It’s been so long since I saw television that I’m stunned at the sight of a young man being insulted on national television. I’m squirming on behalf of this aspiring Roadies contestant, angry at the ‘judges’ who are calling him stupid to his face.
But the next minute, the young man loses my sympathy when he says that he agrees with the ‘Ayodhya verdict’, though he doesn’t know what the verdict is. He doesn’t know what the Ayodhya issue is. He thinks Ayodhya is where a ‘war’ happened and confuses it with the big one in Kurukshetra (which features in the Mahabharata). This strapping young man also doesn’t know who the president of India is, but assumes she is male.
By the time the video clip ends, the interview panel is falling about laughing. They are calling him ‘cute’. How else do we deal with the fact that young, school-educated, urban Indians don’t know a thing about themselves or the forces that are shaping their nation? They’re so ignorant, they’re like children.
This is not about the roadie, but huge proportions (probably a majority) of our population are concerned with their own survival and literally dont have the bandwidth for politics.
ReplyDeleteAt other levels, ppl like me who find time, are not very satisfied with the way opinion shades almost all that is presented as "news"; much "news" could more honestly be called "news_cum_views".
Beyond a point it becomes difficult to counterbalance opposing streams of "news" and one stops caring. One develops the attitude that they're being fed a line anyways. So its understandable that one restricts oneself to their immediate concerns and needs and nothing beyond.
thx
Jai