THE GULLIBILITY QUOTIENT

You can fool all the people some of the time, some people all the time, but not all the people all the time.” This was what Abraham Lincoln thought would ensure probity and fairness in society and act as a check and balance over those who unscrupulously tried to achieve success by making a fool of the people. What Lincoln, however, did not realise was that there was an underlying assumption behind this and a crucial one. That to succeed you need to fool all the people all the time. And that is where his rationality floundered. Take democracies, for instance. Obviously, because this was the context in which US President Lincoln made the statement. Do you really need to fool all the people to succeed? Certainly not. Democracy is a majority rule and success can mean anything from as close as 51:49 to even much discrepant ratios in case there are dissensions on the other side, which may add up to much more the 50 and still fail to succeed.

From Brexit to many cases of national elections at many places we have seen this. But this is not about elections and democracies only. It is about everything and everywhere. More so, in the information age in which one clever charlatan with mischievous intent can fool all the people for some time. This is not in any way to discount the possibility of the some who can be fooled all the time. As post-truth, xenophobia and surrealism abound what is happening is that the gullibility quotient of the people is on the rise. And it is not just about those who can be fooled all the time. It is about all others who are joining this tribe. In classical psychology, intelligence quotient was supposed to be the measure of ability to guard against gullibility and reduce vulnerability to get fooled. With more and more knowledge about the essence of the so-called intelligence getting discovered, it was assumed that it is not just a score on a battery of tests comprising items from several subjects.

Rather, intelligence symbolised that uncanny ability which would help a person separate wheat from chaff. And we could conclude that intelligence had nothing to do with information, knowledge or even education if abilities of people like Edison, Dickens, Bill Gates or even our own Hazari Prasad Dwivedi were any indication. So Western psychology discovered much later what was already there in our ancient Vedic literature. The critical ability to discriminate was the essence of intelligence which was mentioned as viveka. In the modern times, as we find the society marching back to the dark ages with social and religious dissensions rising and witchcraft and voodoo-like beliefs resurfacing, the greatest causality seems to be viveka, the ability of discrimination. From monkey man to the witches sucking blood to the braid-cutting vampires, the Indian society is seemingly going back to the age of the snake charmers and thugs. Mass hysteria, that was once the bane of the dark period, seems to be reappearing at a nagging pace. The unfortunate part is that modern technology is aiding and abetting this. From politics to business to media, all are contributing to the rise of gullibility, while we boast of a knowledge society. The villain of the piece today is the social media that goes viral without rhyme or reason. The crooks are having a field day as technology drives and gullibility thrives.

FOR A CORRUPTION FREE INDIA

It was in the month of August in the year 1942 that the “Quit India” slogan was chanted by the nation asking the British to leave India. The slogan had charged the entire country and five years later the British actually quit India. It is in the same month of August some 70 years later that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call to rid India of corruption and other vices that still continue to plague it. What is important is that corruption is persisting since the British days. No wonder the first Prime Minister of India had emphatically said that the corrupt would be hanged by the nearest lamppost. That was more than half a century ago and Jawaharlal Nehru was talking about hoarders, profiteers and black marketers making a fast buck and holding the poor to ransom.

That it remained just a cliché can hardly be doubted as global rating agencies continue to rate India as among the most corrupt countries in the world. It was this prevalent corruption that made the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India make a historic observation around a decade ago that everyone wants to loot the country and the only way to rid the country of the corrupt is to “hang a few” of them by the nearest lamppost. With the number of such people rising in geometric progression, we will certainly run short of those lampposts if hanging them was exercised as an option. That notwithstanding, the fact remains that the corruption is rising and the corrupt are thriving despite Prime Ministers expressing their concern time and again. The irony is that corruption has consumed Government after Government, but the phenomenon continues to exist. The 1974 Jayaprakash Narayan movement was against corruption epitomised by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi-led Government.

The VP Singh Government came on high moral grounds challenging corruption at high places. The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi himself talked about corruption eating at the foundation of the country as he called the Congress the party of power brokers and was anguished at the “fence eating the crop”. Successive Governments fell prey to corruption, including the last one. But corruption did not end, making the present Prime Minister give a call to end corruption. Why is it so? And is there a way out? We need to look for answers beyond changing Governments. When corruption charges were levelled against Indira Gandhi, she put up a brave front saying corruption is a global phenomenon.

That her party was wiped out from almost entire North India was just a cosmetic change if what followed her fall is analysed. A frustrated electorate brought her back. Corruption may or may not be a global phenomenon, but it certainly is a human phenomenon. The answer then must come from the people. They must change. The post-modern India is too materialistic and self-centred to ponder over corruption. Everyone wants to make a fast buck. And with minimum efforts. Some make money in the process and most lose out for their lust and greed. Sensitising people against corruption needs to be looked into. People don’t look down on corruption because they have accepted it as a way of life. Honesty is treated as outdated and not in tune with times. We need to make honesty as the new fashion and the scenario will change.

A CITIZEN’S MANN KI BAAT

This Independence Day, the Indian democracy will turn 70, certainly a long period to carry out a SWOT analysis. Looking back, we seem to have come a long way from where we started on the midnight of August 15, 1947. As India awoke to freedom, there were promises and expectations, hopes and aspirations. How far we could meet them may be debated. But that apart, there is a need to look from the viewpoint of the Indian citizen, particularly the post-Independence generation that opened up its eyes in a free country. We, the people of India, gave a Constitution to ourselves to be governed by the rule of law patterned on something like the American Bill of Rights that believes that certain inalienable rights of the individual are non-negotiable. The famous 1775 speech of Patrick Henry at the Virginia Convention that closed with words: “Give me liberty or give me death” proved to be quite prophetic and became the bulwark of the American Constitution. In this light, we need to take stock of our democracy. The largest it is, with some 1.34 billion people. A growing and vibrant democracy where the ordinary voters have often written history. Yet it seems that we have somewhere during our journey missed that vital element of democracy that is time and again uttered by the powers that be — the freedom from bhaya, bhookh, aur bhrastachaar or getting rid of fear, hunger, and corruption. As institutions lose their sheen with exposes one after another, the upright seem to be at the receiving end.

It is ironical that the Indian citizen still finds itself treated like subjects whose life and liberty issues are decided by the laws largely framed by British masters. True we gave ourselves a Constitution that gave certain basic rights to all citizens. But we seem to be missing the key issue. No one is advocating absolute rights to the individual, to give him freedom to do anything. Reasonable restrictions always go with all rights, and responsibilities and duties are inherent in rights. For all practical purposes, the right to privacy is implied in our right to life and liberty. Yet, the changes that the modern technology is bringing to the life of an individual call for caution and safeguards so that the soul of the republic is not bruised. Modern societies are not about eavesdropping that the sophisticated technologies in this digital age are capable of doing. Close policing is alien to the spirit of republican ethos and hence reasonable legal safeguards are needed to protect the privacy of citizens. Right to privacy is in no way a license to indulge in chaotic behavior. But certainly it is the basic feature of an individual’s right to life and liberty. Digitisation need not come in the way of citizen’s privacy to live life in his chosen way, of course without infringing on the life of others. Certainly because your liberty to swing your fist ends just where my nose begins. None can deny that. Right to privacy need not be mixed up with irresponsible behaviour. Digitisation has raised privacy issues at different levels, like surveillance by the Government, corporations misusing data, and criminals making merry. The concern of a citizen is about these and he seeks constitutional safeguards. He expects his country to be that heaven of freedom about which Tagore said: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.”

OF UNETHICAL CONSUMPTION

Believe it or not, but the problems of humanity are mounting. It is not a pessimistic outlook but sound realistic observation. While there is turmoil all around, mankind is not willing to read the writing on the wall. Temperatures increasing, oceans rising, and glaciers melting are just one part of the story. There are other seamier sides. Extremism in the name of religious and class conflicts, eyeball to eyeball confrontation at borders, readiness to fight wars and getting armed to the teeth, rich getting filthy rich and poor getting miserably poor, bacteria and microorganisms dodging humanity as medical science seeming helpless, are just some of the grim pointers to the portentous things staring at mankind from a not-so-distant future. As the super rich plan for the apocalypse, the lesser mortals are wringing their hands in desperation. You need not read Shakespeare to know why old men, fools and children calculate, why all these things change from their ordinance, their natures and pre-formed faculties to monstrous quality — why, you shall find that heaven hath infused them with these spirits to make them instruments of fear and warning unto some monstrous state.

Yes, the signs are ominous. But the reasons are not many. Just one that humanity is consuming beyond need. And this unbridled consumption is threatening this world to come apart at its seams. Look what we have done to satisfy our insatiable greed. We are biting more than we can chew, eating more than we can digest, buying more than we can use. Maddening lust for more and more, far beyond our needs, and depriving the legitimate of their rightful due is what has brought the humanity at the end of its tether. Don’t believe it? Just taking a look at the colossal wastage of food in elite trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi would tell the story of the magnitude of wastage and the attitude of people towards resources of society. Yes, they may be paying for it but that does not give them a licence to abuse those resources over which society also has a stake. It is time this dichotomy between “my resource” and “society’s resource” ended. Ancient Indian philosophy was based on the premise of bahujanhitaya bahujansukhaya. Reckless and brazen exploitation of resources has brought us to this pass. It is time to realise that wasteful consumption is at the root of all our problems. The answer to the present day problems is modifying the human conduct for ethical consumption. In this era of vulgar consumerism, let a semblance of righteousness prevail. If we do not advocate sarve bhavantu sukhinah, we will ultimately reach the state of misery for all.

Where to make a beginning is the big question. Obviously, that has been the humanity’s main confusion. Waiting for a messiah to show us the way, to lead us. But rather than looking for the role model, there is need to be one’s own role model. Every morning, we look into the mirror to find out how good we look. It is time to change the way you look at yourself and ask what good have I done for society. That messiah is there in everybody. Only, there is a need to awaken him. Human beings were created to be the most supreme of the creatures. It is time to ask where we stand. And that time is now.