Herd mentality
Facebook is a hero again. This time in our very own motherland.
After ejecting the tyrannical Hosni Mubarak from Egypt, though it still remains to be seen if the supposed control by the army has actually borne any fruit, the hero of our day and age has now pulled off another coup in India.
The Jan Lokpal Bill, of which I have only scratched the surface, arouses obvious curiosity in me. Prima Facie, it comes across as a result of a spate of public emotion thanks to the egalitarian mind of a certain Anna Hazare (Born Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare)
How a 72 year old social activist managed to mobilise large sections of civil society may be a case in itself but what is particularly important to note here is the subtle yet bold move that has been this hunger strike.
It was when I read an article in the TOI today that I started to wonder of this phenomenon. Just two things came to my mind: was Anna Hazare just the face of a much larger scheme of things that has completely been missed by the media and the public at large? And is this therefore the end of democracy as we have known it during our time spent in this great country.
True that the judicial system has only and on all occasions served up a picture of dismay with trials stretching to years etc. True that the extent of insider scams (many exposed and even more unexposed) leaves a sour taste in the public’s mouth but is that reason enough for an action of this nature and scale. Needless to say those who mobilized this know this as the best way but it is the public who needs to think more about the impact of their actions.
‘Likes’, ‘Tweets’ and online petitions are signs of the public’s fickle mind and it is this strength of numbers that propagandists turn around into the public’s weakness. Apparently 500 people turned up at the venue of the protest (with the majority of those landing up for free food that was distributed over there) when it started and I’m sure that number only swelled but even more turned up on Facebook to support the cause. At the precise point of signing the petition or liking the proceedings, I can confidently bet not even 5% knew what they were getting into. It was cool to do it so it was done. I would be immensely happy to proved wrong on this though.
I have nothing against the bill or the methods deployed. I still don’t know the bill in detail though I know what it aims to do. My discomfort starts with the public. We are not Egypt where decades of suppression required such mobilization of the masses.
Given the fact that much of this protest got its muscle online rather than offline, it is even more critical that people realize the importance of sound judgment before going and supporting anything. As I read today, and I couldn’t agree more despite my limited knowledge of political science, no other democracy gives the power to the people more than India does. It is time we use that power and make the government more accountable rather than coming out on the streets and put on display our utter sense of herd mentality.
The bill has been agreed to be discussed in the next session of the parliament. From that perspective, the job has not even been half done and we are celebrating victory. It is this pettiness of the herd that makes hidden forces stronger by the day. It happened in Egypt and it happens in India everyday. The crowd always forgets. The humdrum of everyday life in India doesn’t allow the average Indian the privilege of great memory more so for a ‘national’ cause.
This has probably been my longest blog post or rather outpour. I will not read it again to see if it makes sense but I hope we stop giving in to the herd mentality.
After ejecting the tyrannical Hosni Mubarak from Egypt, though it still remains to be seen if the supposed control by the army has actually borne any fruit, the hero of our day and age has now pulled off another coup in India.
The Jan Lokpal Bill, of which I have only scratched the surface, arouses obvious curiosity in me. Prima Facie, it comes across as a result of a spate of public emotion thanks to the egalitarian mind of a certain Anna Hazare (Born Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare)
How a 72 year old social activist managed to mobilise large sections of civil society may be a case in itself but what is particularly important to note here is the subtle yet bold move that has been this hunger strike.
It was when I read an article in the TOI today that I started to wonder of this phenomenon. Just two things came to my mind: was Anna Hazare just the face of a much larger scheme of things that has completely been missed by the media and the public at large? And is this therefore the end of democracy as we have known it during our time spent in this great country.
True that the judicial system has only and on all occasions served up a picture of dismay with trials stretching to years etc. True that the extent of insider scams (many exposed and even more unexposed) leaves a sour taste in the public’s mouth but is that reason enough for an action of this nature and scale. Needless to say those who mobilized this know this as the best way but it is the public who needs to think more about the impact of their actions.
‘Likes’, ‘Tweets’ and online petitions are signs of the public’s fickle mind and it is this strength of numbers that propagandists turn around into the public’s weakness. Apparently 500 people turned up at the venue of the protest (with the majority of those landing up for free food that was distributed over there) when it started and I’m sure that number only swelled but even more turned up on Facebook to support the cause. At the precise point of signing the petition or liking the proceedings, I can confidently bet not even 5% knew what they were getting into. It was cool to do it so it was done. I would be immensely happy to proved wrong on this though.
I have nothing against the bill or the methods deployed. I still don’t know the bill in detail though I know what it aims to do. My discomfort starts with the public. We are not Egypt where decades of suppression required such mobilization of the masses.
Given the fact that much of this protest got its muscle online rather than offline, it is even more critical that people realize the importance of sound judgment before going and supporting anything. As I read today, and I couldn’t agree more despite my limited knowledge of political science, no other democracy gives the power to the people more than India does. It is time we use that power and make the government more accountable rather than coming out on the streets and put on display our utter sense of herd mentality.
The bill has been agreed to be discussed in the next session of the parliament. From that perspective, the job has not even been half done and we are celebrating victory. It is this pettiness of the herd that makes hidden forces stronger by the day. It happened in Egypt and it happens in India everyday. The crowd always forgets. The humdrum of everyday life in India doesn’t allow the average Indian the privilege of great memory more so for a ‘national’ cause.
This has probably been my longest blog post or rather outpour. I will not read it again to see if it makes sense but I hope we stop giving in to the herd mentality.
posted by Saurabh at
1:33 AM
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