~ Edmund Burke on the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, 5 th May 1789
I write this in complete and utter desperation. In my 19 years of existence, I have never felt more hopeless when it came to my country.
The last few weeks have spelled nothing but disgust in my heart and mind for the one's who run this country and I feel sorry for India and for millions of its citizens like me.
First, I would like to apologize. Apologize to my nation and to my ancestors and to my descendants for not being able to do anything as a bunch of hungry mongrels ravish this piece of flesh called India.
I switch on the TV news or I read the newspapers or I listen to the radio or I log on to the internet or talk on the phone or listen and take part in discussions in person and nothing but anger and shame engulfs me.
2G scam, the Reddy brothers, the sham called Naxalism/Maoism/Crap-ism, Adarsh society, CWG bullshit yada yada yada...
Reading the above (never ending list, it seems...), what and how do you feel?
I felt hopelessness of the worst kind which propelled me to watch news and cheer on discussions which bought the culprits of the above crap-fests in the dock and then...then the following happened...
The media lost all its credibility, morality, professional ethics, reputation and their whole 'holier than thou' perception - all of it - when they blacked out the Barkha Dutt-Vir Sanghvi tapes released by the Open Magazine (Barkhji ki baatein - http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/tell-me-what-should-i-tell-them Vir Sanghvi's transcripts - http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/what-kind-of-story-do-you-want) recently, which have them virtually acting as 'dalals' (middlemen) for various political parties and corporate houses, hence completely and irrevocably damaging their whole image as "free and fair" journalists.
And what does the other sections of this "free and fair" media do? Black out this raging piece of information and go on with attacking other people, peacefully blind to this black spot on their own community.
WOW!
So does the 'independence, freedom, fairness etc etc etc' that the media keeps on howling about in ALL other cases go to HELL when their community is concerned?! Does the 'right of the people to know' gets eliminated when the said knowledge is related to one (or in this case two) of their own?! Is it only the country's responsibility that the media gets all its freedom and right to report but nothing is required on behalf of this very media that they show the truth and not curtail the people's right to know when the news is not exactly in the favor of their own selves?!
These are questions demanding answers...can I expect them or will I continue to stare into this blackness?
Anyway, lets evaluate what exactly are we facing today as a country...here are the people/community being questioned presently in various issues -
1. The PM (WOW, again.)
2. Politicians (No biggie...really...me writing this is and should be one very sad thing in itself but well who the HELL cares in this time and age, right?)
3. Army (Trust you me, this one is actually painful to write...)
4. Bureaucracy
and the grand edition to this list of who's who (quite literally...) -
5. The Media (sorry...the 'free and fair' media...)
Last question, who can be trusted?
(PS - Till now, I have seen the report on the media crap in only two Indian print media publications - Mail Today and Outlook...still waiting to see it on the 'idiot' box...)
Cheers.
-Rae
I write this in complete and utter desperation. In my 19 years of existence, I have never felt more hopeless when it came to my country.
The last few weeks have spelled nothing but disgust in my heart and mind for the one's who run this country and I feel sorry for India and for millions of its citizens like me.
First, I would like to apologize. Apologize to my nation and to my ancestors and to my descendants for not being able to do anything as a bunch of hungry mongrels ravish this piece of flesh called India.
I switch on the TV news or I read the newspapers or I listen to the radio or I log on to the internet or talk on the phone or listen and take part in discussions in person and nothing but anger and shame engulfs me.
2G scam, the Reddy brothers, the sham called Naxalism/Maoism/Crap-ism, Adarsh society, CWG bullshit yada yada yada...
Reading the above (never ending list, it seems...), what and how do you feel?
I felt hopelessness of the worst kind which propelled me to watch news and cheer on discussions which bought the culprits of the above crap-fests in the dock and then...then the following happened...
The media lost all its credibility, morality, professional ethics, reputation and their whole 'holier than thou' perception - all of it - when they blacked out the Barkha Dutt-Vir Sanghvi tapes released by the Open Magazine (Barkhji ki baatein - http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/tell-me-what-should-i-tell-them Vir Sanghvi's transcripts - http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/what-kind-of-story-do-you-want) recently, which have them virtually acting as 'dalals' (middlemen) for various political parties and corporate houses, hence completely and irrevocably damaging their whole image as "free and fair" journalists.
And what does the other sections of this "free and fair" media do? Black out this raging piece of information and go on with attacking other people, peacefully blind to this black spot on their own community.
WOW!
So does the 'independence, freedom, fairness etc etc etc' that the media keeps on howling about in ALL other cases go to HELL when their community is concerned?! Does the 'right of the people to know' gets eliminated when the said knowledge is related to one (or in this case two) of their own?! Is it only the country's responsibility that the media gets all its freedom and right to report but nothing is required on behalf of this very media that they show the truth and not curtail the people's right to know when the news is not exactly in the favor of their own selves?!
These are questions demanding answers...can I expect them or will I continue to stare into this blackness?
Anyway, lets evaluate what exactly are we facing today as a country...here are the people/community being questioned presently in various issues -
1. The PM (WOW, again.)
2. Politicians (No biggie...really...me writing this is and should be one very sad thing in itself but well who the HELL cares in this time and age, right?)
3. Army (Trust you me, this one is actually painful to write...)
4. Bureaucracy
and the grand edition to this list of who's who (quite literally...) -
5. The Media (sorry...the 'free and fair' media...)
Last question, who can be trusted?
(PS - Till now, I have seen the report on the media crap in only two Indian print media publications - Mail Today and Outlook...still waiting to see it on the 'idiot' box...)
Cheers.
-Rae
Very well said. who should we look for solace....
ReplyDeleteI think- to you the younger lots because the olders have the legecy of "independence struggle", we the so called baby-boomers have the pride of "building Nation!"
And cleaning the dirt has been left to you!