Semi-Rational Criticism and a Chalice of Malice

We seem to have come way ahead of the historical definitions pertaining to topics of polity. In fact, history in itself is replete with instances of change—evolution is the term that sounds more suitable. The classic definition about the edifice of democracy resting on three pillars of legislature, executive and judiciary seems to have undergone a partial metamorphosis into five pillars now—the newer ones being ‘media’ (the fourth pillar) and ‘civil society’ (the fifth pillar). In a Westphalian model of democracy, wherein the real executive (and not the nominal one) is formed out of a subset of legislature, the importance of the two newer pillars, provided they are fair & impartial, seems all the more pertinent. Thus, in this new era having five pillars of manifested power of the dēmos, popular control over the executive might be exercised in a much better way. Hark! Did I hear someone yelling ‘vested interests’? Let us examine a case in point…

A few days back, the life of a promising young actor from the Hindustani film industry (it seems to be a more encompassing term to me than Bollywood) was cut short by Fate. It was a matter of concern for me and my college-peers in this regard, because the actor had been a college senior to me. And even though I had not even personally seen the individual during our college days, let alone having interacted with him, I could feel a sense of loss in that someone from an alma mater had met an ill fate. A WhatsApp Group comprising of college friends had posts containing multimedia from the past being shared as a token of remembrance for the departed. Reactions such as this one seemed quite normal to me, given that all had a sense of belongingness deep within.

However, a few days later I started observing the peculiar behaviour of ‘civil society’ which was using its tool of instantaneously attention-grabbing social media platforms. It was exacerbated more so by the fact that the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has forced people to prefer staying indoors, and hence all expressions/voices containing condiments of annoyance-belligerence-concomitance-defiance were finding their way in the “global common” of social media. One particular public figure vocally raised some parallel issue, resultantly created a so-called online storm, and then a lot of others joined in in chorus. What seemed ridiculous to a far lesser intellectual like me was the way the loss caused by departure of someone was subsequently used as an occasion to communicate/express statements, many of which otherwise seemed logically disconnected, even to the point of callousness towards many other public figures who had chosen to remain silent on the matter. Many, from amongst the online ‘follower’ component in the civil society sans the public figure, were happy to indulge in a debate which was triggered off by the public figure. To a crippled-intellect like me, what seemed like a conclusion was that most of such people who have no stake in a particular issue are still Social Media Warriors. If the Corona Warriors are contributing to the medical well-being of society, well, why shouldn’t Social Media Warriors contribute to the intellectual well-being of the civil society?

Suggesting someone directly to mind one’s own business so as not to talk without facts as bases on matters under investigation, sub judice matters, etc., is perceived as stifling of healthy criticism in a flourishing democracy in which civil society seems to have all rights of taking suo moto cognizance of matters ranging from articulated to adjudicated, investigative to interplanetary.

But my first question is – what about commenting on ‘Semi-rational Criticism’? Readers can be the better judge.

And my second question is – shouldn’t there be an ethical line self-drawn by public figures, who have a greater social responsibility due to their online/offline ‘followers’, to spare the envenoming and prevent any possible Chalice of Malice from spilling?

I don’t know why I’m recalling an idiom here which was taught to us by our Hindi teacher during our school days – ‘Behti Ganga mein haath dhona’!

Façade might have a potential of fomenting ‘fasaad’

Even now, as I see vocal social-media proclamations from the ‘civil society’ about how beautifully the departed actor has acted in his last movie, I personally feel that my college senior had displayed superior acting skills even in other productions before. Right now, the public reaction seems akin more to ‘The Dark Knight effect’, as I would like to call it (for those who are contextually unaware, please read about Heath Ledger from the internet).

I loosely believe in the theory of Karma – 'what goes around, comes around'. What I want to make home as a point is that we as a civil society need to be rational in our criticisms. The idiomatic ‘adh jal gagri’ (loosely translated in English meaning to the idiomatic ‘empty vessel’) adds confusion to an informed discourse. And the chalice of malice needs to be cast away on an ethical consideration. Else, whether the phrases ‘civil society’ and ‘civilized society’ deserve, or not, to continue to be used interchangeably – I shall leave here for the readers to decide.

The Lockdown - Social, Psychological and Societal aspects and Newspeak

Whereas, novel Corona virus (COVID-19) had been declared to be a disease of pandemic proportions by the World Health Organization (WHO);

And whereas, in the interest of public safety, the Government of India (GoI) had already issued necessary regulations for implementation in the form of guidelines carrying the nomenclature ‘Lockdown’ measures, alongwith dissemination of information about the appropriate penal provisions to keep defaulters at abeyance;

And whereas, subsequent ‘Unlock’ guidelines have already been issued by the respective state governments and local authorities to re-start the pre-lockdown economic activities alongwith the necessary safety precautions;

And whereas, the imagination of a certain section of the creative public has already been captivated, even to the point of frenzy, by the usage of acronyms by various state and non-state actors;

And whereas, certain sections of the media have been seemingly spewing the proverbial venom against variable “aggressors”—with a perceptible aim of securing an increase in TRPs from amongst the frenzied audience base;

And whereas, the COVID-19 crisis seems to have introduced a fear psychosis amongst the less-analytical proportion of the general public, to varied proportions ranging from mild to extreme;

And whereas, a common-sensical approach in dealing with the aforesaid crisis seems to have been a thorough understanding of the do’s and don’ts juxtaposed with a logical observance of the necessary precautions for avoidance of contamination;

Now therefore, in the exercise of creative powers that have been bestowed upon me by Fate, I hereby faithfully, and with a bona fide intent, write this post to analyze the social-psychological-societal aspects of the proverbial lockdown and the Orwellian Newspeak, which has seemingly appealed to the popular imagination with effect from the said period and till this date…

Ever since GoI decided that it was best to contain the spread of COVID-19 through the implementation of social austerity measures by way of closely-monitored regulation, the ‘lockdown’ and ‘unlock’ seem to have become the watchwords amongst the Orwellian Newspeak which is gaining traction in the current era. Some such other Newspeak terms were ‘aatmnirbhar’, which evoked various interpretations from the creative junta in the form of memes and trolls. At the same time, the overall reactional behaviour of the general public could be loosely defined through the usage of the gerund triad “Brooding-Drooling-Trolling” (hereinafter referred to as the acronym BDT)!

“Brooding” – by the vulnerable sections amongst the general public

“Drooling” –  by the unsuspecting sections amongst general public over

  electronic/print/social media content

“Trolling” –   by the Coterie Limited of Twitteratti and others

At this point of time, I consider it best to present a few classic examples so as to allow the readers to opinionate about our societal progress, statistically-speaking, in terms of the educational parameters (please mark my words, the parameters are educational, not literary).

A few days back, I was somewhat surprised, even appalled, at how certain sections amongst the society (there were a few personal experiences, in various forms, as well) had become so reluctant to disallow the ‘ingress’ of the perceived ‘outsiders’ into the residential cocoons of their nuclear families that they did not realize that such a reluctance on their part was bordering on the dividing line between familial safety and callousness. What was all the more surprising was that while we as a society lay a lot of emphasis on the fact that our children get a better education (an umbrella term to, euphemistically, mean education in the so-called “reputed” schools and institutions of higher learning), we might still be facing an inertia when it comes to application of those educational values in the societal domain. As far as my understanding about education goes, BDT alone does not suffice if projected views are not backed by logic/rationale. An enhanced literacy rate does not seemingly help in inculcation of scientific educational values; at best, it might help in the enhancement of educational standards. Furthermore, I was faced with a larger question: is a fear psychosis, whether in mild or strong proportions, such a big factor in deciding our course of action as to completely sideline the fiduciary tenets of relationships against familial safety concerns?

Creative Vents (CV) and Culinary/Calorific Sabbaticals (CS)

[Note: As a micro-elaboration, the word-choice has been made to suit the previously selected acronyms.]

Since the lockdown and the related side-effects began manifesting themselves on the ground, the reeling question which a particular segment amongst the ‘social media society’ seemed to inherently project through their various verbose social media expressions was: “Lockdown mein kya karein”?

It was as if most of the regularly-employed people had so much forgotten to segregate their jobs with the other aspects of their life that they were not able to decide what to do with the ample time that the lockdown seemed to have ‘bestowed’ upon them. At the end of this blog post, I have shared some of the Creative Vents (CV) that have been ingenuously/passionately discovered by some talented individuals who are personally known or related to me.

Also, what this segment amongst the ‘social media society’ had seemingly overlooked was that there are a few other segments out of the employed workforce in our country, e.g., the armed forces, whose personnel have to work in such theatres as Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Left Wing Extremist (LWE) areas, High-Altitude locations, where there is a state of perpetual virtual lockdown almost throughout the year!

The question of Culinary/Calorific Sabbaticals (CS) versus the memes regarding ‘post-lockdown weight gains’ (which were doing the market rounds) seemed like a dilemmatic situation for a category of creative talents.

Avid travelling enthusiasts like me, who felt stifled by the prevailing pragmatic restrictions, were forced to write a post such as the one which the worthy readers are currently reading or to take to video-editing about past travel history.

Electronic Media Experiences (EME)

While the question gripping the health departments of the states and the policy-makers was how to expand and enhance better facilities for COVID-care (which is another Newspeak expression), a section of the electronic North-East-West-South (to be read as news) media seemed so much passionate about loading word-ammunition against variable “aggressors” that at times I had to duck in front of the television screen to avoid being hit by a volley of word-bullets! The TRP-based cut-throat competition amongst media houses is evident in the form of the anchors’/presenters’ indefatigable spirit to slit the throats of the unfortunate “aggressor” who has been chosen as the subject matter for a particular news Bulletin/Debate/Ticker (the Return of the ‘BDT’). How I wish these anchors/presenters could be dressed in combat clothing and taken to national territorial boundaries where saber-rattling might pay better national dividends at some point of time or the other; as a corollary, soldiers would get to have a day off!

Fitness Condiments (FC)

The lockdown restrictions caused a drop in huge numbers in the posts of a particular spectrum of social media users whose social approval requirements were hitherto somewhat limited to image/video uploads about their outdoor-based or gymnasium-based workouts. Nevertheless, this segment seemingly chose to shift towards uploading image/video content about indoor-based workouts and yoga-meditation sessions. Of course, it goes without saying that some such content was accompanied by motivational quotes, the target audience for which was variable on a case-to-case basis.

Human Relationships (HR)

For those who were almost accustomed to viewing the acronym HR in the workplace-sense, this lockdown might perhaps have been an eye-opener in that a Homo sapien was looked at as more than a Human ‘Resource’. I, for starters, who always knew that there is a greater need to understand the importance of physical meetings as compared to the video calling in vogue, realized that a dearth of something only elevates its price. The unique selling point of this lockdown, for me, was the time it awarded at an individual-level to think beyond the usual business. In the observance of routine work-schedule, we might often develop a tendency to forget a sentiment—that information technology tools are supposed to be the means to human relationships, and not an end in themselves. The sentinels against psychosis are those memories which have been created out of human physical interactions, and not the social media aided ones.

A creative effort by my friend Shrikant Tuli, who has tried to portray through various examples why it may not be a wise thing to resort to religious/communitarian alienation against particular sections of the Indian population

Sketches made by my creative niece Jiya Pandey (a Class IX scholar)

Note: The usage of images in this blog post has been made strictly for representational purposes. The placement of images at particular places does not intend to have any specific connotation other than representation.

(This blog post has been inspired by my personal experiences accrued out of limited interactions with relatives and friends during the nation-wide lockdown/unlock period. They shall not be named here, as prior approval has not been sought/obtained from them for the same, except from Advocate Prateek Pundir with whom a particular telephonic conversation resulted in the commencement of a train of thought within my head.)