A few simple but deeply philosophical sentences by one of India’s most outspoken journalists. Ravish stands out, but there are many other courageous reporters, and we must be grateful to them all.
Listen to his talk here, it was delivered yesterday. He uses the word talkhi to describe the atmosphere sought to be created and maintained in society by the mass media and ruling classes. Talkhi means bitterness, acrimony, and malice. When friendship and civility no longer remain the basis of political life, nothing remains but the vacuum of negation.
Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography contains these lines in the chapter named Balasundaram: “It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow human beings” / Doosron ko apmaanit karke log apne ko kaise sammanit samajh sakte hain, iss paheli ko main aajtak hal nahin kar saka hoon: (The Story of My Experiments with Truth)
Of what are tyrants fearful? They see everyone in their own mirror image; Lord Acton said, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Hence they fear everyone, they trust no one. Here is a brilliant line of his: There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. Tyrants are utterly lonely; their souls become black holes which suck up and destroy all love and light. They are the unhappiest beings, because nothing less than the permanent enslavement of the entire human race will satisfy them, and the only truth they know in their bones is that this is an impossible dream.
They respond by spreading fear, anger, discontent, hatred and insecurity amongst all of us. But this indefinable discontent is like a fungus – the tyrant cannot escape its reach, it is all around him.
Evil isn’t hard to comprehend, it is nothing but unhappiness In its most successful disguise: Franz Wright
Tyranny is the enforcement of silence, and ideological tyranny is a reign of permanent lies. Speech is replaced by shouting and sneering, which is the same as saying nothing at all.
We seem to be living in a zoo or a wresting pit
The totally administered society, the completely controlled public sphere, is a society of zombies, Plato called it the city of pigs. Human beings ask questions, they need to speak, and to speak freely, to converse and disagree. That is why it is not patriotic to wish homogeneity, conformity and silence upon our fellow citizens; rather, it is an impulse towards self-destruction.
The yes-man is your enemy, but your friend will argue with you – Russian proverb
Here are a few posts that deals with this and related matters.
Meanwhile Ravish, khuda hafiz
After the truth-shower 