Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 06/Aug 19:02

What Has Weak Public Opinion Done To India? – OpEd

I come from a land of milk, honey, and stupid people. Since I’m neither lactose-intolerant nor diabetic yet, the first two items on the list are okay with me. It’s the stupid people who terrify me the most. Stupid people are indeed terrifying. Across the globe, they represent the majority, which is what makes majoritarianism so frightening. The worst part is that you can't escape them, as they are omnipresent. The fact that they are content with themselves is even more frightening. All genuinely thoughtful people suffer from something called ‘critical anxiety’. It comes from worrying about the state of the world. Some people are concerned about the future of the young. Some are concerned about the environment. Some worry that a nuclear war could lead to the extinction of the human race. Noam Chomsky is worried about all of the above. For critically anxious people, life is not just about themselves. It is mostly about others. Stupid people don’t have to be critically anxious because they’re only worried about themselves. They don’t even understand that their stupidity might come back to destroy the lives of their own children. If they did, they would do a better job than putting up with the inequality and injustice that they witness on a daily basis. A stand-up comedian’s show, scheduled for the 29th of June, 2024, in Hyderabad, was cancelled owing to threats from a BJP MLA from Hyderabad, T. Raja Singh. Apparently, the comedian had made jokes about the Jain community, which did not go well with Mr. T. Raja Singh. Interestingly, this is an opposition-ruled state with the Indian National Congress at the helm of affairs. However, the man challenges the police, stating, “We urge you to cancel his show, if not, we will create a state that everyone will remember, ensuring that no one ever jokes about Jains or the Hindu religion.” This is not public opinion. These are the private feelings of an individual or a small group, essentially henchmen of the ruling party, who get to decide and shape the way things should be. We don’t even know if these feelings are real. And yet, there is no outcry against this kind of behavior. This is the pathetic state of public opinion in countries like India, where the public has virtually no influence over the actions of the political parties running the government, a situation that has persisted for decades. Up until the emergence of digital platforms, vested interests dominated the media. These interests have rarely allowed the expression of alternative views on public platforms. Only in recent years have intelligent and serious-minded individuals—the ones with ‘critical anxiety’—taken it upon themselves to give the public an alternative perspective on what is happening around them. We have to be thankful that these technologies arrived at the right time. We should also express our gratitude to those who posed pertinent questions. The positive thing about video sharing websites like YouTube is that the public gets the opportunity to choose who they wish to “like” and “subscribe” to. Content creators usually give their best to their audiences. This is not the case with mainstream media. They treat the public in a manner akin to leading pigs to slaughterhouses. I’m glad that finally there is some place for talented young men and women who don’t need to be super rich to do creative work with visual technologies. I’m sure that it’s still an expensive and time-consuming affair. However, it would be significantly worse if some of those talented individuals were dependent on the patronage of powerful people who would be directing their goals. We learned in school that the legislature, executive, and judiciary are three independent branches of the government that serve as checks and balances. My social science teacher was a Parsi woman who made me love history, despite being a bit of an Anglophile. She once told the class that when Indian tourists went to Switzerland, the local kids would follow them around. Whenever the tourists littered the place, the kids would pick up the trash and throw it in the bin. As a perennial backbencher, I never bothered to ask her about the specific details of the story. Having said that, she was the best social science teacher I ever had; there was a subtle skepticism with regard to textbook interpretations of historical events that I learned from her. What seems to have happened is that, over a period of time, the three so-called autonomous branches of the government—the legislature, executive, and judiciary—have successfully merged to become one entity. In other words, we are paying money for a democracy. In return, we are given soft despotism. The people who I admire the most are those who fight for truth and justice without identifying themselves with any particular group. You don’t need a label to define yourself. Just stand for the truth. There's something heroic about those who don't call themselves rightists or leftists and yet silently contribute to social and political well-being through whatever means are at their disposal. I'm pleased to say that on the digital platform, I get to see a lot of young men and women who have made it their goal in life to put an unjust government on the defensive. They are taking a bull of a government by the horns and wrestling it out of the arena. I never see them referring to themselves as right or left. What do these terms mean anyway in countries like India, where opportunism is the norm and people change their political beliefs faster than they change their clothes? ‘Critical anxiety’ is important for all well-meaning people. You cannot think that life begins or ends with you. Think carefully and make sure your actions will benefit people you may never see. I admire climate activists for this one reason. Regrettably, they encounter significant public disdain and disrespect. They also face legal troubles, which are sometimes serious. In one sad incident captured on camera, a man actually killed a couple of young climate activists for blocking the road. Sometimes you wonder whether people are using their minds or not. How can you kill a human being for blocking the road? We need to preserve the environment at all costs. In this regard, common people's cooperation is indispensable. You must protect the environment at all costs if you truly care for your children and grandchildren. Even if you don’t go all out and protest against government policies, at least being supportive of some of the policies aimed at controlling pollution is a step in the right direction. In a 1945 essay titled “Freedom of the Park,” Orwell makes an interesting point with regard to public opinion. Orwell is contemplating the arrest of five individuals for selling papers outside Hyde Park. “The point is that the relative freedom which we enjoy depends on public opinion. The law is no protection. Governments make laws, but whether they are carried out, and how the police behave, depends on the general temper in the country. If large numbers of people are interested in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it; if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them. The decline in the desire for individual liberty has not been so sharp as I would have predicted six years ago, when the war was starting, but still there has been a decline. The notion that certain opinions cannot safely be allowed a hearing is growing. It is given currency by intellectuals who confuse the issue by not distinguishing between democratic opposition and open rebellion, and it is reflected in our growing indifference to tyranny and injustice abroad. And even those who declare themselves to be in favour of freedom of opinion generally drop their claim when it is their own adversaries who are being prosecuted.” This is normal Indian thinking: as long as I’m doing good, the world can burn to ash. But you’re a part of the world. If the world burns to ashes, you're going to be ash too. If the government stinks, it’s because the majority of the people are skunks. They just don’t care what happens to anyone around them. Some of my colleagues openly collaborated with the authorities when they dismissed me from my job. In fact, they made it happen for monetary and career gains, which they think are permanent. But there is no escape and people condemn themselves in the process. James Baldwin once said, “In the private chambers of the soul, the guilty party is identified, and the accusing finger, there, is not legend, but consequence, not fantasy, but the truth. People pay for what they do, and, still more, for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply: by the lives they lead.” If the life you lead is itself a punishment, then it’s a terrible way to live. That’s how most people continue with their indifference and dishonesty, assuming that somehow they’re secure. When nobody wants you except for your money or power, how can you be secure? A moral commitment to strengthening public opinion is vital to any political system. Where public opinion is strong, we remind political parties to exercise caution when promulgating laws, remind law-enforcers not to abuse their power because they’re being watched and actively dissuade members of the judiciary from aligning with powerful interests. Unless we do that, we don’t have a future in this country.