Tags
Anna Hazare, Bureaucracy, Corruption, Democracy, India, Politics, Thoughts
Our democracy has given us the ability to make so many choices – a few decades ago, we chose to leave for better opportunities elsewhere, recently we choose to return because of plum prospects in India. But whenever we have to choose to be alert citizens, we choose the easy road – the road of oblivion, escapism and feigned ignorance. Even worse – something I am guilty of, too – cynicism and haplessness.
When an elderly man decides to fast, we tweet. When scams are exposed, we update our status in horror. When our status quo is breached we respond with anger, criticism even shock, but no solutions.
We, the urban intelligentsia, have found no way out, and have preferred to let the zoo animals that are our bureaucrats and politicians rule roost while we hatch eggs – shaking our intellectual manes over the evils at fine soirées.
We may #tweetforwickets in a strong show of national spirit, we may cry in emotional joy at national wins, but we make no move to change what’s wrong.
It’s true, the answers are often not with us, there needs to be a collective consciousness that decides to take no more sh*t. Everytime there is someone who inspires us, or something that appalls us, we make a stir, think about a rising, and then, in one collective motion, sit our asses right back into our plush la-z-boy recliners.
It’s unfortunate that we have the option to leave, or the money to ignore the crap that goes on in our backyard, or the cynicism to empty every full glass – because the moment we run out of our options, we may be fasting like good man Anna Hazare for our future, as our men steal every morsel from our homes.
Gandhi fasted for independence, its a shame that 60+ years hence, a man has to fast merely to get a bill noticed in parliament. Elle Woods would be charmed. Tsunamis may be hitting the Pacific, but it is the wasteland of Indian inaction that requires attention.
A really nice post.Tweeting, adding a hash tag, changing the profile picture, updating status on Facebook has given us a sense of believe towards contributing to a cause. Most believe that doing so makes them a part of the movement. What they fail to realize is that people who take the decision rarely notice the status update or the profile picture change.I saw a site collecting petition about the fast for anti-corruption bill. 1000 people signing it makes the petition go forward. How does one even verify that the petition went through. How many of us follow through?Democracy / Movement, moves forward when people join and follow up.I see a lot of people join(thanks to social media. The actual real life conversion might be lower), but very few follow up.I hope more people are active in real life as compared to social media / websites.
A really nice post.Tweeting, adding a hash tag, changing the profile picture, updating status on Facebook has given us a sense of believe towards contributing to a cause. Most believe that doing so makes them a part of the movement. What they fail to realize is that people who take the decision rarely notice the status update or the profile picture change.I saw a site collecting petition about the fast for anti-corruption bill. 1000 people signing it makes the petition go forward. How does one even verify that the petition went through. How many of us follow through?Democracy / Movement, moves forward when people join and follow up.I see a lot of people join(thanks to social media. The actual real life conversion might be lower), but very few follow up.I hope more people are active in real life as compared to social media / websites.
That’s right. I wish we could use social forums more effectively: by harnessing a collective social opinion towards change, with actual suggestions and calls to action. But maybe, just maybe, a ”like” or RT is the first step.
<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>That’s right. I wish we could use social forums more effectively: by harnessing a collective social opinion towards change, with actual suggestions and calls to action. But maybe, just maybe, a ”like” or RT is the first step.<br><br></div></body></html>