Political discourse in India, and indeed in the rest of the world, touched a new low last year. let us resolve to listen to each other in a civil manner this year. This applies to all ends of the political spectrum, including the left which laments the most
The eternal battle between political opinions got dirty and messy this past year. This is not to argue that politics has previously been this clean place; it’s just that it appeared that in this past year a lot of dirty laundry made it into the public domain. And while social media and technology has largely been a force for good, it was gamed to spread false news and propaganda for terrorist organisations.
As your columnist has argued before, 2016 saw the neglected ‘little guy’ (in a matter of speaking) lash out against being ignored. For some people, the increasing social permissiveness and rising political correctness made them want to make their voices heard. This led to the major electoral surprises in the United Kingdom and the United States. It also highlighted the challenges that traditional political parties face when they come under the onslaught of technology and and what one would describe euphemistically as ‘news from questionable sources’.
People on every side of the political spectrum screamed and shouted into the social media abyss and found willing listeners as well as people to spread their message. Voices bounced around in this abyss echoing around, turning made-up facts into the gospel truth. Facts got drowned in a morass of opinion and conjectures. News became fact-free and television studios the new battle-fields. But for that one should be grateful — wars were in the television studios rather than on the streets.
Internet trolls have been around from the earliest days of bulletin boards, almost two decades ago, shielded from condemnation thanks to the anonymity that the Internet affords its users. And while many on the left side of the spectrum love to portray themselves as victims of these trolls, many of them are little better than trolls themselves; indeed, some crying the most hoarse about being victims are the biggest perpetrators of online hatred. The knife cuts both ways, or when it comes to politics, every single way possible.
Things have become so bad, even humanitarian help to besieged populations like those in Syria, where war has raged for the past four years, got stuck in global geopolitics. We have ignored important issues because we have been caught up in extreme partisanship. Instead of discussing solutions and improving our collective lot, our politicians have been busy bickering.
Take the last session of Parliament, where nothing of note, other than the long overdue move to benefit people with disabilities, got done. Viewers, including young children on television, were exposed to an opposition determined to not let the government function, and a government quite keen to humour the Opposition.
It is disturbing to note, therefore, that conversations about ‘less democracy’ or a need to impose order on the Indian polity have made it into the mainstream. As much as Indian democracy is chaotic, it is one of the greatest assets of this great nation of ours. But, an increasing number of people feel that it is not working. In fact, sometimes it feels that more work and discussions happen on prime-time news than on Sansad Marg.
And one major reason for that comes back to an initial point this column raised. Politics and opinions have become echo chambers, people scream their viewpoints to a willing audience who then amplify it to people who share those views. If a dissenting voice raises even a question, its ethics, morality and even patriotism is questioned. We have forgotten how to listen to dissenting views and accept criticism of our faults. To use the words of one of the unlikeliest political leaders of the past year, we have all become ‘sore losers’.
Instead of looking at ways to improve ourselves and correcting ourselves, we have used social media in particular to reinforce our biases and double down on our mistakes because our egos demand just that. Those who disagree with us are summarily dismissed either as trolls or haters, by many on the liberal side through a classless casual elitism and on the right through threats of hate and violence.
The former is best encapsulated by Hillary Clinton’s devastating ‘despicables’ comment about her rival Donald Trump’s supporters, which riled them up and in no small part contributed to her loss. The latter, well there are examples of it everyday in the incredible threats of hate and violence directed at women online.
It is impossible to expect that this will all peter out in the coming year. Chances are it will probably get worse. However, technology can help out here as well. The first thing is to control abuse on online platforms. The freedom of speech allows me to express my opinion and this even applies if you choose to remain anonymous, nothing in the world protects hate speech or threats of violence. On this front, platforms have to crack down, lest they become cesspools of disgusting behaviour.
Technology companies have eaten the lunch of traditional media houses, while we must all maintain and operate websites, the likes of Google and Facebook, which have minted money from other people’s content. They have enjoyed power without responsibility, they have no need to check the news. That irresponsible system worked as long as there was some responsibility at the source. However, when there is none, these misguided technological giants are trying to pass on the blame.
And then there are us, the viewers, the readers, the opinion makers and formers. Many of us have made New Years resolutions, to exercise more, eat healthier and improve our personal and professional lives. Yet, we could make one more pledge. To be more civil, to listen to and appreciate other opinions, to shout and scream our views less often and to stop believing that ours is the only voice, the only opinion and the only choice that matters. This is like wishing for global peace — you know it might not happen. But if some of us try, small steps can help make the world a better place.
Happy New Year.
(The writer is Managing Editor, The Pioneer)