“When you think everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot.” - Dalai Lama
Democracy demands free thinking individuals who are capable of understanding the common good and act upon it. Any civilization that supposedly upholds democracy but fails to produce such individuals ultimately degrades itself. Evidently the world is seeing a shortage of such persons.
It’s a common sight to see people blame the government for their woes, but, how far is the government truly responsible in reality? Weren’t we the ones who put them there? Don’t we hold some accountability for what occurs or doesn’t occur in society? How can we expect action when clearly we’re too busy pointing fingers? Arguably, however, this is not something unique to our own. The BJP and the Congress parties have been at it for decades. More recently they’ve had ecstatic exchanges over COVID-19, the farmers’ Republic Day incident in Delhi and many more. Similarly, the US and China had the time of their lives “passing the buck” on COVID and showcasing their assertiveness in what can only be described as a contest on who’s the bigger bully. In almost every theatre of state affairs, the blame game is played by all, loved by all.
What spurs the blame game is usually a fear; a fear over what we do not know or completely understand. At times, political parties and governments weaponize this fear in the form of propaganda and ideology. To the gullible masses that are incapable of thinking for themselves, such a weaponization turns deadly. An extreme example of this would be the Nazi regime. To simply put it, Hitler believed that his people- the Aryans- were subjected to the evils of the Jewish populace who were responsible for everything wrong with the world. This didn’t turn out so well for the Jews. This takes us to an essential part of the blame game- victim mentality. People who are fearful have their fears exploited and used. Those who are not, have fear imbibed in them. Here, victimization works wonders at persuading any individual. Politicians convince us that we’ve been greatly wronged and demonize someone to act as the scapegoat. When such a favourable environment exists, where public trust is minimal not only on the political system but towards themselves as well, it is obvious that conflict of some degree might ensue.
Nagaland is a pothole. A few muddy the water, and the rest of us follow suit. Not too long ago, a particular someone hurled explicit accusations at the government. Many of our people rallied in support of this individual. But after the individual was arrested on legal grounds, all were mute. The validity of his arguments can be debated some other day. But what was observable, was a large public following around his stand. Do we as a collective base our thoughts on rationality, backed with credible proof? Or do we rally around any belief or idea that is closely associated with our sentiments?
In the past decades, the status quo has rarely been changed. Some protests here, some agitations there; the public throws about a show of disagreement with the government’s actions, which the government in turn takes measures to appease the public. A big election speech or a grand scheme is announced and we recede back to our comforts. It has become integrated into our daily lives, that the public exhibits a level of apathy on their own condition. We forfeit long term solutions for temporary, superficial ones. You can’t complain that you’re in hell when you’re the one dancing with the devil. It is here that we must ask: who is responsible for this? Shouldn’t a democracy allow the right convictions, the right decisions to be brought about?
Often those whom we expect to lead prove themselves inefficient and sometimes incompetent. Can they be fully trusted to guide the masses? Who, then, is to be blamed? Who is responsible? Let us, for a moment, consider how crude and useless the blame game is, and how we could save so much time by diverting our efforts to things of far better value. Regardless of who is at fault, it is certain that our collective responsibility is tied to each citizen.
Therefore let each begin where work is needed. After all, don’t all kinds of problems originally stem from personal problems? Dare I say, spiritual, or even existential ones? If there is to be any change, shouldn’t we begin at the most basic levels? Or as a dead man once put it, “You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics”. Could it be that for better change to establish itself in our offices, schools, roads and towns, we must begin with ourselves? The point of this piece, I believe, is not so much to provide answers but to raise questions: not to stop at conclusions, but to seek more, for the conclusions are nothing but the bubbles of ‘illusions’. Finally, it is important to understand that when you gain real insight into the human universe, you lose the capacity to blame and that is the true moment of freedom, for a MAN- to be freed from ‘himself’. This ‘Freedom’ we all must longed to strive for.
Whatever systems run our world, we decide where it leads. What then is to be done when Man is a slave to his own ‘self’? Let us not forget, raising fingers at each other will leave everyone without hands.
Degree of Thought is a weekly community column initiated by Tetso College in partnership with The Morung Express. Degree of Thought will delve into the social, cultural, political and educational issues around us. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the institution. Tetso College is a NAAC Accredited UGC recognised Commerce and Arts College. The editors are Dr Hewasa Lorin, Dr Aniruddha Babar, Nisha Dahiya and Meren. For feedback or comments please email: dot@tetsocollege.org
