Democracy, Post Truth and Post Reason
Krishna M.
Chemist. Founder, Sustainable Environment for Earth Foundation (SEEF). Managing Partner - Colabs Pharma Pvt Ltd., G1 Nutrients, and Colabs Strategic Materials and Ordnance Systems (COSMOS)
Talking about post-truth and its consequences, Steve Tesich said, We came to equate truth with bad news and we didn’t want bad news anymore, no matter how true or vital to our health as a nation.”
We may not be hollow men or stuffed men. But we are callous and silent, to protect the dignity of our neighbours, their daughters and sons. It does not matter whether they are accomplished or not, whether they are haves or have-nots,
It also does not matter whether you lean left or right - In reality, we are living in a post-truth, post-ethics era in India now.
Plato is the most misunderstood philosopher. Dialogue in the Plato’s work The Republic was essentially that of Socrates. The concepts, Democracy and Rhetoric are extensively misquoted by scholars. Noam Chomsky is not an exception. New Yorker magazine once featured Chomsky as the Devil’s Accountant. Even his exception towards neo-liberal ideas of democracy was largely misunderstood and often misquoted.
I have been reading Yashcha Mounk’s "The People vs Democracy” and Levitsky’s ‘How democracies die’.?There were always murmurs that democracies are eroding and the ultimate cataclysm is waiting to happen. Position of democracy as a reliable method of polity has always been under attack right from the times of Philip II.
There is some back up to this story from the World Economic Forums (WEF) reports. (1-3) If the estimates of WEF reports come true, there won't be much discourse on democracy by the turn of 22nd century except as a matter of academic and historical interest. We know that Greeks formed the Athenian model of direct democracy 2500 years ago - but that was a limited democracy for the free Hellenic citizens. While the concept of this limited democracy survived Spartan war, Macedonian king Philip II ultimately repulsed it. Slave labour was rampant in those days but the accounts of Plato and his disciples didn’t give any hints of persecution. Atleast, the slaves were not tormented as much as they are in the subsequent centuries under more authoritarian regimes across the globe.
Slavery therefore coexisted either with democracies or tyrannical set ups all through the history. Only the nomenclature has changed. Modern day slavery is more thought provoking. Psychographics rather than demographics define the contemporary slave. Consequently, the differences between democracy and tyranny are getting blurred. In principle, free speech should always cost your head under tyrannical rule but only occasionally in a democracy. Chomsky says “Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you’re really in favor of free speech, then you’re in favor of freedom of speech for precisely the views you despise. Otherwise, you’re not in favor of free speech”. Thinkers who dont align with the establishment are tarred and feathered even in a democracy. Looking at the persecution of journalists and free thinkers in India and elsewhere, we are aware of an uneasy coexistence of tyranny and democracy in the present times.
The epitome of personal liberty is the right of a democratic citizen to vote. Notwithstanding the fact that the vote is a lot like a love letter corked up in a bottle and dropped into the sea, the voter at least has the moral satisfaction of having the choice. Looking at the electoral process of India to a large extent, and that of USA to some extent, we find merit in the arguments of democratic doomsayers. Moral high ground was the first casualty in an independent democratic India. While common citizens can vote, the differentiating votes are bought by regional and central political outfits to gain entrance into the public houses. (It was about 40$ per vote as per last election experience and a few hundred million votes were bought by regional parties alone). Such depravity is rare in the western world, but I'm sure Donald Trump will catalyze the process. If?Nietzsche were still alive, he would probably have summarized democracy as mania for counterfeiting noses.?Electoral rigging is as much a reality as casting couch.
Then why democracy is good? The best side of democracy is, one might point out the systemic lacunae without getting beheaded for treason - as long as one doesn’t trespass too deep into the democratic institutions to know their winning secrets and expose the truth.
Trespassers are at times executed in a democracy but not habitually! As long as the citizens steer clear from these melting zones, democracy has its own merits. Personal liberties are always high in a democracy. Let’s enjoy these liberties right now because they are as good as they last.
However, the Elysium of eugenics and patriotism had a deleterious footprint on the psych of common citizens and their individual freedoms in India. The sense of democracy has been waning with the promise of a Hindu utopia, as we can draw our own conclusions about tall promises. Reminds me the way Hitler used the name 'Socialist' in his Nazi party to attract the then leftists of Nazi Germany, and exterminated each and every one of the communist party members later on.
I however crave the indulgence of those in power, to not to worry about semantics of panaceas and utopias - but to have a heart for the pathos of common folks. After all, one can be hardened into post-truth shadows as the members of the current ruling party have been hardened into post-reason Zombies.
Future of a nation whose citizens reject either truth or reason for their own personal safety would be grim.
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References:
2. Joshua Kurlantzik, Democracy in Retreat: The rise of middle class and the world wide decline of the representative government.(ISBN-10: 0300205805)
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