It feels good to have someone to blame

Human beings are above all in the hierarchy of living beings not because they have a more developed brain than others, its mostly because they have the power of will and an ability to reason. Most living beings are instinctive and lead their life by answering to their basic instincts, except for human beings. We are bestowed with the power to reason and a strong will power to overcome our instincts and act in a distinguished manner as compared to other living beings. However, in the face of adversity, human beings lose the power to reason and the will to distinguish between right and wrong and tend to become as instinctive as most animals do. We popularly call this "lynch mob mentality". This a useful mechanism used by human beings to vent off their frustration and get back to normalcy. If we do not have this from time to time, then with the amount of frustrations that we face in our life, we would fuse sooner than later.



Today, we face a tough life. We face pressures at work, pressures in our relationships and many a times economic pressure. In the face of so many adversities, we usually want one avenue where we can blow off the steam and restore the balance. This explains the need for a 4 day party schedule that begins from Thursday night. Having a "good time" with friends over a few drinks and chats kinda helps you get over yourself and feel at ease again. It helps you go to work with enthusiasm (even though your boss is giving you a hard time); it gets you home with a smile (even though after a long day of work you don't want to invest more into a relationship) also it helps you get over many adverse situations. The party culture of the cities actually helps them get over many a troubles in their life over a few drinks. I do not for a moment suggest alcoholism helps. I am merely saying that the dim lights, surround sound in high decibels and a dance floor acts as a perfect ambiance to lose yourself and be "happy" for a while. This also explains how urban population is indifferent to the political climate and no matter what adversity comes, "aal iz well" is the mantra for them. Life in a rural setting is a little different. They live with limited means and suffer most of the brunts of life that a urban resident suffers. When they try and talk it out on village forums, they realise, every other person is as miserable they are and this collective misery angers them. They lash out at the Government for making their life miserable and for not being able to provide them with suitable means to livelihood. This explains why Governments are more in tune with rural problems. They know that incurring the wrath of rural population would mean losing the elections while urban voters hardly care who is ruling them and have found refuge elsewhere.



But, I digress. I was talking about the lynch mob mentality. Every once in a while, when faced with a lot of troubles, we tend to blame others for our misfortunes and feel solace in this. It makes us feel better that some one else is responsible for our misfortunes and it gives us the momentary feel-good factor. In most cases its the government. People around the world, love to trash their governments and politicians alike. They like to blame all the bad things happening to them on the government and in most cases like to take credit for all the good things happening around them. Its part of the job and kinda of an occupational hazard for the Government. Today, when we see unprecedented events happening around us and it makes me wonder why is it that all of sudden anything the government does is falling in the domain of negativity. Actually, I did analyse and these are the findings.
1. People are faced with inflationary economy and the current trends are digging a deep hole into their pockets and savings are taking a dip. Normally inflationary trends are temporary till the demand supply mismatch is corrected, but in our case firstly due to an absentee agriculture minister and then due to global fuel price hike, inflationary trend is rather extended one and this is hitting people hard.
2. There is a an anti Government propaganda going on all around and competitive politics is making it more difficult for normalcy to return. Look at the US, even though its obvious that defaulting would be disastrous, opposition parties were indulging in political brinkmanship. Look at the London riots. Propaganda against the elected government is working because of adverse economic conditions. Even in India, the feeling has set in that if not for the huge amount of corruption, we would have better living condition. Now this is totally false propaganda and is only to feed the gullible. We must know that the moment inflation comes under control and household expenses will normalise, no one will be out with Anna Hazare or Ramdev or the opposition to shout slogans against the Government.
3. Government is the fall guy and will be the fall guy for all wrongs that happen. They should be gracious to accept the failings and let it pass rather than contest it. Over a period of time, people do realise on their own that some of their actions were absurd and will support their Government. Its not if, its when.
4. India is very unique where people like to do grandstanding rather than debate on substantial issues. So we have lot many opposition parties oppose the Government for the sake of opposing without any substantial points. If you ask them for inputs on how to tackle corruption, or price rise or terrorism they will not give you points on how they would tackle such a situation, instead they will go on harping on how the government is wrong and should be voted out of power. Its rather amazing that we fall for shallow propaganda always.



These are some of the issues that are causing some major grandstanding in all facets of governance today. I hope the media is listening. As a consumer of media, I would like to see valid and measured debates in our news studio, but all I see is one sided government bashing with even the news anchor taking sides to almost grill the government representative. Lets even it out guys. Lets show we are a democracy and not a mobocracy.


So long.....