A heart that bleeds…
I read this sentence when I was little, ‘The only way to know if a person is trustworthy is to to first trust them’. Not a sound advice if you belong to the government or the intelligence, but for normal folks as long as you don’t trade your life’s earnings or your organs you should be okay.
I did come across a post where a girl in all her naive altruism, drenched in love had actually donated her kidney to her teenage boyfriend only for him to dump her a few days later. She can always be glad that she saved a life, the only bummer being that she has compromised her own reserves for a manipulative teenage jerk.
The point I am making is that the general public aren’t thinkers. They are feelers. They easily get swayed by narratives and sob stories.
Take for example, what makes you remember a movie long after you are done watching it? The incredible sets, cinematography, the mind blowing acting, dialogue delivery, the story? Whichever it is, the commonality is that you remember how it made you feel. It has to evoke some kind of emotion in you whether that is awe, elation, anger, laughter, sadness or pride.
I remember the very first time I saw the movie ‘Artificial intelligence’, it evoked not awe but sadness instead. ‘TZP’ made me feel each of Eshan’s emotions. The kid was brilliant. ‘The Social Network’ made me angry and irritated. Maybe it was causing some kind of cognitive dissonance in me or may be I was too naive to understand how the cut throat world works. The protagonist did come across as a total arse, more like the Zuckari Shambu of social media. I would like to think I am not as naive today.
Take TV advertisements for example. The whole premise is based on evoking emotions and garnering sales. Whether that is the 90’s Ad for Onida TV where the maker’s made it obvious by stating ‘Neighbor’s envy, owner’s pride’ and so did everybody who followed with for selling everything from toothpastes, detergents to cars.
The sentiment at play here is to trigger the inadequacy in the customer and once the first bait has fallen hook line and sinker, the legacy is inadvertently carried forward by word of mouth. You are now envious of the latest i Phone or that neighbor’s fancy car irrespective of whether you need it or not. The higher up in the social ladder you reach, the fancier brands you have to use lest you are made to feel like you haven’t arrived.
Ads monetize on your inadequacy. I have met certain individuals who live simply and do what they please. An adequate man is the most difficult to manipulate and control and the biggest threat to consumerism. Most people don’t prioritize where they want to spend their money. They get swayed by the latest trends and the next ‘hot’ thing in the market.
Like I mentioned to someone on Medium, “Politics too is about manipulating the public psyche”. This is true across the board(read : all political parties) nationally and internationally. Only what emotion you manipulate changes. Leadership is about developmental goals and border security and foreign policy. Politics is a lot about gimmicks. It is gimmickry that keeps you in power or throws you out. To continue the leadership, gimmickry is the de facto requirement. That is the hard truth whether you like it or not.
So, our politicians do everything from making shocking headlines to holding dharnas, being pro a certain sect and anti another, twisting facts and narratives to suit themselves and if you take the example of our former Tamil Nadu CM’s, they would even throw each other in prison when either came in power in a full PDA (Public Display of Animosity).
The general public will choose on the basis of how they are made to feel. The thinker’s have to choose what gimmickry they are okay compromising or putting up with. What are your non negotiables? Is there leadership along with gimmickry or is it just gimmickry? That is why, if you throw people in jail for no good reason, they will only win the next bout.
Very pragmatically speaking, none of this is actually needed or important. If we all were less greedy, every human on this planet could live happily ever after. But, it is human greed not need that causes us to conquer, defeat and plunder. We need to man our borders and within those borders, fence our tribes and within those tribes, have a hierarchy to tell us what to do. And what do they do? They again manipulate our sentiments and herd the sheep to slaughter.
Yeah, I would call it slaughter because all we have are mindless wars where people fall and die like flies everyday. We go to extremes to torture a fellow human being. We keep score of our inhumanity and nastiness only to leave the world as bad as it was or worse than it was only for our children to fight the same battles again. This time only branded differently.
It is the same circus and circle of manipulation that continues with every generation. We all like to assume that we are very important people. That having opinions and taking sides and fighting for our ideology will somehow make the situation better. The problem is every man thinks his ideology is the right ideology, his God the superior God and his father who has the most clout. We then fight tooth and nail amongst ourselves to exert our supremacy. Are we all actually making a difference in this world? I don’t think so.
Like they say, ‘One death is a tragedy and a million deaths is a statistic’. So every time a World War based movie is made, your sentiments are what are precisely being tinkered with. Stories have a power of their own. It helps you see the humane side of a person. Until then we are just assuming and drawing conclusions based on our prejudices and biases. It humanizes the people lost in the statistics. Lest humanity forget. It makes you feel albeit for those three hours an inkling of what they may have felt.
The problem is, people feel and government’s forget. That is saying, people after they reach a certain pedestal of power, forget. And then they go back to playing games and feasting on our bleeding hearts.
A heart that bleeds is indeed a vulture’s feast.
