Anna Hazare has re-written history. In fact, he has ensured the history of India is being written again. He did the same thing Mahatma Gandhi did to the British - occupy high moral ground and blackmail the powers to succumb to his demand. This word "blackmail" has a negative ring to it, doesn't it? That's only because it conjures up images of cheap, witless psychopaths getting something they do not deserve, through devious means. There's nothing devious about Anna Hazare's means, so clowns like Karan Thapar should stop acting like they are experts of this word "blackmail". Long live the blackmailer, for the victim is the villain in this case. Forty two years to pass a bill that gives us the right to prosecute the corrupt? Enough of this, indeed, Annaji.
The mediocre always has to be pushed, prodded, woken up, beaten, and thrust into action by the extreme to get it to out of its inertial slumber. India is a nation of massive mediocrity, dying to get worse, but somehow not allowed to by economic pressures. We are not a non violent nation at all, as some of us would think. We just choose the safer option because we're afraid of violence when it could turn against us. What kind of influence do political parties regularly have on the "hapless" masses? Any local MLA can call upon the services of murderers, thugs and rowdies to beat up any citizen that dares question any move! This is why we are passive, not non-violent.
But, we're opportunistic! Anna Hazare gave us the opportunity, and we pounced on it. This was our opportunity, not to clean up the nation, but to let our frustrations out. We might get something out of it, but we might also forget all about it by the time the final draft of the Lokpal Bill comes out around the 30th of June this year. It is a good thing indeed, but the movement that Hazare talks about is yet to happen. It takes a fair amount of stamina to fight the system, especially when every moron around us has subscribed to a corrupt system. Easier to pay the bribe, and get things done smooth and quiet - can this attitude change because of a Bill? Most definitely not. It still takes the citizen to approach the Lokpal and complain! This takes work! How can we Indians be expected to do work that doesn't pay?
Given the opportunity to get rich through corrupt means, without a major risk of being punished, most Indians would not hesitate for a second to jump into the cesspool. How is the Lokpal bill going to address this mindset? It will not, and it is indeed not the aim of the bill. Given the opportunity to get "ahead" through corrupt means, short circuiting fair competition, most Indians would indeed do exactly this. How else would we have fake pilots flying our aeroplanes? We are cowards and we feel sick about it sometimes, but we convince ourselves we are being smart about it. This is what our intelligence is used for. Centuries of training in survival have taught us to flourish by staying out of the way, like germs. Germs don't threaten enough to invite extermination, but are dangerous enough to keep us sick and unproductive - exactly what India is today.
How is the Lokpal Bill going to work, when it becomes the duty of the germs to inform the body of the invading disease? We love the dis-ease. We thrive in it, we thrive because of it, and we love the calmness of the sick patient, who has given up all hopes of fighting back. In other words, this Anna Hazare character is a pest who is making us come out of our slumber and telling us we don't have to be germs anymore, because the patient is willing to let us lead a healthy existence within her body. God bless Mother India, but how will the sheer masses of incompetence cope with an India that wants to throw out corruption? Corruption is what keeps our masses lazy, well fed, and uncomplaining. What can replace this incredible fuel?
We want opportunities. Opportunities to further our laziness, opportunities to further our economic goals, and our sense of entitlement and power. These have always existed. Now, we also want opportunities to "feel good" about ourselves. This is a new want, a new addiction in new age India. We didn't want our boys to win the world cup because they played the best cricket and were truly deserving of the honour. We wanted them to win so that we as "Indians" could wave the flag and yell at the world. This is very sophomoric and idiotic of course, but it is also very American. The USA is the country for us to look up to, for some reason. No wonder a lot of our idiots have started putting their hands on their unfit chests when OUR national anthem is playing. This again is nothing but an "opportunity" to showcase our patriotism just like Americans, but it has indeed become the opportunity for us to show how stupid we are, since even the Americans are supposed to do it not for their national anthem but for the Pledge of Allegiance!
There is nothing wrong in wanting to be Number One. So, the pride we feel in our cricket team is natural. How about doing something about the #119 we have in the Human Development Index? See, we do not have the shining, sexy, fashionable opportunity for doing this. It is not going to be quick, it is not going to be jingoistic, and it is not going to be vocal, so this process is going to be dull, unattractive, grinding, and horrendously time consuming. We may not even be around when we get within #100 of this pesky index! So, indeed we are not going to even try!
Anna Hazare didn't just provide the platform. In this age of media glare, he provided the stage for many of our clowns to show up and perform. The government yielded, not because it was morally forced to, but because it did not want to look like a failure on this stage! It is all about perception, and performance on the stage! No wonder Bollywood is completely in support of Anna Hazare although it produces movies with underworld money, has actors who shoot down wildlife, and even those who buy machine guns from terrorist outfits! Was India outraged when Sanjay Dutt came on TV feeling bad about the terrorist attacks of 26th November? Of course not! We forgot that he had immersed himself in criminal anti-national activity but remembered him for his role in Munna Bhai or whatever crap.
We have become a nation of simplistic, easily manipulated fools. We are no longer capable of critical thinking. We go with what we like or dislike. Anna Hazare is rather hard to dislike. He is also not in the grey area, where critical thinking becomes immensely necessary. He is out there in the white area, which is easy to sign up for! That is why we chose to support him, not because we understood the full import of this Lokpal Bill and his blackmail tactic. It takes the threat of calamity to force India to act in any haste to do ANY good. We Indians love the foreboding threat of anything larger than life. That is why we love our movie heroes to beat up fifty villains. If he was human, it would require fifty of us to help him, and that won't be so interesting would it?
If we had to vote for a Supremo, a dictator or a king, (called "President" in some countries), we would gladly switch to that system. We have grown up for centuries with kings as our benevolent dictators. We even fondly recollect those times as the golden past of India. The BJP even has a king Ram as their idol, so I wonder why nobody has asked them what the heck they are doing in a democracy while talking about a king all the time! We do not like democracy really, because it puts responsibility on us. If we could be slaves, we would. That is why we make kings out of our elected leaders, and they gladly accept! That is why they loot, and we applaud. Look at those statues Mayawati has built of herself, and we know exactly what "opportunity" means for an Indian.
So, how to we function in the collective? We do not! We did not choose democracy. It was chosen for us. And now it may be too late to switch to a benevolent dictatorship, because too many of us would want to be the dictator. So, we have this farce of a system where we elect people who don't have to listen to us or serve our interests as soon as they are elected. Now, we're going to have the means to throw them in jail for corruption. What about our own apathy, our incompetence, and our complete acceptance, even sympathy, for the crooked? After all, we're the nation of really passive germs, who totally understand the need for survival. How do we switch to intolerance? We should suddenly thrash the peon who wants ten rupees for his "coffee"? Or refuse to pay a donation that will ensure our unfit kid's a seat in that engineering college? How are we going to change ourselves?
Our media has played a massive role in popularizing Anna Hazare and his campaign. But this is not a service it embarked upon performing. This was a big enough story to carry at the top. Viewership! Numbers! Money! Opportunity indeed! From the World Cup to the IPL, the news channels were forced to fight for scraps. Now Anna Hazare has provided them with phenomenal gravity. It's a good thing this did not happen during the India-Pakistan match! Very clever of you, Annaji! Perfect timing!
Now, whatever happened to our sailors captured by Somali pirates, the Adarsh building scam, the 2G scam, the Commonwealth Games scam, and the thousand of other scams? None of them are worth our attention now? Eerily, it is time for something to come crashing down. People must die for us to pay attention. That is what Indian lives are worth - to bring viewership to our TV channels. Aha! Now, there's an opportunity!
- BSK.
The mediocre always has to be pushed, prodded, woken up, beaten, and thrust into action by the extreme to get it to out of its inertial slumber. India is a nation of massive mediocrity, dying to get worse, but somehow not allowed to by economic pressures. We are not a non violent nation at all, as some of us would think. We just choose the safer option because we're afraid of violence when it could turn against us. What kind of influence do political parties regularly have on the "hapless" masses? Any local MLA can call upon the services of murderers, thugs and rowdies to beat up any citizen that dares question any move! This is why we are passive, not non-violent.
But, we're opportunistic! Anna Hazare gave us the opportunity, and we pounced on it. This was our opportunity, not to clean up the nation, but to let our frustrations out. We might get something out of it, but we might also forget all about it by the time the final draft of the Lokpal Bill comes out around the 30th of June this year. It is a good thing indeed, but the movement that Hazare talks about is yet to happen. It takes a fair amount of stamina to fight the system, especially when every moron around us has subscribed to a corrupt system. Easier to pay the bribe, and get things done smooth and quiet - can this attitude change because of a Bill? Most definitely not. It still takes the citizen to approach the Lokpal and complain! This takes work! How can we Indians be expected to do work that doesn't pay?
Given the opportunity to get rich through corrupt means, without a major risk of being punished, most Indians would not hesitate for a second to jump into the cesspool. How is the Lokpal bill going to address this mindset? It will not, and it is indeed not the aim of the bill. Given the opportunity to get "ahead" through corrupt means, short circuiting fair competition, most Indians would indeed do exactly this. How else would we have fake pilots flying our aeroplanes? We are cowards and we feel sick about it sometimes, but we convince ourselves we are being smart about it. This is what our intelligence is used for. Centuries of training in survival have taught us to flourish by staying out of the way, like germs. Germs don't threaten enough to invite extermination, but are dangerous enough to keep us sick and unproductive - exactly what India is today.
How is the Lokpal Bill going to work, when it becomes the duty of the germs to inform the body of the invading disease? We love the dis-ease. We thrive in it, we thrive because of it, and we love the calmness of the sick patient, who has given up all hopes of fighting back. In other words, this Anna Hazare character is a pest who is making us come out of our slumber and telling us we don't have to be germs anymore, because the patient is willing to let us lead a healthy existence within her body. God bless Mother India, but how will the sheer masses of incompetence cope with an India that wants to throw out corruption? Corruption is what keeps our masses lazy, well fed, and uncomplaining. What can replace this incredible fuel?
We want opportunities. Opportunities to further our laziness, opportunities to further our economic goals, and our sense of entitlement and power. These have always existed. Now, we also want opportunities to "feel good" about ourselves. This is a new want, a new addiction in new age India. We didn't want our boys to win the world cup because they played the best cricket and were truly deserving of the honour. We wanted them to win so that we as "Indians" could wave the flag and yell at the world. This is very sophomoric and idiotic of course, but it is also very American. The USA is the country for us to look up to, for some reason. No wonder a lot of our idiots have started putting their hands on their unfit chests when OUR national anthem is playing. This again is nothing but an "opportunity" to showcase our patriotism just like Americans, but it has indeed become the opportunity for us to show how stupid we are, since even the Americans are supposed to do it not for their national anthem but for the Pledge of Allegiance!
There is nothing wrong in wanting to be Number One. So, the pride we feel in our cricket team is natural. How about doing something about the #119 we have in the Human Development Index? See, we do not have the shining, sexy, fashionable opportunity for doing this. It is not going to be quick, it is not going to be jingoistic, and it is not going to be vocal, so this process is going to be dull, unattractive, grinding, and horrendously time consuming. We may not even be around when we get within #100 of this pesky index! So, indeed we are not going to even try!
Anna Hazare didn't just provide the platform. In this age of media glare, he provided the stage for many of our clowns to show up and perform. The government yielded, not because it was morally forced to, but because it did not want to look like a failure on this stage! It is all about perception, and performance on the stage! No wonder Bollywood is completely in support of Anna Hazare although it produces movies with underworld money, has actors who shoot down wildlife, and even those who buy machine guns from terrorist outfits! Was India outraged when Sanjay Dutt came on TV feeling bad about the terrorist attacks of 26th November? Of course not! We forgot that he had immersed himself in criminal anti-national activity but remembered him for his role in Munna Bhai or whatever crap.
We have become a nation of simplistic, easily manipulated fools. We are no longer capable of critical thinking. We go with what we like or dislike. Anna Hazare is rather hard to dislike. He is also not in the grey area, where critical thinking becomes immensely necessary. He is out there in the white area, which is easy to sign up for! That is why we chose to support him, not because we understood the full import of this Lokpal Bill and his blackmail tactic. It takes the threat of calamity to force India to act in any haste to do ANY good. We Indians love the foreboding threat of anything larger than life. That is why we love our movie heroes to beat up fifty villains. If he was human, it would require fifty of us to help him, and that won't be so interesting would it?
If we had to vote for a Supremo, a dictator or a king, (called "President" in some countries), we would gladly switch to that system. We have grown up for centuries with kings as our benevolent dictators. We even fondly recollect those times as the golden past of India. The BJP even has a king Ram as their idol, so I wonder why nobody has asked them what the heck they are doing in a democracy while talking about a king all the time! We do not like democracy really, because it puts responsibility on us. If we could be slaves, we would. That is why we make kings out of our elected leaders, and they gladly accept! That is why they loot, and we applaud. Look at those statues Mayawati has built of herself, and we know exactly what "opportunity" means for an Indian.
So, how to we function in the collective? We do not! We did not choose democracy. It was chosen for us. And now it may be too late to switch to a benevolent dictatorship, because too many of us would want to be the dictator. So, we have this farce of a system where we elect people who don't have to listen to us or serve our interests as soon as they are elected. Now, we're going to have the means to throw them in jail for corruption. What about our own apathy, our incompetence, and our complete acceptance, even sympathy, for the crooked? After all, we're the nation of really passive germs, who totally understand the need for survival. How do we switch to intolerance? We should suddenly thrash the peon who wants ten rupees for his "coffee"? Or refuse to pay a donation that will ensure our unfit kid's a seat in that engineering college? How are we going to change ourselves?
Our media has played a massive role in popularizing Anna Hazare and his campaign. But this is not a service it embarked upon performing. This was a big enough story to carry at the top. Viewership! Numbers! Money! Opportunity indeed! From the World Cup to the IPL, the news channels were forced to fight for scraps. Now Anna Hazare has provided them with phenomenal gravity. It's a good thing this did not happen during the India-Pakistan match! Very clever of you, Annaji! Perfect timing!
Now, whatever happened to our sailors captured by Somali pirates, the Adarsh building scam, the 2G scam, the Commonwealth Games scam, and the thousand of other scams? None of them are worth our attention now? Eerily, it is time for something to come crashing down. People must die for us to pay attention. That is what Indian lives are worth - to bring viewership to our TV channels. Aha! Now, there's an opportunity!
- BSK.
1 comment:
Thoughts very well presented.Yes working at change is hard work and not glamorous requiring lots of dedication and personal sacrifice of "comforts". Consistency of efforts while being thwarted at each stage including personal intimidation requires a lot of courage. This requires group effort with the right thinking people but above all a personal willingness which may not always be there.
Yes the mention of a benevolent dictator/king is apt and can only agree.
Overall pleasant to know similar thoughts being expressed.
M
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