Immanuel Kant in his monograph
"An Answer to The Question : What is Enlightenment" argues that maturity - the ability to use one's own understanding of the world to lead one's life - is the key to enlightenment. He then goes further to make a distinction between the private and public use of reason. The private use of reason is when we as individuals perform our given function in a society. In that context we must obey the rules and framework of reason that govern our function as a teacher, manager etc. The public use of reason is when we are exercising reason to question the verities and foundations of everything around us including our profession. In this public use of reason we must explore without hindrance and let.
I have often wondered about the sphere of reasoning that the daily spectacle of talking heads on our 24x7 news channels belong to. Listen to CNN, BBC World or even the lately minted AlJazeera and you will probably get the impression that these international news channels seem to believe that what they put out as news and analysis belongs to the private reasoning sphere, in that there are discernible rules of engagement and analysis proscribed by a sense of responsibility.
Can one say that about the mushrooming horde of Indian news channels? Are the daily vituperation of Arnab Goswami and his ilk governed by any rules of engagement with the news and the talking heads they harangue? Is there any discernible sense of responsibility except to the compulsions of TRPs? I have nothing against Arnab Goswami. He is a brilliant man, courageous and glib. And on the occasions I watch his show, I must confess, I quite enjoy it.
However it is clear to me that Arnab is not playing by any rules. He is not engaging in a private use of reason, as defined by Kant. Then perhaps he is engaging, day in and day out, in the high flight of public reasoning as defined by Kant? Decades from now will Arnab be recognized as an enlightened, free thinker who contributed copiously and well to the public discourse in India? That is some food for thought. However as I chew on this delectable morsel, a quiet voice in the corner of my mind raises an alternative viewpoint - "On the other hand, is Arnab beyond all reason?"
3 comments:
Thank you Ashoke for echoing my sentiments about Arnab Goswami. I would describe him in more impolite terms than you have - as a charlatan and rabble-rouser who masquerades as the nation's conscience keeper. I think he is single-handedly responsible for converting TV news in India to a circus. Like you, I also enjoy watching Goswami's shows - the way I enjoy watching Amrish Puri acting as Mogambo - with a sense of horrified fascination. In his discourses he uses no Kantian reason (public or private) but only rhetoric and an expert manipulation of the average viewer's emotions and prejudices. But he does a great job of pretending that he is only interested in ruthlessly digging out the truth by (a)displaying a kind of naive moral absolutism that appeals to many people who have a black-or-white worldview, (b)cutting to the essence of any discussion, and (c) brushing away the cobwebs of complexity that surround most political issues (observe how often he says "I want to ask a very simple question"). In this, I would compare him to the pseudo-philosophers known as sophists in ancient Greece, whom Plato described as "using rhetorical sleight-of-hand and ambiguities of language in order to deceive, or to support fallacious reasoning". According to Plato, these sophists were not really concerned with truth and justice, but instead sought power. In the case of Goswami, besides TRPs for his channel, he seeks personal power and brand-building. Like most power worshippers, he believes in the strategy of "kissing up and pissing down" - observe how he demolishes minor politicians and functionaries on his show, while really powerful people receive a much more unctuous treatment. In my view, though Arnab Goswami is seen by many as a champion of free thinking and expression and a great contributor to public discourse, he is doing a disservice to the country by moving our TV news so far away from the ideal of what good, unbiased and reasoned news reporting should be like. The worst part is that all his competitors imitate him and there is not a single news channel which dares to take a different approach.
Thank you Ashoke for echoing my sentiments about Arnab Goswami. I would describe him in more impolite terms than you have - as a charlatan and rabble-rouser who masquerades as the nation's conscience keeper. I think he is single-handedly responsible for converting TV news in India to a circus. Like you, I also enjoy watching Goswami's shows - the way I enjoy watching Amrish Puri acting as Mogambo - with a sense of horrified fascination. In his discourses he uses no Kantian reason (public or private) but only rhetoric and an expert manipulation of the average viewer's emotions and prejudices. But he does a great job of pretending that he is only interested in ruthlessly digging out the truth by (a) displaying a kind of naive moral absolutism that appeals to many people who have a black-or-white worldview, (b) cutting to the essence of any discussion, and (c) brushing away the cobwebs of complexity that surround most political issues (observe how often he says "I want to ask a very simple question"). In this, I would compare him to the pseudo-philosophers known as sophists in ancient Greece, whom Plato described as "using rhetorical sleight-of-hand and ambiguities of language in order to deceive, or to support fallacious reasoning". According to Plato, these sophists were not really concerned with truth and justice, but instead sought power. In the case of Goswami, besides TRPs for his channel, he seeks personal power and brand-building. Like most power worshippers, he believes in the strategy of "kissing up and pissing down" - observe how he demolishes minor politicians and functionaries on his show, while really powerful people receive a much more unctuous treatment. In my view, though Arnab Goswami is seen by many as a champion of free thinking and expression and a great contributor to public discourse, he is doing a disservice to the country by moving our TV news so far away from the ideal of what good, unbiased and reasoned news reporting should be like. The worst part is that all his competitors imitate him and there is not a single news channel which dares to take a different approach.
Thank you Ashoke for echoing my sentiments about Arnab Goswami. I would describe him in more impolite terms than you have - as a charlatan and rabble-rouser who masquerades as the nation's conscience keeper. I think he is single-handedly responsible for converting TV news in India to a circus. Like you, I also enjoy watching Goswami's shows - the way I enjoy watching Amrish Puri acting as Mogambo - with a sense of horrified fascination. In his discourses he uses no Kantian reason (public or private) but only rhetoric and an expert manipulation of the average viewer's emotions and prejudices. But he does a great job of pretending that he is only interested in ruthlessly digging out the truth by (a)displaying a kind of naive moral absolutism that appeals to many people who have a black-or-white worldview, (b)cutting to the essence of any discussion, and (c) brushing away the cobwebs of complexity that surround most political issues (observe how often he says "I want to ask a very simple question"). In this, I would compare him to the pseudo-philosophers known as sophists in ancient Greece, whom Plato described as "using rhetorical sleight-of-hand and ambiguities of language in order to deceive, or to support fallacious reasoning". According to Plato, these sophists were not really concerned with truth and justice, but instead sought power. In the case of Goswami, besides TRPs for his channel, he seeks personal power and brand-building. Like most power worshippers, he believes in the strategy of "kissing up and pissing down" - observe how he demolishes minor politicians and functionaries on his show, while really powerful people receive a much more unctuous treatment. In my view, though Arnab Goswami is seen by many as a champion of free thinking and expression and a great contributor to public discourse, he is doing a disservice to the country by moving our TV news so far away from the ideal of what good, unbiased and reasoned news reporting should be like. The worst part is that all his competitors imitate him and there is not a single news channel which dares to take a different approach.
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