"We,
as a free people", wrote late Serbain American playwright Steve Teisch "have
freely decided that we want to live in some post-truth world" in an essay
in the Nation magazine in 1992. The essay was in the context of the Iran
-Contra scandal and the Persian Gulf War. The author would not have even the
faintest idea that almost twenty-five years later Oxford dictionary, on
November 12, 2016 will make ‘post-truth' the word of the year. 'Post' here
doesn't mean ‘after' but suggests to the time when truth becomes insignificant
and irrelevant. Thanks to Brexit and the results of US Presidential elections
–this failed media prophets and others in the field of psephology.
However,
had Oxford University paid heed to the India around and from 2014, the word
Post-truth would have found its place a few years ago only! In 2014, Media machinery
projected a man who hitherto was nowhere in the picture, as the "leader",
the country needed on its way to becoming a superpower. He was projected as the
one who built Gujarat into the most developed state in the country. Farce image
of Gujarat model was created and citizens were made to believe in it. It got
tough for the people to check the reality of the Gujarat model and other big
things like this. Everything that was sold in the manifesto of lies was bought
by the voters at cost of the truth. Be it bullet trains or 15 lakhs getting
into the accounts of the citizens.
The
'Post truth' phenomenon doesn't seem to be seizing soon, on the night of
November,8,2016 the Prime Minister appeared on the screen in front of the
people and announced ,from that midnight all legal tender worth Rupees 1000 and
500 would not be legal. The bizarre decision left everyone at first shocked and
then in queues in front of the ATMs. The citizens displayed whooping support
for the decision and referred it to as the minor inconvenience caused for the
greater good of the country.
Disappointing
it is that what should have been called 'disaster' was euphemistically reduced
to 'inconvenience'. The nation hailed the 'surgical strike' on the black money
by the Prime Minister, the way it hailed the "surgical strike" on
Pakistan .For the country that still believes in myths and magic, more than
relying on facts and reasoning, it did not take much to believe the Prime
Minister that his attempt would help them in achieving growth and fighting
terrorism.
The
decision since then has rendered daily wage earners jobless, farmers and poor
helpless People living in Kashmir, Northeast region where economic blockades
are a regular affair, the situation has become worse. The economy has come to
the standstill, Farmers are facing the crises- the ripened rabi crops have
failed to put a smile on the faces of the farmers .In Marathwada, the region
received adequate monsoon after prolonged drought, however the bizarre decision
by the government robbed them of the joy of good golden harvest.
The
rural economy has been the worst hit ,in the country there are 1, 38,626 out of
which Two-thirds are situated in metro, urban and semi-urban areas and one rest
one third (47,443) are in rural areas. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy
has calculated the cost of demonetisation for the 50-day period from November 8
to December 30 as Rs 1, 28,000 crore. Economists in India and world over have
unanimously opposed the decision to demonetise the currency and called it
unplanned, insensitive and badly executed idea that will wreck havoc the Indian
economy.
Social
media has made the world both volatile and vulnerable and it has emerged as a
fertile platform that has played crusader in shaping the age of Post-truth.
Politicians and their aides thrive on social media to spread their propaganda
and with no one to verify the news circulated, dissemination of false news no
longer remains a herculean task. The Nobel laureate Harold Pinter in his Literature
lecture in 2005 ,on "Art, Truth and Politics" said, "The majority of politicians, on
the evidence available to us, are interested not in truth but in power and in
the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that
people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the
truth of their own lives. What surrounds us, therefore, is a vast tapestry of
lies, upon which we feed."
There
is a well known relationship between Fascism and Falsehood. Fascists have
always used lies to win hearts of masses and creating the enemies among the
people, so that people forget about the priority issues like education,
employment, rights etc. Because then it gets easier for them to play on the
hidden prejudices and hegemony of the masses. This can be appropriated by what Wilhelm
Reich in Psychology of Fascism says "Fascism is not a political party but
a specific concept of life and attitude towards humankind, love, and
work".
The
dominant groups across the democracies who were hurt with their shrinking clout
over the resources of the land find hope in the absurdity of the times. Milestones
like Blacks getting Universal Adult Franchise(in US), women coming out to work
,caste based reservation which helped the marginalised to climb up the
socio-economic ladder, Right to information ,Right to Education and MGNREGA etc
that democracy brought are experiencing downfall. And till we find ways to
demystify the truth, it will be difficult to pull democracy out from the
clutches of lies and deception.
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