In
a recent examination which I appeared
for, they had asked me to write about the effects of social media on creating
public opinion. As much as clichéd the question might be, I had not expected
such a generalization in questioning and I was not equipped with concrete facts
to substantiate opinions which are otherwise trivial in an examination point of
view, also I hadn’t got that much wit and the presence of mind to think about
it in a very short span of time. After returning home, as an unemployed person,
I had nothing to do. So I got to think about, at least I believe, the bigger
question during this election season namely, why people get influenced?
Myth
Humankind
has achieved a feat which no organism has been able to, ever since life started
on earth. We created order and in extension civilizations. This, Yuval Noah
Harari argues, was because of the ability to cooperate. Other animals, also can
cooperate with each other but to the extent only of known faces and sometimes
smell. On the contrary, humans have been able to cooperate even with strangers
whom they have not and will not see again.
This
compatibility with strangers was possible because they both believed the
win-win result. But the spontaneity of the result cannot be expected of every
activity which require strangers working together. That further leads to the
creation of a subjective truth which
they both believe without any objection, we call that Myth.
Myth has
been the bedrock of any civilized society. The nature and usage of the myth
might vary, but for a long lasting civilization, a myth is the sine qua non. Gods and religions are
such myths which held civilizations together and have provided the safe zone where answers to all
unanswered questions can be found. We can see how the ambit of the God-myth is
reducing as we are able to reason scientifically certain things which were
hitherto unanswered, this has been jokingly described as the ever receding God of the Gaps.
Myths are
not always about supernatural things, there are and have been many secular
myths like a nation state or more
importantly a piece of paper which we call money.
If we suddenly, as a society, stopped believing in money, how would we find a
way to do things? Intersectionality of needs is not a common phenomenon, thus
leading to degradation in the society. This proves the necessity of myths to
get the work done. Humans, thus, find believing thereby following a myth easier
than rational data, thanks to years of evolving society. This belief is sole
reason for the ubiquity of religion.
The Wall
Talking of
religion, it would be better if I also addressed the influence it has over the
state throughout the world. Religion is humankind’s first try at everything, so
it is acceptable or at least understandable why there is obsession over it. But
the main problem, as I see it, is the structured dogmas affiliated to each
religion. These other rules which are
mostly secular in nature are wedded to religion through scriptures and theistic
teachings. For example, prohibition of stealing is a secular idea which has
been wedded to religion by making the God-myth the judge for such arbitration.
Repeating
the same argument, namely, what is wrong in incorporating a myth into secular
ideas if it deters a person from committing undesirable things? One might
wonder the need for dissent. But the concept of morality has been changing and
the surge of secular myths like equality and
liberty has brought the strict dogmas
of the God-myth into question.
While
criticizing the British raj for draining Indian resources for British needs, B.G.
Tilak commented that it was like “decorating another’s wife”. While explaining
about the powers of the British Parliament, political theorist Jean Louis said
“the parliament can do everything but make a man a woman and woman a man”. The
former statement in today’s world would’ve costed Tilak’s mainstream politics
and he would’ve been abused in social media by people who have never heard of
him for treating a woman as a man’s
property. The latter statement would’ve upset the west liberals who have been working
towards sex-less (read gender-less) theybies
(read babies).
The Indian
left which stands first in criticizing Hinduism for patriarchy, rightly so,
falls short in showing the same conviction for other religions. Devdutt Patnaik
rightly pointed out in his tweet that no one talks about the misogyny in
Buddhism. This just proves that no dogmatic moral can hold good for ever. So
basing secular laws on religious scriptures, although attractive, cannot hold
good for the present and future civilizations.
Although I
stand by my above argument, religious institutions and secular governments are
not mutually exclusive. There is no point in breaking the belief systems of
people which has brought civilization thus far. All this again spirals down to
decisions based on another myth, individual liberty.
The (Wo) Man, The Myth
Although
history takes us to different places in time, the human psyche has almost
remained the same. We try to fit in myths into even rational things so as to
develop an affinity emotionally. Like the Abrahamic God, we looked at it and
saw it was good, so we follow the same concept of emotional affinity towards
everything.
This feature
of the human psyche can be easily manipulated in a political stage. A living
person can be elevated to the level of a myth, to live even after their death,
like Orwell’s Big Brother. A person is compatible with such elevation if he/she
is of the Machiavellian school, fear over love. Citizens therefore develop an
ownership of that politician-myth, like they own their other myths like morality and God. Like I’ve said elsewhere, if something is haloed, it loses the
original genius for something which it may or may not encompass, because we are
not ready to reason critically.
When
politicians, thus begin to leave their mortal selves and identify as mothers and recently watchmen, they are becoming myths which
citizens can hold dear. They thus have a sphere of belief which transcends
facts and numbers. Also they have been known even to eclipse the more important
myth India.
So coming
back to my reason why I started writing this post, I don’t know if had spent my
time fruitfully letting my thoughts wander onto unrelated areas which are not
my expertise. But I can see some faint reason why people are not ready to
accept facts about their beloved Leaders, because they are not just politicians
anymore, they are myths. Myths which people believe with conviction and
sincerity. I don’t know if it is a good idea to battle with belief, after all
belief is the reason why you are reading this, belief in English language,
otherwise this is just a group of symbols which don’t make any sense.
