Lessons from the flood of biased opinions

THE OTHER SIDE

Tweets by three persons eliciting attention to the farmers’ agitation in India evoked varied reactions from those on both sides of the agitation.  The Indian government reacted to tweets by American pop singer Rihanna followed by Swedish ‘activist’ Greta Thunberg and former Lebanese-American adult movie actor Mia Khalifa with the Ministry of External Affairs putting out a Press statement. Others including the niece of the USA’s vice president, some Indian actors and cricketers also came out in support of the agitation. On the other hand some personalities came out against propaganda targeting India. Gradually, allegations are emerging for example on considerable payments being made for tweets in support of the agitation even as there is no lack of those levelling counter allegations and coming out in defence of those supporting the agitation. Firstly, one may find it a sorry sign of the times when even uninformed opinions of the likes of pop singers, actors and sportspersons are deemed to have an impact on issues they may know little about. But then, such personalities often cater to the tastes of those who may not be part of the intelligentsia. The majority can anyway not be expected to be intellectual enough so even the biased and uninformed opinions of such personalities may affect them even if fleetingly. That is what popular trends are all about.

What those going by the popular trends- irrespective of the side they support- are unaware of is that not all the games played by the powers that be are understood by or disclosed to the masses. In international affairs and politics, not all the moves that are made by governments are easy to comprehend because such moves and the real intentions behind them are rarely known to the general public- they may not even be known to most in the establishment. For example, deeds or statements appearing to be in support of a movement, leader or nation may conceal that which is not really good.  One may not understand whether the flood of information, factoids, allegations, opinions and conspiracy theories on social media regularly these days is a good phenomenon or bad. On the one hand, this perpetuates propaganda and fuels people to argue abusively with strangers while on the other hand it does keep many occupied and gives the authorities a better idea of the opinions of individuals and masses. It might actually be good for differences in opinions to emerge rather than a scenario in which people keep their opinions concealed and carry on pretending.

But one can state that ideas like the new world order and many of the alleged wrongs being carried out across the world are not actually new. Such things have been going on for centuries, only the scale and area of impact have changed along with the means to carry these out. A government with good intentions needs to understand the root of the differences and then use its two biggest weapons- correct information and genuine action. This is all the more important because comparing the ground reality in ‘developed’ nations and India will give one a better idea of the real potential this nation has. Doubtless, the challenges India faces are unique and daunting but then the resources this nation actually has are more than capable of tackling these challenges. One only hopes that the government has learnt enough about the opinions of the people and now becomes serious on making the timely sharing of correct information a part of the system. It must also be borne in mind that correct information should also include gaps which affect interests of the nation and its people.

Saturday, 06 February 2021 | Paritosh Kimothi | Dehradun