As we march along the 21st Century, the same age-old question crops up. Is there more evil today than there was years ago, or decades, or even centuries ago? Difficult to answer but we are told that the world has become a much better place today than it was earlier. And this, we learn, is a researched opinion. By the famed researchers of even more famous so-called world-class centres of research. The only problem is what this world class is all about? What are its qualities? And most importantly, who decides this world class? That is the greatest mystery. But yes, somebody at some time, somewhere becomes world-class. Rather, is proclaimed as world class. Whether they are liars or outliers is the question that begs an answer. Particularly, because once upon a time we were told there was a big bad country, devil’s own country, that was branded as evil empire. With the evil empire no more in existence, the evil in the world should have become extinct. But it persists, statistics trying to debunk this truth, notwithstanding. Statistics, yes, statistics is what camouflages the truth. Rather, displaces the truth, with numbers, with figures, with arguments, with logic, and lies. Disraeli had a point when he described three kinds of lies — lies, damn lies, and statistics. Because statistics does not show what is there. It shows what you want to see.
And sometimes what someone else wants to show you. So the same things are being seen differently. This is the fallacy of over-indulgence in ‘statisfaction’, my coinage to describe the feigned prosperity, the feigned happiness, the feigned development. Psychologist William James was right in stating that part of what we perceive comes from outside, but a significant part always comes from within, our own mind. When this mind is trained to think in a particular way, it is constrained to see objectively and becomes a victim of unconscious bias. Coming back to the question of evil in this world, can we come to a conclusion? Has there been a change, because everyone is saying these days that change is the only certainty in this otherwise uncertain world? Not easy to arrive at, but we need an objective rather than optimistic outlook. There lies the rub. While the objective outlook would suggest that cow dung is cow dung, the optimistic outlook would suggest that it is fertiliser. And if you don’t see fertiliser in cow dung, you are cynical.
That is what branding does. That is what suggestion is all about. No one wants to be branded as a cynic, so everyone sees the fertiliser and not the cow dung. Suggestion leads to auto suggestion and that is the cause of placebo effect. But while placebo effects can be useful in curing headaches, to expect that they can be a panacea for social ills like poverty is rather silly. But that is what is shaping ideas, concepts, and practices in the world today. Faking has become the new normal and truth has taken a back seat. The result is that death — the one certainty of this mortal world — is being denied, and life — the dubious illusion — is being overemphasised. Social media is playing the pivotal role in creating this mindset. So even an obituary post on Facebook can only get a ‘like’. So, falsehoods become truth, and truth is the outlier.
Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com
