La on Earth. But really, could a country exist with no TV in the 21st century? It’s a fascinating country, with no paper currency, roads, hospitals or electricity until the last few decades. I remember reading that there is no Bhutanese word for traffic jam.
In 2002 (I think) the government responded to calls by the press to ban television. I remember them specifically asking for Star TV to be banned back then, so this post rings some bells Manish. I’m surprised it took so long.
Bhutan is a unique and forgotten country. Its recent history is intimately tied in with the development of TV – with elections being fought and won on manifestos promising television, and then its subsequent banning. It’s a case study into a country Westernising in fast forward. Kids are into football, hip hop, weed and crime. Their parents, perhaps 20 years older, are stuck in a time warp unchanged for centuries.
As an Asian and as a Westerner, I can’t help but feel terribly, terribly sad that thousands of years of traditions are being abandoned for something resembling a Sunset Beach pastiche of the West. But are we there to dictate what others do? The Pursuit of Gross National Happiness you refer to Manish has had its interpretation changed completely.
This post’s subject is a desperate measure. It’s too late, the Bhutan the older generation want back is gone.
Sorry, went into hack mode there. It’s an emotive subject for me.
Man I don’t blame them….have you seen these hindi music videos recently?
A part of you feels a terrible injustice, that us heartless outsiders have sullied the last Shangri-La on Earth.
here is the life expectancy: total population: 54.39 years male: 54.65 years female: 54.11 years (2005 est.)
here is the life expectancy for an anus-of-the-world i know first hand (bangladesh): total population: 62.08 years male: 62.13 years female: 62.02 years (2005 est.)
any nation with a life expectancy lower than bangladesh should be ashamed of themselves.
i understand why some people would romanticize bhutan. i do not think that the human mind is totally ‘rational,’ and i think there are serious issues we as human beings have to confront as to what is ‘the good life.’ if, for example, in the near future would could be fed by nutrition pellets and attached to virtual reality feeds which would simulate whatever fantasy worlds we concocted, would that be ‘the good life.’ the future is the hard road, but, as you noted, it is the only road, we can’t go back.
bhutan is simply another anachronism like the gulf states, pre-modern norms and values attempting to retain their nature in a modern context. we wouldn’t romanticize the gulf states, why should we romanticize bhutan? as part of their attempt to maintain authenticity the bhutanese have driven out many nepalese who have lived in the country for generations. their refugee problem is well known.
i am not necessarily someone who believes that universal rights, standards and quality of life are tenable or even preferable. but, i do think these questions need to be addressed without the smoke-screen of western idealization. most people here would not idealize the islamic emirates of the gulf i think in large part because you are well aware of the inhumanity to brown people that their faux-pre-modern lifestyles demand (power by petro-dollars). with the bhutanese, it is they themselves that suffer, and the ‘nepalese’ who are born into that nation not of the dragon people.
Those who don’t adapt to changing times, perish. It’s applicable to people, cultures, countries, languages… anything.
M. Nam
But razib – you’ve totally ignored Bhutan’s commitment to Gross National Happiness. We should be following their Buddhist example instead of being deluded by Western, capitalist ideas like eliminating poverty and disease!
Gross National Happiness
well, this is a serious issue, hindi movies are probably a threat to the character of the bhutanese nation. i simply happen to think that the order of evaluation of happiness has to start out with the individual, family, then with nation, and finally intermediate levels of group identity (religion, race, ethnicity, etc.). other people disagree. islamists in britain who want to ‘enforce’ their own views on their coreligionists and coethnics obviously prioritize the intermediate level of identity (the ‘ummah’ vs. the nation or individual). those who are argue that nations deserve the right to maintain their own character, no matter the personal preferences of the people who constitute said nation (see iran), are prioritizing the higher level identity over the lower level one (the individual). it’s a values issue in the end. nations have no inalienable rights in my opinion. people do. determining what they are is a bitch of course (beyond the basics of life, liberty, etc.).
You can argue that the islamists are constructing a form of nationalism. there is, after all, a fundamental link among laws, religion, territory, and sovereignty in what they say.
Also, your definition of what’s “intermediate” and what’s not is loaded. “Nations” are dynamic in nature and it would be more appropriate for you to say “state” here; e.g. consider what position of identity a similarly positioned person in East Bengal could adopt in 1907 in 1945 and in 1971 with regard to which is the final “nation” to whom they owe allegiance and on what basis (anti-colonial; religion; language/ethnicity).
If Ayotollah and Mullahs of Bhutan had their way, they would push Bhutan bak to medeival era. That is what Drig Lam Namza about. Bhutanization for Bhutan is what Talebanization is for Afghastan.
I appreciate your interest on Bhutan. Bhutanese regime, like any other autrocratic regime, is using the threatened culture as an excuse for ethnic cleansing. Several thousand Southern Bhutanese, who are predominantly Hindus, were purged from Bhutan to maintain Bhutan’s version of Buddhist Culture. Bhuddha’s teaching clearly staes that nothing is permanent, however, Bhutan is fighting a losing battle of absolute control over its people by using religion and culture as smokescreen.
How would you like to spend 15 years in limbo in refugee camps? How much “Gross Happiness” do you derived from being raped, pillaged, and jailed? I would like the King of Bhutan to define “Gross Happiness” in context of what has been taking place in Bhutan since 1990s. I hope Bhutan cannot hide behind the cloak of threatened tradition and culture any longer.
I hope India stops propping the regime via influx of development capital and foreign AID. We have had enough of the “Gross National Happiness” and it is about time for a change. We, the refugees, appreciate the assistance from the donor countries.
According to what I know the refugees never had any proper document to support their ‘rights’ to being a bhutanese. Secondly they hack their own people to tell us that we need to give them a free independent government. In the west people like them are called terrorist. Then when the Bhutanese people go to them for talks they end up abusing the people physically, not only the Bhutanese but also the foreign government personels involved. What is that? Anyone who thinks different should go to Bhutan and see if anyone is being abused? Want abuse go to the west, see for yourself what racial abuse really means!
man what’s up with all the care about each other? (marked sarcasm dudes)sheer spite.it would be good if you all left things to happen… for good or for bad. why poke into stuff and get all tensed up for not getting to watch all those stupid channels if ya happen to go to bhutan, or see people die at the page of fifty, see phallus on the walls(gotta see what it really means), or another rule coming up. bhutan is a country inhabited by humans like us all.. not super beings… bound to make mistakes, come up with idiotic laws and deal with globalisation in all atrocious means. let us all sit back and enjoy a little pecularity. might work… :-b…. peace
well refugees..who are they ..an immigrant worker…. well in all the bhutanese histories which i have read …i havent heard of any one with the name of chettri, rai , sharmas, who fought or along with the penlops and dzongpons …neither the tibet or the brittish invasion… so wher did they suddenly come from n claim democracy ??? its those who supported those few lots n riches and thus the mass has to suffer …i feel pity for the rest … but the so called leaders…are havig good times.. .
Recently “Bhutan bashing” seems to have become livelihood for some peolpe. And some of these people are having a great life by just doing this, while their so called fellow refugees are manipulated and neglected. Bhutan bashing is a gold mine for them!!!.
A bunch of people who know nothing of my country are debating what’s going on in my country. Interesting… I guess you’ve not heard of the blind men and the elephant.
Cheers
As it is easier to watch and comment than to really understand,I wonder how many of you have really been to Bhutan,understood her culture and way of life.Being vicarously there doesn’t justify your knowledge and commenting on it without having any idea shows your mental apptitude and the kind of background you all come from.There is a saying in Bhutan…”build drains and canels before it rains and take precuations before you fall sick”This mere line demonstrates the philosophy of Bhutan.Fools comment and make a mockery out of it because it becomes harder for them to understand the concept of morality and spiritualy which their own forfathers have exchanged with what they call materials ,so for these grand childrens the world is all about self satisfying and gathering metarials.So it is obvious that when they come accross such good moral ethics and practices they cannot digest the fact because it occured to them only in their fairytales.Nations have fought amongst themselves killing millions of people just to dominate ,be rich powerful and strong nation and the people who fought for such causes are the great grandfathers of the some authors here.
Dear Guys,
Let me share a lesson from my country. Once a european expert on “Yak” visited Bhutan. You know what the funniest part. He had never seen a yak in his life. You guys passing comment on Bhutan are exactly like that yak expert. I come from the bottom strata of my society. Give me a choice in life to change anything about me… I will always choose to be a Bhutanese and live in Bhutan. What we have in Bhutan are priceless..
Bhutan is a third world country. Make no mistake. Citizens of such countries tend to be more emotional about their ruling class and national identity. Hyper statements like ‘I would love to live in Bhutan whatever happens’ should be discounted. Strict dress code is a burden on many. Bhutan enjoys some more statistical marks over Nepal because of the size of population. What Bhutan needs is less rhetoric and more development work. Rural people there are needy as from anywhere else.
When the people of Bhutan has no problem and when everyone in Bhutan is not complaining and when everyone in Bhutan loves their King and country, why is it a problem to the outsiders? If our Law does not appear good to you, then it affects Bhutanese only, not you. But when the Bhutanese are happy about everything, why are you all making a fuss of something which doesnot concern you. And Dawa, to back up my fellow Bhutanese Dorji, ”I would love to live in Bhutan whatever happens’ applies to me and all Bhutanese like me. This is not a hyper statement. Ask any Bhutanese. They will not exchange their rural Bhutanese settings with any of the highly developed states of the world. We are in pursuit of Gross National Happiness. Bhutan is a Third World Country as you say. No doubt about it. But we are also highly educated lot. The fact that my english is better than yours proves the point.