4 Dec 2008, 3:58pm
When an entire population is desensitised...
Posted by Script Writer | Category [ Writing ]Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)
There are some things beyond human understanding. Terrorism is not one of them. Anyone who claims to walk on two legs and breathe oxygen should be able to get the hang of it. Yes this includes the allied forces fighting the 'war on terror', strange though it may appear. Even for a fleeting moment I don't buy the allied bluff. I don't think anyone else does. Fighting for the free world, they say. Go figure.
George Bernard Shaw, or someone like him, once said something to the effect that patriotism is the blind faith that one's own country is right simply because one happens to be born in it. Entire wars have been fought upon this flimsy premise. Although this post is not about the futility of war, I should definitely like to mention that in the history of the human race only two wars have ever been justified - the great war of the Mahabharata, and the 1971 Bangladesh war. Every other war has been the result of man's greed for more.
I digress. The thing is events around me hardly ever shake me up. I am one of those cynics or realists or idealists or whatever other labels you can choose to come up with who believes that the world has always been the same. Almost two millennia ago there were the crusades. Today you have jihad. When colonialism became politically incorrect, it was merely replaced with words like globalisation or intellectual property rights - anything that ensured the wealthy remain that way by sucking dry the old colonial world. Remarkable that Nehru had made this prophecy during a NAM convention, eons before these terms became fashionable.
In my 9 years of adulthood, I have never voted. Not once. Yes, I have never let up on an opportunity to complain about the system but when it came my turn to do something about changing it I remained inactive. I assumed I was insignificant. Forgotten I had that it was that one nail that undid the horseshoe that resulted in a battle being lost.
This time something inside me stirred. It did not stir before. Not when the WTC came down. Not when the Parliament was bombed. Not when Akshardham was attacked. Not when the Mumbai train bombings happened. Not even when tragedy struck closer home in Hyderabad. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Had I been completely desensitised? I don't think so. People not using a condom during sex completely riled me. Then why this apathy towards terrorism?
It was possibly because I realised that the brilliance of democracy is that a country gets the governance it deserves. I realised that with someone who has never once won a Lok Sabha election heading the government, things could not possibly be any better than they are. I realised that all this mindlessness was our own doing. We never tried to change things. All we did is scream off the rooftops.
But what was different this time around? I guess being away from India gives you a very cushy perspective. No, I am not in what is considered to be a developed nation. I am in Nigeria, a country known more for its disorder. Yet, I feel safer here than I did back home. But that is not it. It is a little hard to explain. Let me give it my best shot.
I caught most of the Mumbai news stories on CNN / BBC. I was very touched by the empathetic manner in which they handled this story. They gave the tragedy the dignity it deserved. Indian news channels, on the other hand, turned it into a TRP gimmick. It was appalling. It was even more appalling that reporting news in such a barbaric manner increases TRP. This is a reflection of the kind of people we have become. Deep down, we revel in others' tragedy. And this is saddening. What stirred inside me was a sense of loss. We have possibly lost India to our inner demons. That gives me the goose flesh.
Current Mood: Gloomy
Current Music: None
George Bernard Shaw, or someone like him, once said something to the effect that patriotism is the blind faith that one's own country is right simply because one happens to be born in it. Entire wars have been fought upon this flimsy premise. Although this post is not about the futility of war, I should definitely like to mention that in the history of the human race only two wars have ever been justified - the great war of the Mahabharata, and the 1971 Bangladesh war. Every other war has been the result of man's greed for more.
I digress. The thing is events around me hardly ever shake me up. I am one of those cynics or realists or idealists or whatever other labels you can choose to come up with who believes that the world has always been the same. Almost two millennia ago there were the crusades. Today you have jihad. When colonialism became politically incorrect, it was merely replaced with words like globalisation or intellectual property rights - anything that ensured the wealthy remain that way by sucking dry the old colonial world. Remarkable that Nehru had made this prophecy during a NAM convention, eons before these terms became fashionable.
In my 9 years of adulthood, I have never voted. Not once. Yes, I have never let up on an opportunity to complain about the system but when it came my turn to do something about changing it I remained inactive. I assumed I was insignificant. Forgotten I had that it was that one nail that undid the horseshoe that resulted in a battle being lost.
This time something inside me stirred. It did not stir before. Not when the WTC came down. Not when the Parliament was bombed. Not when Akshardham was attacked. Not when the Mumbai train bombings happened. Not even when tragedy struck closer home in Hyderabad. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Had I been completely desensitised? I don't think so. People not using a condom during sex completely riled me. Then why this apathy towards terrorism?
It was possibly because I realised that the brilliance of democracy is that a country gets the governance it deserves. I realised that with someone who has never once won a Lok Sabha election heading the government, things could not possibly be any better than they are. I realised that all this mindlessness was our own doing. We never tried to change things. All we did is scream off the rooftops.
But what was different this time around? I guess being away from India gives you a very cushy perspective. No, I am not in what is considered to be a developed nation. I am in Nigeria, a country known more for its disorder. Yet, I feel safer here than I did back home. But that is not it. It is a little hard to explain. Let me give it my best shot.
I caught most of the Mumbai news stories on CNN / BBC. I was very touched by the empathetic manner in which they handled this story. They gave the tragedy the dignity it deserved. Indian news channels, on the other hand, turned it into a TRP gimmick. It was appalling. It was even more appalling that reporting news in such a barbaric manner increases TRP. This is a reflection of the kind of people we have become. Deep down, we revel in others' tragedy. And this is saddening. What stirred inside me was a sense of loss. We have possibly lost India to our inner demons. That gives me the goose flesh.
Current Mood: Gloomy
Current Music: None
4 Dec 2008, 4:13pm
You don't think the Ramayana war was justified? Ouch.
4 Dec 2008, 4:17pm
BTW, I agree with the TRP bit. I think I hate Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt and that guy on Times Now whose name starts with an A as much as I hate our politicians.
And rediff, which has an article about how a cop in a hospital is getting traumatized by the media, written by its own journalist who traumatized him just as much.
4 Dec 2008, 5:15pm
I think this time is scary because there was no clear design except to strike and create terror. No real demands were placed by the perpetrators and no clear exit strategies were devised
It just seemed randomized. It was not like being killed while being mugged.. Cos u know what the mugger is after.
But this is just... random. It they are going to be audacious and senseless they are like a runaway train.
4 Dec 2008, 5:21pm
You may be mistaken, Urban Aphrodite. Read this excellent article that appeared a few days back on stratfor.
4 Dec 2008, 5:23pm
Urban Aphrodite, that is what terrorism is about - to create terror. There is never any other design or demand or exit strategy.
prince of ayodhya, I have my issues with Ramayana. First, I don't think it is justified to engage entire armies in battle over a woman. Second, I am saddened that Sita not only had to go through a literal trial by fire but she was also exiled. She would probably have been better off in Lanka.
5 Dec 2008, 7:16pm
Media is marketing-driven rather than content-driven in this country, so it would take two or three decades more for it to mature. Until then, alas!, we must, I think, endure. All those good- and not-so-good-looking, young and old idiot box journos seem to work with only one objective - to get a good rating in the next appraisal along with incentives and more free invites. Some celebrity-obsessed culture we have, we must admit! Who cares for the dead? Their kith, for sure. And a few others, perhaps. But that's that. Sad but true. And you rightly named the villains.
Democracy? I don't seem to agree here. Simply having a ballot-box process in place doesn't make a country democratic. It, without doubt, sounds great on paper. A quite admirable and desirable form of government indeed. But the way it's practiced in this country - it's absolute farce. Sorry. We are overlooking many other fundamental factors and flaws if we eagerly join the chorus and sing "hail the largest and greatest democracy!" After 60-odd years of singing, discussing, and debating, we are ruled by ruthless goons. How good that is! Democracy on paper, farce in practice. Doesn't work. We are merely trying to paint the exteriors of the house when the problem is with the foundation!
Change... I wonder if it's just another fad imposed by state to transfer guilt to the individual even when the state itself is at fault. Ignoring the metaphysical reference, change is too complicated a phenomenon. Correct me if I am wrong, but how profoundly has the world really changed through millennia? Superficially, yes. But that happens even if the entire species gives in to sloth and watches centuries pass by. Methinks we understand "change" wrongly. We are all living in psychological concentration camps and dreaming of "change" only as an idea. X has idea A, Y has idea B, Z has idea C... Somehow, there should be a radical "change" in the way we look at and understand change. All the same, this isn't to say I don't appreciate your drive to effect change. Quite appreciable, indeed. May your tribe increase.
Coming back - the democratic setting doesn't allow you to change anything unless you adopt a democratic method. You must participate in democracy yourself to effect the change you intend to. Else, one risks prison. So, there! Any wonder, then, why all those smart and earnest people failed to change anything in spite of their best efforts!
Cynical? Perhaps. But maybe I'm just saying "begin everything anew rather than do another paint job".
5 Dec 2008, 7:57pm
Oblivion, we are more or less in agreement with most of what you have said especially about the bit that the world has not really changed over the last millennia.
Our views on democracy differ. I believe we make the nation. Our leaders are nothing but a reflection of us. What stops us from joining politics? We keep complaining. But we don't want to jump into the dirt and clean the muck up. That is what peeves me.
Cynicism? I don't think so. A painfully true reality perhaps. The world has never cared about the common man. It never will.
11 Dec 2008, 10:01am
While being no expert on TRPs and why news channels are the way they are, I would still like to share something with you guys while disagreeing with what has been said about the so called media circus - my brother barely scraped through the firing through the abducted police jeep on the road and just about managed to get himself to Nariman House only to be confined for the next two days under the relentless terrorising firing. While we managed to just get a few seconds to talk to him on the first day (with total horror when we heard continuous gun shots in the background), the next day he was unavailable for he had to switch off his mobile - do you know what it meant to have some reporter (no matter how they reported) to be just outside that venue where we couldnt get to or go and just keep telling us what was going on all of those never-ending gruesome minutes n days till it all ended! It might have been a circus generally otherwise on several news channels - and what happened later politically was no doubt a complete farce, but for us for those two days, the journos, espcially the Times guys, were like some sort of divine messengers - we would have gone crazy wondering what had happened, if it werent for them reporting to us what was going on!!!