But no matter how trenchant this voice of a small minority, as they vehemently protest each episode, the assault continues every single day. Even in the holy month of Ramadan, when Islam enjoins every Muslim to be more fraternal, more pious, more compassionate, and more generous, the trend seemed to be quite the opposite, as the animal passions of a group of heinous individuals continued with fervent brutality: eleven burnt to ashes, five with their throats slit, a repeat brutality where the eleven were burnt and so on. It seems as if a veil has been lifted, a stone slab removed, a Pandora's Box opened to obliterate social restraints as the perpetrators dance a grisly dance while shame takes a back seat. In that dance they seem to be taunting society, as if saying, "Come and get us if you can." And despite the protestations of those who stand for decency, for justice, and for a moral high ground, the spate of violence continues unabated as it seems to have claimed yet another victim: outrage. It behooves us to seriously ponder whether outrage is dead!

Why do I suggest this introspection? In the old days public expressions of outrage seemed to get results. Ministers resigned, heads of senior officials rolled as they were humiliated for incapacity, and perpetrators of crime were brought to justice. There was a machinery in place that earned public trust, a machinery that produced results. Today that machinery is seen from many perspectives: To some it seems to lie still in a deep slumber of incapacity. To others it is awake, but in a state of deep apathy, responding ever so often, as if merely to register its existence. And to still others that machinery seems to have transformed itself into something more macabre, more devious, and more cunning as it plots its course to pursue an agenda of its own.

This machinery, deeply detached from all that is decent, has begun to cast a dark shadow of mistrust on society, while vile elements in its shadow, oblivious to societal outrage, gather strength from quarters murky and unknown. And under this shadow, while the general public seems to be carrying on with life, deep down there is a scarring of the psyche, a shredding of the soul, that is born of a sense of mistrust, a sense of insecurity, and a subterranean rage gnawing away at their hopes and aspirations. Such feelings are only natural as crime and violence continues to spread in an ever-increasing arc, claiming in their wake the religious minorities (Banshkhali), the feminine gender (as dowry continues to take its toll), political opponents, businessmen taking a stand against extortionists in various garbs, and countless others. It is as if the whole nation, shackled to fear and insecurity, never saw the light of freedom, paid for in blood and tears, that was supposed to sing a different tune: of emancipation, of reduced disparities, of justice, and of enlightenment.

What sustains this state of affairs and how long must it be endured? Two theories may explain our being in this brutish state of nature. One points to the growing population and its needs for survival that generates vile conduct. It is as if the proverbial experiment with rats is coming true of humans. The gist of the experiment is if we place a few rats in an enclosed space, they will live in harmony; increase their numbers to where serious crowding begins and they will turn on each other and cause serious harm…

even death. If we humans are like these rats, the prognosis is dire. With a spiraling population, and no additional space to accommodate it, the violence is only likely to escalate, outrage or no outrage.

The other theory -- as some believe -- is that society is controlled by a nexus and abetted by the machinery, bent on shaping societal rules to feed their greed, while the vast majority must endure a terrible burden. Stand up against this greed, this nexus, this machinery, and quickly it is curtains! As if life is of no value at all, ready for the taking at the slightest whim. If this explains the deplorable violence let loose on society today, while dehumanizing it, the nexus and the machinery seem to have mastered a strategic skill. Their response to outrage is astonishingly simple: Overwhelm and ignore; as if the purpose is to inure society and make it benign to horrific acts so that more of it can cut deep into society's vital organs while outrage remains bound and gagged. And relying on this strategy, the vile elements continue their dance as they overwhelm society with one grisly episode after another, while the machinery continues to ignore -- some say provide cover to -- the perpetrators. As the statistics pile up, the countless victims appear to be fading from social memory.

Or are they? Can it be that easy? Can the state of affairs continue ad-infinitum? I believe social memory will come to the rescue. While certain episodes might fade, they are never obliterated or forgotten. And from that social memory, outrage will emerge from solitary confinement... it may not be dead after all! Surely society is watching and recording this grisly invasion into private space in mute disbelief. Sooner or later it will react. The perpetrators forget that outrage has a life-form of its own. Pushed to the limit, it gathers together its own elemental forces, as if reincarnating Newton's Third Law in the behavioral domain. Out of this dynamic is likely to emerge a new momentum to recharge the nation, while forces of order restore societal harmony and justice. And as history has shown, good triumphs over evil while the corrupt of society are eventually brought to justice or punished in some way as social memory is re-kindled. This is the story of mankind since history was recorded (e.g., the French Revolution, the liberation of Bangladesh, Saddam, Ceausescu, Hitler, and, futuristically, probably some of the current leaders of the western powers and their allies and coteries causing global outrage) lest we forget. Can the much talked about "third force" rekindle and harness this subterranean outrage that typifies society today? That is unlikely, because social memory could catch up with their past failures as well. But, in the esoteric world of cognitive calculus, choosing the least of the evils could offer them a slim chance. We shall just have to wait and see!

Dr. Syed Saad Andaleeb is Professor and Program Chair of Marketing at the Sam and Irene Black School of Business, Pennsylvania State University at Erie, Editor of the Journal of Bangladesh Studies, and a Fulbright Scholar at East West University.