The indomitable Mark Twain said – It is easier to fool someone than to convince them that they’ve been fooled.
This has long been true in the case of India. Propped up by state patronage the Left has built up its hegemony in many fields especially the liberal arts including the media. The media too used this opportunity spread lies and propaganda.
Recently the Demonitisation of Rs 500 and 1000 notes was announced by the PM to tackle the problem of black money. Most people welcomed this move as a much needed crackdown on black money. But as always, the opposition parties whipped up a frenzy saying the move was anti-poor and would increase the amount of black money in circulation. It seems like deja’vu; now more ’eminent’ citizens have written to the government asking it to rollback the demonistisation, reminiscent of the Award-wapsi.
It also saw uniting of very unlikely parties , the TMC reached out to the CPM. But in what seemed even stranger was that the Shiv Sena an ally on the BJP joined the TMC in its anti-government stance claiming it was due to the ‘plight of the citizens’. In spite of people coming out in support of the scheme and many countries thinking of following suit. When political parties feel for the poor and ordinary citizens one can expect sophistry of the highest level.
Where there is the foul stench of deceit can our vulture like journalists be far behind. Many journos instead of getting the correct information to the people started their own campaign of misinformation. Deliberately spreading rumours about price of salt. Some like this in the name of the the ground journalism lied to people right in their face.
After the dust seemed to be settling many started claiming that many bad loans of people like Mallya had been waived off among whom were spokespersons of Congress, head of the CPM , ‘journalists’ and the secular stalwarts at JNU. But it turned out that the loans had been merely written off not waived more on that here.
These are Orwell-esque times. The very concept of objective truth is fading. The media and the opposition are spreading lies and deceit and fanning the flames of anti-government sentiments. In this environment of lies and deceit another Orwell quote comes to mind ” In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act”.
