When power turns brutal, conscience becomes the last refuge
Old Bollywood songs had lyrics that reflected life and love in their myriad forms, and brought us closer to existential realities that we may otherwise have missed. The other day, I happened to listen to the song ‘Seene mein jalan, aankhon mein toofan sa kyon hai, is shehar mein har shaks pareshan sa kyon hai’ (Why is there a burning in the chest, a storm raging in the eyes? Why does everyone in this city seem so troubled?) from the movie Gaman (1978). It, at once, brought our current corporeal state into sharp focus-a fear that pervades humanity, the rising jitters in the gut, and a dismal prospect looming on the horizon.
As nihilistic as it might sound, it is a truth one cannot run away from. Mankind is slowly descending into a morass of depravity, and there are clear signs of the world turning into a savage realm where peace has no place. As if inner struggles were not enough, the anarchy outside is making us all-the young, the old, and those in between-depressed about the present and afraid of what the future holds. Where are we going from here?
What weighs heavily on the heart is the way the world is being ruled now-with brazen authority and brutality. There are no arms strong enough to rein in the evil forces or voices loud enough to drown the war rhetoric. The Biblical quote, 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth', sounds like a distant gospel that has no relevance in a landscape where might has become right. The bullies are thriving from east to west, overriding common people's liberties and stamping their supremacy at will. And we are watching helplessly, unable to move a finger. It is as if we are paralysed by their malicious power, and the only option left to us now is to reconcile ourselves to the reality that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The eternal optimists may espouse positivity to pull us out of the despair that the new world orders are pushing us into, but when things look this dark, positivity and philosophy do not help. At best, they can make us delusional enough to believe all is well as long as we receive our next salary. We can take refuge in platitudes like ‘this too shall pass’ or become so detached from the goings-on around us that we feel safe and insulated in our never-never land. However, those are rare privileges of stoics and sages. Ordinary people like us are stooges held to ransom by the thugs of our times.What we now need is a collective recalibration of the inner spirit with the supreme order to keep our scruples in place, but that is a long shot. The oppressors are incorrigible. They are too obsessed with their ugly whims and craze for domination to undertake course correction. We, the weaklings on this side, are preoccupied with material pursuits and our diurnal battles to spare time for self-mastery. The only choice for those who still have the will and wherewithal is to keep fighting those who exploit without conscience. The warriors will defend as long as they are armed, and when they fall, the species will be vanquished by its own villains. Until then, we must live with the sore reality that this is a place where the law of the strong prevails. Perhaps resistance today lies in refusing to abandon our sense of right and wrong, even when power seems overwhelming. Holding on to our conscience may be the only way we can ensure that, in a brutal world, we do not end up becoming duplicates of the Frankensteins we first created and now fear.
The writer is a Dubai-based author, columnist, independent journalist and children’s writing coach; views are personal
