I became impatient, irascible and touchy for no apparent reason. I could not comprehend why do I not like my own self or why did I lose interest in the world around me. Why just I can’t be ‘me’ anymore? What has come over me lately? Do you agree that in the present times most of the news that finds its way into various media (especially the social media) is some shade of Bad News that is unpalatable, negative and demotivating, those that reek of cheap entertainment, narcissist tendencies and display overt violence?You are left wondering if there is anything positive and motivating that lifts your spirits. Though social media has come handy to us, giving us the power of self-expression and a means to stay connected with friends, family and acquaintances, at the same time it remains a potent and ubiquitous storehouse of fake news that the lesser it is said about it, the better.What we see today is that social media has been over exploited by nefarious people to push their divisive agenda, foment unrest, satisfy their hunger for cheap thrills and vicious pursuits. If you overwhelmingly engage with the social media and consume bytes in copious quantity, it should be enough to make you mentally sick and unstable.Probably this was why I felt increasingly embittered with each passing day. Only now do I realise that I should disconnect, disengage and go offline for a while to reflect inwards and regain my lost mental balance.
We have come to live with violence, vandalism, violent protests, intolerance, anti-nationalism, communal rifts, outbreak of deadly diseases, corruption, adulteration, vicious crimes, snatchings etc. on day to day basis. You would be inclined to think that bad or negative news is getting all the attention while driving out the good news. One is left to wonder if there is any good news at all these days? Are you really concerned that in all the din of the bad news, the good news may get lost or buried and not taken notice of? You might be left wondering if there is single good news in one full day? Even if there happens to be a single good news on any given day, it might find a small coverage in some remote or nondescript corner of a newspaper or a magazine, not many readers might actually read it or come across online. I sometimes wonder why do news channels broadcast the bad news more than the good ones. Well, to be fair and square, it is not their fault for playing all the bad news. The channels lay before us all the news and most of it is bad, so where is the culpability of a news channel. They are simply fulfilling their duty about raising awareness and bringing it to your attention so that you can safeguard yourself. One possibility could be that there is more bad news than good in the world today. To be able to broadcast good news, one needs to have them in the first place. While the rack is full of all the bad news, one need not look out for them too hard or too long, bad news is simply all around us. So, the real question that we must answer is, does the world today have only bad news to offer us and good news has dried up? Everywhere you look, you are bombarded with negative news. People will tell without the need of a prompt, what’s ailing them and what’s bad today, rather than what’s good or what’s positive.
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Election time is one big festival in any democracy when each citizen exercises his or her right to choose an elected government in the country. The right to vote is the most important right granted by our constitution that puts each person whether rich or poor, privileged or underprivileged, educated or illiterate, on a level pedestal. At the same time, it behoves upon each one of us to exercise the right in a fair and equitable manner, not to choose a candidate inappropriately and mindlessly. There have been many instances where the right to vote has been misused and compromised when candidates resort to nefarious deeds like bribing the poor and gullible electorate to win votes. You would have also felt that election time is replete with cacophony of all sorts. It is very unfortunate that election time rhetoric in the country reeks of vicious and parochial mindsets, unworthy name calling and utterly dishonourable phraseology.Continuous bombardment of such acoustics does a lot to suck out our useful energy and enthusiasm lowering our feel-good factor. Rubbing salt to our wounds by way of charged vitriolic comments on emotive issues disturbs fragile communal harmony in the country. What is most worrisome is that this phenomenon comes to haunt us in every election no matter which part of the country it happens and at what level. Hatred and intolerance among religious communities are some of the tools that candidates and political parties fight elections with.
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A little rumination reveals the root cause of the problem. I would say that it is all a matter of human psyche. Fear is primal and omnipotent. The bad news which creates fear, appeals to our psyche more than the good news. Therefore, bad news is sticky and goes viral in no time, while good news is viewed as entertainment and hence not taken notice of. One tends to forget and hence not talked about.
Politics has always been bad, no matter where it is. At the governance level or in a society or an organisation, petty politics is something that cannot be done away with completely. It is just a game of acquiring power and control as well as a position of authority. There will always be some people or party away or out of driving seats and this explains their annoyance and disgruntled selves. Those in opposition have traditionally been disruptive and belligerent and blocked legislations bringing business of the house to a standstill. Should anyone have the power to hold the business to ransom jeopardising national interests?
Most recently, there has been an outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic. It seemed to have originated from Wuhan, China and supposedly spread out to almost all the nations of the world within a matter of a few weeks. The outbreak is the result of a mutated strain of a virus that has no medical cure as of now. The coronavirus has consumed approximately ten thousand lives with most deaths reported in China, South Korea and Italy. Even the developed countries find themselves helpless in their fight against the novel coronavirus. Is it some kind of nature’s call to humans to think what’s happening to the mother earth? Begging us to put a stop to all the commercialisation, overexploitation of resources and environmental degradation that our actions are causing. In the meantime, we can only hope that we find a cure to the problem soon and pray for early recovery of those struck by the virus. Keeping oneself isolated and quarantined, away from contracting the virus is our only way forward.
As a society, we are dwelling more upon our problems than making efforts at finding solutions to these problems? Do we have more problems than those we can find solutions to? Most of us leave the problems unattended, laying it at another’s door thinking that someone else will solve it. Is it to do with our mindset or simply coming out with amindless response? Have we forgotten to laugh and live freely? We are living in an atmosphere of constant anxiety and apprehension and look for happiness around us that eludes us completely. We need to introspect to find durable solution to our problems. Is it too difficult to start your day with at least one positive thought that keeps us going for complete day? If you fill your mind with positivity, where will be the room for negativity? Meditate and ruminate upon good thoughts and deeds that would lead to self-improvement and enlightenment. This way you can channelize your energy towards useful and constructive things rather wasting it on unworthy things. Who knows you might come out with some path breaking invention or a discovery!
