“associating with crowds is dangerous”… so said Seneca of the way blood-lust at the Colosseum kept rising to a point of being a deafening crescendo. The observation was mainly about how even the most resolute of non believers become drunk on the fascination of bloodshed goaded on by a crowd of excited bystanders. The question we want to ask ourselves is “are we there yet? or there is some redemption still possible”….
The way today we look to news to provide us with information about the “latest” atrocities of the ISIS and the Donald in the west and our very own “Gau Rakshaks” and “juicer in chief” closer home, it seems as if we’re turning into the same blood crazed crowds looking for thrill in the pain of disconnected individuals. We derive pleasure from the pain of others. Much like the way the crowds at the Colosseum used to boo an executioner if he lopped off a head without drama, without first drawing and quartering the victim, making him yelp in pain and beg for a swift disposal. We want to know what exactly happened with every incident, every gory detail needs to be read and re-read across multiple news sites. Then we need to deep dive and find out what are our beloved anti-nationals saying about it maybe even use the anonymity that the internet provides us to kick the sane sounding, alone standing loser. After all he who roots for the underdog and wants to find a solution that does not involve lopping of heads or tying of booker winning authors to the bonnets of jeeps is a “sickular anti-national” in todays’ climate. Specially when you have journalists like CnC Gowsami, Major General Aroor, Brigadier Gaurav Sawant manning the news rooms and dishing out amazing crap disguised as “what the nation wants nee needs to know”….
As a majority we are taking this blood lust to a higher level each and every day. Numbers are important all of a sudden “oh just 21 people were killed this weekend? Last weekend that asshole at Ariana Grandes incident polished off 23” (I’m just throwing a figure I did not look it up so forgive me if unlike you my thirst for “this particular knowledge” is not as acute.)…. ever notice how weekends have become such favorites for incidents to unfold. Starting from a major IT security incident to a terror incident on a busy <fill in the blanks> to a bunch of cow eaters being made to eat cow potty by a bunch of yeah who else “cowards”…. invariably the news breaks out over the weekend. It may have happened earlier on in the week but our dear friends in the media make sure they save it for the maximum eyeballs over the weekend. Sadism is selling a lot of copies, making a huge lot of money for the peddlers of stories. The interest is not in finding solutions to the worlds problems…. no it’s just in deriving maximum “story value” from each incident before forgetting about it and moving to the next worthy incident.
Do we have a way out? Can we somehow shut them down? Maybe, if we have the will and the determination to preserve our freedom of thought. Today audiences, citizens are not expected to think anymore. Just consume the prepared opinions and outrages of the day early in the morning and go through your day tracking the story. Rest assured these new age “journalists” will keep you excited much like you used to be while turning the pages of a James Hadley Chase at some point in your life…. every installment suffixed with an “and then….”. Frankly I see hope when I see people around me talk of how they understand how opinions are being manipulated and the larger section of population taken for a ride. In there lies the solution to this ever growing blood lust. At some point the game will lose it’s charm. The only unfortunate thing is that by then these jokers would’ve eliminated, through some very crafty mechanization, all forms of opposition. With no opposition how does a democratic way of life survive, let alone thrive?
We’re not there yet, but we’re not too far either. What we can do is to show them the light by being examples of how without a blood-lust you are a better person, you actually are. That lead by example bit just might help turn this world around.
Today, 5 days after I wrote this article something happened that further adds credence to this bloodlust theory and how with time it will only keep on growing to one day come back and bite the hands that nurture it today. A bunch of bhakts attacked, beat up the occupants and attempted to set fire to a truck carrying cows. Only this time the trucks were on government duty transporting cows for the purpose of animal husbandry from Rajasthan to Tamil Nadu. We need to stop this before it gets completely out of hand.