It's a mess out there! Who will rectify??

Synopsis: The coronavirus is a warning to all of us to shore up the global systems as well as ourselves because “we individuals” are the real cause of malfunction in families, societies, regions, countries and the whole world. Egotism, illusory superiority, histrionics, cult, nepotism, bitterness are the key reasons for the breakdown of all systems. These can be dealt with a logical mind and rational thinking but unfortunately the majority is devoid off such gift even though all are born with an endowment called brain. This leads to the moot question of being “actually educated in true sense.” Unless this is sorted out at an individual level , mere rules and regulations will not be sufficient enough to rectify. The onus is on us “each individual.”

The novel coronavirus ( Covid-19) has turned the world topsy-turvy. It is a mess out there. Total chaos. But wasn't the situation bad even before the pandemic?

We failed to notice or chose to ignore ? BOTH

This maybe the last wake up call , a severe final warning before the final disaster.

From a psychological point of view, our situation has become too complex and as well as nasty, getting worse as time progresses.

1.DUNNING–KRUGER EFFECT – A cognitive bias in which people with low ability overestimate their ability. This is a kind of illusory superiority which leads to egocentricity or narcissism. In general hatred or bias against people because of color, caste or sub-caste, religion, language, age, gender, status and wealth continue to divide the society and all (individual, family,states,regions,country). 

• The rulers (now the political class) always feel superior to its subjects (now the commoners) from ancient times. In most of the countries ,we have seen the plight of the population in general where the dictators or the corrupt politicians’ rule or wherever certain kind of political dynasty exists.
• The bureaucracy always feels superior to others just because they hold a prestigious designation or have been appointed on account of qualifying some exams which gives them a delusional notion about their inflated administrative ability, self-importance, superiority and being classified as elite. These people are "a type of clerks", who can only work via memos and files with little or no relevant experience, but the wrongly placed vanity in their mind forces them to think otherwise that they are the de facto rulers of the country. The current migrant crisis in India shows the ineptness and failure of this so-called superior class
• Age gives older people a wrong belief of “I KNOW MORE” because of the wrong notion ("we have spent more time on this earth so we have more experience and knowledge in every matter") .This leads the older generation to think that they are able to take decisions in all matters even they know nothing about it. They simply dismiss and are overtly critical of anything new. A classic case is our current pandemic whose devastating effect got amplified due to multiple wrong decisions of the political class and bureaucratic system (OLD AGE people sitting in high positions of politics, advisory and bureaucracy).The adage “ Wise Old Man knows everything” should be reframed as “ Old knows manipulating the young " and hence old is not wise but crafty.
• Ego is a bias which affects each and all . This phenomenon forces an individual have a higher opinion of oneself than reality. This is the main reason of deteriorating relationship in all spheres of life (between spouses, friends, individuals, superior and subordinates, rich and poor, old and young, man and woman).

2. HISTRIONICS – This is attention seeking behavior at any cost by melodrama or some unwarranted actions (dressing ostentatiously, making noise, promoting chaos, talking frivolously, or dancing without any reason etc.).

Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a mental condition which was prevalent in the west especially among teenagers in later part of the last century. Unfortunately, the oriental civilizations have become affected by this phenomenon which is causing much harm than we can think off , as it is leading towards diminishing social values and luring the young human capital of its immense productivity and success by wasting precious time and digression of the mind.

We could see the youth involved in abusive, vindictive and rowdy behavior, venting frustrations on others, drugs, disobedience, indiscipline,exploiting social media etc. One of the main causes of this behavior is our shallow system of anointing individuals the status of “stars” or “icons” or “celebrities” without valid reasons.

Acting is a noble profession and requires immense talent. But in today's world we see that most of undeserving entities are being termed as acting “STARS” especially in Indian sub-continent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), even they know nothing of acting and their work devoid of critical value. These so called “CELEBRITIES” promote histrionics through there crass behavior and actions like dressing vulgarly, propagating idiosyncrasies, talking nonsense, dancing hysterically without any reason and promoting these actions over social media which is aped by the youth who fail to gauge the harmful affects due to immaturity and recklessness.

It is extremely disappointing to see that a revered game of Cricket which has such a wide influence and immense popularity in the Indian sub-continent is also getting negatively affected by Histrionics. A lot of youngsters look up to cricketers as role models and if their heroes behave foolishly then the youth will get sensitized by histrionics.

• A captain of a cricket team behaves ludicrously by pointing to the crowd many times during a match with strange gestures and shouts from time to time to show so called aggression (a misconception that shouting and abusing is perceived and labelled as aggressive behavior). This seems strange as we have great cricketers like Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and more recently M.S. Dhoni who never did this kind of immature and stupid behavior (histrionics). A vague conjecture can be that the cricketer might think his action to be perceived as heroic which will make him win more fans resulting in multiple lucrative contracts.
• A few years ago a cricket team started some strange dance moves after winning a tightly contested international match and pointed menacingly to the other team which led to scuffle between players. This will certainly set a bad example in the young and upcoming generations which needs to be checked.
• Cricketers are role models and their personalities are copied. The strange behavior by some cricketers of this generation depict they are badly affected by histrionics (attention seeking behavior at any cost). Recently an international cricketer has started posting weird videos on social media with strange moves (i.e. so called dancing). Dancing is a form of expression but there must be occasion to dance (festivals, social gatherings like marriage, cultural programs etc). If you start dancing all the time, it is just attention seeking behavior at any cost. A psychiatric intervention is required if you suffer from this phenomenon.
• Many other similar kinds of attention seeking harmful content have engulfed the electronic media (television and OTT platforms) in form of "reality and dance shows" where they use crude language, vulgar moves and perversions of mind to capture the attention of audience at any cost.

Thus, our huge & young population is being misled as they are not being managed properly. The reason is lack of rationale thinking which has never been promoted in our society (especially India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) as the social and administrative structure is influenced severely by impractical notions (religious bigotry, social ostracization and most importantly CULT like predisposition).I will talk about Cult in the latter part of this article but before that let us try to understand "who actually benefits" from our huge population(which is uneducated and not controlled properly)

• Unscrupulous politicians and scamsters who misuse them for their vested interests
• Dishonest bureaucrats show inflated numbers to misuse funds in collusion with politicians
• So-called fake actors / film stars and TV stars / producers / directors who are harming the society by promoting rubbish content (violence and nudity, shoddy over dramatization, distorted facts, all sort of perversions, glamorizing criminal and morally deceptive behavior which confuses the youth), as viewership by even a small fraction of this vast population will lead to huge monetary benefits
• Businesses exploiting the huge population by paying much less salary and requisite employee benefits as too many people are chasing jobs which are disproportionate in numbers with respect to the magnitude of the population
• Mediocre sportsmen (especially cricketers) earn too much money than their actual worth because of some money-spinning venture (so called sports events) and get erroneously labelled as new superstars or icons of the game

So, there are strong motives behind inaction towards population control as no concrete steps have been taken till date (barring the occasional lip service and some missteps of the past in this direction to give a false impression)

3. CULT - A group which has its own rules and set of followers who have to conform to its leader. The basic unit of our society is family. Unfortunately, each of the family is run like a Cult (mostly a patriarchal cult) in our Indian sub-continent. The head of the family (leader) enjoys immense power and influence (like a demigod) , but after all he/she is a human being with multiple follies. But due to his/her status, a false sense of grandeur and know all attitude gets imbibed which leads to wrong decision making and suffering for the family(cult) members. This structure mostly leads to misuse of the revered status of the family head (intentionally or unintentionally) by the leader or other numbers using the name / fear of the leader. This helps to promote all sorts of prejudices and social malpractices by giving the cover of “religion, societal customs or order of the past” and is still being continued. This leads to blind following of many such "actions" which has no logic or relevance and are mostly harmful. In spite of all, this system gets continued till today which leads to the non-development of decision-making quality in the younger generation especially in these countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh).This cultivates herd mentality (copying past or following elders) spanning across generations. Hence the application of logic and rationale thinking does not get inculcated in decision making, ultimately leading to disasters. Looking at the current scenario the chances are nil that such quality will develop in near future. Sadly, to mention that neither our forefathers or fathers bothered to develop this trait (due to fear of losing control & influence, becoming redundant or unable to come to the terms of being questioned logically), nor the current generation is thinking towards inculcating it.The older generation has misguided the younger generation in the false pretext of so called "EXPERIENCE" and this never-ending saga continues today by simply "BRAINWASH" the young so that their mindset is oriented to "follow only" or pre-programmed to behave in a certain way so that the control stays with the "OLD" and status quo is maintained .The moot question is that unless rational thinking & logical mindset is imbibed in the younger and the upcoming generation, they will suffer the same way (rather more) as “no miracle will happen” down the line to ameliorate the society from these multitude of sufferings.To a certain degree this "Cult system" breeds sycophancy and leads to Nepotism ( the leader will favor those who follow him and ignore the deserving as a punishment for questioning or raising objections).This hierarchical composition has proven to be perilous for the society as it creates "YES-SIR" culture which hampers the progress of the society by being irrational, ignorant and merely following the incompetent. The bureaucratic system and political dynasties are some relevant examples.

4. NEPOTISM - The practice of favoring relatives,friends,followers or someone from a specific group, class, region for personal benefits like jobs,nominations,positions etc. A major blemish in our society is Nepotism (favoritism) which is a fallout of our hypocritical mind that leads to promote someone or something belonging to a particular group (with power, influence or so-called privileged background) even that someone or something is not fit or undeserving than others.

• The Bollywood industry is a prime example where relatives and friends of the powerful lobbies and influential families get the nod and the outsiders are sidelined and heckled.
• There are many glaring examples from the field of sports where undeserving players are selected in the national team due to influence of certain officials or just because they belonged from a particular region or zone.
• In bureaucracy, the candidates who are from privileged background (children of influential and rich) are favored in the interview process.
• In the excessively competitive salaried job market, lobbying has been a key factor to get the final nod for the successful candidate in many cases which leads to frustration and bitterness among unsuccessful yet deserving candidates

5. HYPOCRISY – The practice of claiming something what actually is not, in other way false representation of someone or something, hiding truth or distorting facts, promoting someone or something for benefits of a group under ulterior motive.

Unfortunately, the Indian sub-continent is full of such examples, although we have many sages and ascetics been born in this region which was once termed as the land of truth.

• We have withheld many facts leading to our country’s partition and the actual reason for gaining independence
• We obfuscated the investigation of the disappearance of our greatest freedom fighter
• We purported details on the assassination of one of our Prime Minister  

Let us look at some recent examples

• Population is a huge problem, we all know that and had read it in books and articles. Still we all continue to contribute towards increasing population and simultaneously give lecture to others rather than taking practical and concrete steps to resolve this issue.
• We still are uncomfortable about the process of progeny and try to hide it or allude it to some other factors
• We are in denial of the drinking habit in the country, this got exposed recently
• In social media lot of fake messages and distorted facts are being promoted as genuine news
• Under the pretentious garb of “Freedom of expression” so-called celebrities and fake intellectuals spread malicious information and engage in false rhetoric to confuse the population

Let me give some examples from cricket (an obsession in Indian sub-continent) where we are unable to accept reality and try to create doubt into other’s minds along with promoting corruption

• Betting syndicates are omnipresent with cricket in sub-continent, but we still hide our players (so called icons) on the pretext of naivety, politics or ignorance
• A few years ago, Two international cricketers of repute cheated on the field, but they were allowed back in the game due to influence of money and lobbyists.Surprisingly the serious crime committed by the players (so called stars or role models) seems to be forgotten and they are accepted by most of us

The biggest irony is that the utmost important healthcare system which nurtures and saves life is in utter neglected state. Most of the healthcare practitioners and workers are grossly underpaid but the so-called ordinary film stars and average sports celebrities are paid in millions in spite of their useless and insignificant contributions.

Frankly, we are leading lives which are fake and illusory as we intend to hide the reality and avoid truth.

6. BITTERNESS – Unhappiness due to the feeling of being treated badly or not getting a fair deal. This can be viewed as a natural emotion among all. But the logical thinking will make you realize that everyone has a role to play and all cannot be successful.The harsh reality is "Everyone cannot get everything desirable."

The key point here is that this bitterness is due to discontentment on account of other’s material success which is an outcome of shallow comparison between individuals or groups. This feeling of jealousy and hatred is percolating at alarming rates and the youth is being affected the most. This is due to the show of pomp and wealth by the so-called role models of youth (film stars, cricketers, industrialists etc.). There is unequal distribution of wealth which gets highlighted by the media which leads to frustration of highest level.This leads to despair among youth about the society and confusion towards career path orientation, ultimately leaning towards corruption.

7. EDUCATION - A metric called "Literacy Rate" is used to classify whether the population is “educated” or not ,which is a sort of misrepresentation. On the contrary there are three aspects called Literate, Degree Holder and Educated.

• Literate : Individuals who can read and write, as correctly depicted by literacy rate. But mistakenly they are categorized as "educated" in layman's term. Those individuals who cannot read and write are termed as illiterate and in general are perceived as uneducated.
• Degree Holder : Those who have passed examinations and received certificates to validate their proficiency in specific subjects.They are perceived as "highly educated" which is a fallacy.
• Educated : Those who are rational and are able to take logical decisions. Theoretically speaking, an illiterate person can be educated (the probability may be less).

An example of this irony in our society is the unhygienic habit of “Spitting” in public spaces. This filthy habit is prevalent in our country (society) and is repeated by large number of the population irrespective of their financial (rich and poor), social (any caste or religion) or educational (literate, degree holder and illiterate) status.

Learning can happen by observation. A child might not have been taught to spit but the observation leads the child to believe that the activity of spitting is natural (socially acceptable) and thus this dirty habit has seeped throughout the society. 

So please think before you act as this will have a direct impact on the younger and the next generation.

The key questions to be pondered here is

• Are we educated?
• If yes, then what percentage of the population is educated?
• If no, then how do we update our learning systems or processes so that the whole country becomes educated ?

So in a nutshell the problems in our society are deep rooted in us (every citizen) and frankly we are doing nothing to rectify or contain it.

Let me make it clear, this needs contribution from ALL (each and everyone), firstly at individual level, then family and afterwards at the society level.

Merely, the government alone will not be able to bring changes in the country(society) via rules and regulations, unless we all citizens act together simultaneously and immediately.We must understand that individuals from our society (within us) become part of the political class or represent the bureaucracy.

The onus is upon "us (every citizen)" to guide the young and the upcoming or next generation by educating them and instill logical thinking and rationale mindset.

But before that we have to accept our faults, educate & improve ourselves and be ready to speak the truth to the youngsters and the next generation. ARE WE READY?

Disclaimer : These are author's personal views.