
Some of my friends are quite disturbed at ‘the low level’ to which Aamir Khan has stooped in his latest movie Dhoom 3. They are unimpressed by the fact that the blockbuster is stashing crore after crore of rupees for its owners with each passing day. They instead take swipe at the highly irrational acts of chivalric heroism that the film is all about – a hero on a rickshaw breaking the wall, landing right in the middle of a street fight and as usual, but in somewhat unique manner, beats the hell out of the villains. They are disappointed that Aamir Khan, who they thought had promised a cinema-for-change, has betrayed them by being part of this ‘commercial’ flick.
But I am sure that the makers of the movie have no time to attend to such criticism. They are too busy celebrating the record smashing success of their venture. Why shouldn’t they be? They have been surgical in stage managing whatever it takes to blow the box office. They knew exactly how to bring the viewers to the edge of their seats, make their eyes pop out, send their hearts racing at maddening speed and their adrenaline levels hitting the ceiling.
The viewers come out contented, entertained and exhausted. They got the bang for the buck, probably a bonus too. They can now rejoice the experience till the next big thing arrives.
My skeptic friends find yet another consummate experience just as bizarre. I was amused, however, when some of them were upbeat at the speech that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari delivered at the sixth death anniversary of his mother. They were elated at the bold manner in which the scion of the Bhutto clan hit out at the opponents of their party and its ideology. His tone and tenor was enthralling, and the crowd gathered at the Bhutto mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh frequently burst into frenzied applause. Some of the catchy phrases that he tossed, busied quite a few thumbs generating a flurry of activity in the social media, besides becoming the talk of evening talk-shows.
PPP supporters had a good day and they can savor the pleasant after taste till the next statement is cracked by a politician.
I have no take on what the young man had said per se. My issue is that this playing-to-the-gallery wit by politicians is now considered as ‘the political discourse’. It hops from one statement to the next, revolves around these and concludes with these. The statements are self-serving; they do not have to represent anything other than themselves – they are the politics unto themselves. Politicians do not feel compelled to be objective and to back their words by facts or actions and policies. They just say what elates their supporters.
Imran Khan knew well that corruption cannot be uprooted in 90 days but what he knew even more was that this is what put his supporters on a high, so he committed to it before the elections and when confronted, he lowered the deadline to 19 days!
Narendra Modi probably offered a classic example of this phenomenon when recently addressing a rally in the state of Bihar, he informed the audience there that it was the people of Bihar who had defeated Alexander, the Macedonian conqueror, in India in 326 BC.
He probably was short of ideas about how to excite his Bihar audience but knew for sure that he must, never mind the fact that Alexander never went beyond present day Pakistan. His political instincts made him stretch the oratory a bit too far. He is most definitely a shrewd politician and must have anticipated that the Twitterati laughing at or cursing him would be a bonus ray of the limelight. Absurd, nonsensical or whatever he might have sounded, he won the day.
If you still harbour any doubts about how fake the political discourse has become. Listen to this 50 second video. I recorded it while attending ‘the revolutionary rally’ of Pakistan Awami Tehrek (PAT) of Allama Tahirul Qadri in Lahore on December 29. It was attended by a well-meaning and motivated crowd of seven to 10 thousand of his party men and women. Qadri does not believe in violence nor does he espouse electoral democracy and yet, he wants to bring down the entire system and his enthusiastic followers find no reason at all to ask him how. One of the main speakers here claimed that they will soon descend on Islamabad with a procession of 50 million, (yes, 5 crore) people and the crowd was ecstatic at that.
Politicians know what they are doing. But what is most astounding are the supporters, who do not bother about the falsehood of their discourse. They just want them to say something which can seemingly help them score a point against their political opponents, which could afford them an opportunity to holler an insult in the others’ face, giving them a false sense of political activism.
When some of the politicians raise a ‘real’ issue, it is merely intended to serve as a peg to hinge some quotable quotes on. Three different provinces are being ruled by three different, and opposing, parties and none has any clear superiority over the other. Governance remains unexciting and mundane; moving at its own pace, quietly following the dictates of global economics and politics which combined with the class interests of our elite only leaves room for minor tinkering with the status quo.
If you still want to test my skepticism, just have a look at their local government laws. Isn’t it ironic that all three of them wanted local elections on non-party basis? They all want these elected bodies to perform strictly under their appointed bureaucrats, and fearful of suffering a loss they are bending rules and even gerrymandering constituencies. All three of them – there are no exceptions.
The new media broadened the canvas but it hasn’t altered the direction. In fact, in many ways it has exasperated this conversion of politics into a consumable commodity. Politics is now next best thing to the leisurely ‘commercial’ entertainment as it now comes with moral, or even religious, justification.
It is not surprising then that entertainment channels running soaps lose audience in times of some or the other ‘movement’ becomes too gripping. And when revolutions are in short supply, the news channels have to mix scenes or soundtracks from hit movies to make their bland stuff palatable and retain viewers and ratings.
A certain level of exaggeration is accepted as a merit in poetry and by same standard some rhetoric can be accepted in politics, but it cannot be made to stand in for a genuine political discourse. The blurring of the line between political rhetoric and political discourse is a profound way of sustaining the status quo. People are injected regular dozes of adrenaline that keeps them euphoric about non-issues. It deprives them of the ability to think, analyse, organise and act to get their birth right to happy, prosperous lives.
However, I’m sure it can not deprive them of their ability to dream and that’s the last hope of an ardent optimist.
Comments (19) Closed
Politicians and religious leaders are the best businessmen on this planet, they just sell the dreams to stupid people and make millions and billions.
Narendra modi said that sikander was defeated at the banks of river ganges... it was metaphorical and NOT literal....he was quoting some unheard poet.....what modi meant was Sikander was defeated at the borders of India. He never said that he was defeated by Biharis. India and Ganga river are sometimes taken as same entity by some poets as they are many times supposed synonyms of one another...at least in RSS books...and MODI is an RSS pracharak... you need to understand where it is coming from before commenting...and people following RSS methodology clearly understood it ... No one in the Patna rally crowd ever took it as you are trying to suppose... it only made the opposition parties take notice because they do not know Modi's and RSS thinking pattern....NO Bihari in his dreams would think that Biharis defeated Sikander...What MODI says has an alternate meaning because RSS history presentation is quite different than other historians...but even the RSS books never claim that Sikander was defeated by BIHARIs...so there....
if someone have innovative idea he is up.
All blame doesn't go to sellers but buyers too, who want to buy any nonsense. For once stop blaming politicians (we have done enough blaming) and start criticizing the masses too.
@ AR - And journalists like this guy are there to help them in this cause.
The article is suppose to be about three politicians and an actor I would rather sum up the article as three mediocre actors and 1 really terrible actor. Out of millions of films produced by Bollywood at most only 10 are watchable all others a tragic waste of celluloid.
@AR: You forgot to mention the film makers worldwide. All this has a feel of the Brechtian!
Excellent! Full of truth. Unfortunately, reality is that a good majority of people in the world are emotional, thoughtless, and non-analytical. Especially, in countries like Pakistan and India politicians take full advantage of the emotions of the people. This gives birth to highly deceptive politicians like Imran Khan and Narendra Modi. Despite their bogus claims and assertions these people have supporters. Just pathetic!
The teacher who defeated Alexander was Arya Chanakya and he came from Bihar. Eventually, his deciple, Chandragupta united the entire India under one banner. His grandson, Ashok, became the greatest Indian Emperor of all time.
Nice read and it is heartening to see that thoughtful blogs still find place in papers. But how long Mr Mehdi? People too are in a hurry to read a newspaper .. If I am allowed to copy your words - The new media broadened the canvas but it hasn
Dunno about others, but IKs example isnt quite right and misquoted repeatedly. What he actually said was major top level corruption in 90 days ensured by honest ministers. And yes, that is very much possible.
Plus abt the LB laws, you might want to research bit better. Sindh calls for party based elections on all levels. KP calls for non party only at lowest village level which is completely separate from party based tehsil district levels.
Plus in KP, the law devolves administrative authority of most depts to elected district councils other than devolving down to village level.
I wonder how you expect people to think and evaluate themselves when media persons such as yourself generalize things and dont educate them about the FACTS as they are.
Mehdi saheb
I have one small observation. From whatever I read about Alexandar's conquest of India, my understanding is that Alexandar's army, already tired after ferocious opposition given by Porus, refused to walk further and face Magadh empire's army. This mighty empire was based out of Patliputra (modern day Patna) in Bihar. I do not know exact world Modi spoke. However, there is some justification to claim that Alexandar's army went back due to prowess of Patna of that period.
Rest, I enjoyed reading your blog.
All the best.
@Mr.Tahir "Narendra Modi probably offered a classic example of this phenomenon when recently addressing a rally in the state of Bihar, he informed the audience there that it was the people of Bihar who had defeated Alexander, the Macedonian conqueror, in India in 326 BC. He probably was short of ideas about how to excite his Bihar audience but knew for sure that he must, never mind the fact that Alexander never went beyond present day Pakistan. "- Technically Mr.Modi is right . King Puru had defeated Alexander and at that time King Puru was rulling over current day Bihar which used to be a part of Maurya Dynasty . We know Alexander couldn't come into Indian Hindi Heartland , because our ancestors forced him to flee from the borders. And we endorse these small untrue things for greater good. In fact I would join with Mr.Modi's bandwagon to say "People of India not only Bihar should be proud of fact that their ancestors repelled the so called Alexander the great." .
One of the very few articles that give and entirely new perspective to think about and different angle too - Simple yet loaded, seems everything was right infront of the audience and just has been organized by the author - Great piece mr. tahir!
The reference to Modi was not needed, Modi bought cheer and happiness to millions through his corrupt free administration.when he refereed to Alexander and Bihar it was about chandragupta maurya and chanakya who led the downfall of mecedonian.Porous was defeated squarely and Ambhi did not even give a fight and both of them ruled at a place which is now Pakistan
Wonderful
Modi was perhaps referring to the mighty Mauryans based at Pataliputra,present day Patna.as the Kingdom spread to present day Pakistan,and on the other bank of river were Mauryan Armies,an exhausted Alexander wisely chose to return back rather than fighting them.so technically Bihari Mauryans were responsible for the return or defeat of Alexander.
@Thoughtful: The name belies the claims. You call yourself "Thoughtful", but have no insight to offer. Who is your leader - NS, Zardari or better still AH? That will explain how analytical you are!
Today's political discourse is just another "Opium of masses". A very good piece in, both, language and content.