Ashamed?

I am seething with anger as i write this. Mainly due to a feeling of deja-vu that i experienced when i switched on the telly today morning. As you all must be aware, workers from a certain party have gone ballistic in their form of protest for the desecration of a statue of their mother figure and the entire city is witness ONCE AGAIN to this form of modern day hooliganism and outright breach of human liberties.

Why do we always fall prey to such tactics? How many times have we seen scenes like the ones flashing across the tv today? Come to think of it, looking at the party's track record and penchant for indulging in such incidents it is mighty surprising that they waited so long since the infamous Valentine Day bashing up of innocent teenagers to revert back to their old ways!

When i think of such people i am reminded of an idea expressed in Michael Crichton's book State of Fear. He says that governments,dictators or any form of leadership the world over share one common policy - to constantly provide the society with a reason to be afraid of something. This idea is called the STATE OF FEAR. When the people are held in such a position, they are seldom likely to notice more important or larger issues of administration. Issues, which although the government ought to be looking into, are however no longer in their control. Hence the need to divert people's attention from them using ever changing producers of fear. Although these reasons keep changing the world over as time goes by, they serve the same purpose for the people in power - to keep the people in check,to keep them from venting their anger at the apathy surrounding them. This single common feature could be the most successful method of establishing authority through government policy across every nation in the world.

The author describes the constant threat of GLOBAL WARMING (and in my opinion, a very non-existent threat) used by governments against corporations.(read the book)
General Musharraf and all Pakistani leaders before him used Kashmir as a reason to stir up people's emotions to distract them from the real issues affecting Pakistan.
And over here, our beloved parties do the same thing over and over again in the name of relgion,casteism and communalism.

Its a deadly combo-a sureshot winner. In an adolescent democracy like ours where the media themselves have hardly any clue as to how to play the watchdog, such policies are extremely effective in baiting their innocent and unsuspecting targets.

Why couldnt a single leader give a statement on TV saying that although an extremely despicable act has been committed, disrupting the lives of millions and creating a general sense of panic serves no purpose. But no, they wouldnt dare do that..the numerous votebanks across the city would be lost in a single blow. What does that say about us,the people, then?

The duration of public anger in Mumbai has to go down in history as the shortest period in time measurement, possibly even shorter than the oscillation of a Caesium crystal!
Why didnt all of us enquire as to what happened to those poor people bashed up by these thugs on the 14th of February this year? Did the young man deserve to get a cut across his face for giving a greeting card to his friend? Did the girl deserve to be manhandled by the morons who in the name of Indian Sanskriti destroyed the property in the house while the much more rowdy festival of Holi was allowed without any problems? Maybe because they were entertaining themselves in dance bars on that night and every other night.

The Marathi Manoos no longer needs these goondas. In the name of fighting for the Marathi honour they have risen to power and made a mockery out of the political system. In no other country can a leader get away with a statement such as "Haan abhi iss insult ka reaction to dena hi padega".

The poor become poorer. The snooty rich stay away from the polls. And hooligans continue to rule the city.