The corruption around us and the constant exposition and sensationalizing of corruption by an ubiquitous, always on, intrusive media has an insidious and deep effect on all of us.
We start with decrying the state our country and our society is in. But we know we are as much part of this country and society as anybody else. As a result, the constant decrying of the state around us, in time, sub-consciously manifests itself as self-hate. And in the final analysis it is self-hate that is the root cause of corruption.
I call this phenomenon Corruption Squared.
The uncovering of this phenomenon in my mind has led to a realization.
The way to fight corruption is not to constantly focus on it and constantly decry it. It is to more intensely look at the good that is in our society, our country and in us. This increased scrutiny of the good will unsquare corruption and empower us to strike at the root causes of corruption besides eradicating its most virulent symptoms.
The media would do, I think, a great service to our society and our country if it follows the above recipe.
To begin with however, as an individual, I am going try and unsquare corruption
in my own mind.
Jai India !
Sleepless in Mumbai
Three in the night
The metronome rings empty
At dawn I will be asleep
Now barren, so barren, awake
Faith sleeps. Sleeps besides me.
Shall I mouth a prayer now?
Now when darkness reigns?
I turn. Turn away.
The metronome rings empty, so empty
3 comments:
Aggie,
I agree and let us begin to focus on the good things happening around us. One thing I was very impressed recently was Azim Premji (Wipro) donating US Dollar 2 billion to a trust that will promote education. Since then I have been following his interviews and they sound very sensible. In my life time, I have never heard of any Indian corporate owner making such a big committment to charity.
The other example is Nandan Nilekani dedicating a valuable phase of his career to the UID programme. With his wealth, he could have retired and vacationed in the carribean.
There will be many more good things if we look carefully.
T.N.Shankar
Aggie,
Good thought - like everything else, we can do our bit to solve any problem. If all of us do our mite, the malaise will slowly die a natural death.
The problem, dear Aggie, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are corrupt (to quote a "corrupted" version of Shakespeare).
So when and how do we start - a movement, an awakening or to sleep, perchance to dream!!
Sunder
Dear Ashoke
I beg to differ. Without meaning to detract in any way from your excellent suggestion to look for and celebrate the good in India, I think only focusing on the good while downplaying corruption in the media or ceasing to decry corruption is not the solution. The perpetrators of these scams will only be too happy if we do that - and they will gladly manipulate a pliant media (intent on putting out only good news) into the sort of propaganda machines which Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia were famous for.
The kind of "positive psychology" you are recommending may work at the level of the individual, but will probably not work at the level of society as a whole.
I would also challenge the view that self-hate is the root cause of corruption - actually I would argue that self-love leads to corruption - when I put my own self-interest ahead of everything else, society's interest be damned - I say "My paying a bribe to get my work done is justified, as otherwise my self-interest will suffer" - without realizing that our society would become unlivable if everyone thought and did the same.
Also I feel that it is the big scams highlighted by media that are far more damaging to society than the thousands of small acts of corruption which lubricate daily life in India - when I give Rs. 100 to the traffic cop, at least there is some redistribution of wealth and some multiplier effect on the economy - whereas the scams carried out the politicians, industrialists builders etc. are a leakage from the national economy.
The only reason why I would want the media not to focus so much on scams is the bad effect it must be having on the younger generation - brutalizing and desensitizing them to corruption - making them cynically accept corruption as a way of life in India.
Vinay Hegde
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