Talking Shop: Enough to cry over

“The world suffers a lot.

Not because of the

violence of bad people,

but because of the

silence of the good.”

— Napoléon Bonaparte

Even a wildly-popular King like Napoléon Bonaparte of France, who came from nothing and conquered everything, was man enough to accede that it does not take the bad of the bad to make things bad, it takes the bad of the good to make things horrible. Look at Napoléon’s quote above. No less a person than a once-ruler of Europe admitted backhandedly that part of the reason he managed to conquer much of the West was the fact that those who could make a difference and rise openly to stop his onslaught chose not to act. In their silence lay acquiescence, and in their unspoken compliance lay a license for a crusader to invade.

A similar kind of acquiescence and unspoken compliance are being witnessed in our country, and we see glimpses of this quite often now. In the latest episode of this national tearjerker, an octogenarian recently wept in Parliament. Earlier editions and renditions of this national soap opera have seen countless mothers in our villages cry over the bodies of their besmirched and defiled children. In other runs of this mega-serial, often televised, we have watched fathers break down over the mutilated bodies of their children and similarly poignant incidents.

Things get so bad sometimes that all we want to do is join these people in their suffering, if only to trigger our own catharsis, one that will rinse, wash and cleanse in one go our bodies, minds, souls and conscience. But even this is a selfish thought – we are all too aware that a big reason for the present turmoil lies within each one of us. We allowed this to happen. This rape of society, values and morals has been masterminded by us.

Playing the blame-game

Just last week, I was inundated by calls for a particularly ‘telling column’ I had penned, or so I was told. People of various creeds, status and strata were alarmed over the state of India’s children, the Gen Next. The callers had one common thread; an admission that things are bad, getting worse still, and that we have no one but ourselves to blame. Coming from a bunch of achievers, that statement itself meant a lot. Till I discovered a second common thread in all admissions – a victory for the theory of omission and commission. Eventually, all veered around to blaming extraneous factors. The Government. Politicians. The Haves. The Wannabes. The Emotionally Bankrupt. The Really Bankrupt. The Sun. And the Rain.

I realized no one cared enough to blame their own selves. It was a curtain call, a conscience-cleanser, a pastime of a call that passed off as ‘doing right’, even be it with empty words. The same nonchalance and indifference over decades are the reason for this mess. Yet, even the intelligentsia pretends to be blind and concerned, the latter feeling being blurted (sic) in hiccups and spurts.

That led me to read on the subject. As I read, the can of worms I opened metamorphosed into an ocean of mire – the more I absorbed, the more I realized that this has not just been a primary reason for decadence and the proliferation of greed and evil, something that has been exploited to the core by those who were quick to recognize its destructive potential.

World has been wicked

I will digress for a bit, only to talk of the dangers of silence. I will talk Mussolini and Reagan. A staunch socialist who abandoned ship when he realized anti-socialist violence could help him seize power, Benito Mussolini exploited the outbreak of World War I, using nationalism, militarism and terror to silence the masses and quell upheaval. Protests could have saved Italy, but no one took to the streets. With people cowering, he grabbed power, eventually leaving behind Marxist economic determinism and pacifism. He also left behind a trail of depression and destruction, something that haunts parts of the region till today.

On to Ronald Reagan, the former US President who was applauded when he called those born before 1928 the “Greatest Generation, which saved the world”; referring to those who won World War II for the Allies. The phrase got so popular that Tom Brokaw even wrote a book on this. However, agencies like Pew Research have now stopped reporting on this ‘generation’. Why? Because the ideals they stood for are gone. Today, such rebellious souls make up only 2 per cent of the global adult population and opinion polls, therefore, “do not anymore yield large enough sample sizes” for reporting. Whew! Talk about a few defiant clams going back into the old shell.

The world needs protest. We have forgotten, and need to remember, that it is the only way to speak truth to those in power. Through history, protests have driven social movements, exposed injustice, fought for accountability and inspired people. But things (read ‘people’) are so tame today that Amnesty International is now working a program called ‘Protect the Protest’, a bid to support movements for voicing of opinion(s) and positive change.

When advertisements grin

Bruce Barton said: “In good times, people want to advertise. In bad times, they have to.” Perhaps there lies the reason that while the world around us is in tatters, what’s left as solace are ugly ads that stare down at us from street corners, rail platforms, airport kiosks and fuel pumps. The ads always have a knowledgeable face grinning at us, a ‘you better learn’ reminder to us about the blessed spree of growth and good fortune we are enjoying.

Let’s keep looking at the ads. Let’s continue to stay quiet. The world will be a better place. Or, at least, there will be a world left. That seems to be the thought process that society and its people now have, with things that matter being jettisoned at the altar of a proclivity to amass more – with the growing mound of possessions surrounding people assumed to be a bellwether proof of their advancement and progress.

I differ, for the truth lies closer home. It lies inside our homes, in the faces of the neglected elders, and in the pseudo-cherubic expressions donned by the Gen-Next, who are all but running their own future into the ground, one mobile touchscreen click at a time.

Soliloquy: A friend told me that not just silence, even the wrong answer can be disastrous. Asked how, he said: “When you are asked ‘Do you take him/her to be your lawfully wedded husband/wife?’ and you answer incorrectly, it is worse than silence.” I have nothing to say on this subject, for I am already in enough hot water in this tender space.

The writer is a veteran journalist and communications specialist. He can be reached on [email protected]. Views expressed are personal