1. How do we counter soft power without using hard hands?
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Suddenly her face twitched in anger. I couldn't guess why. We were sitting in Subway and munching our favorite sub-of-the-day and doing what we love to do - being with each other. And then all of a sudden! I was blank for a moment.
- What happened?
- Listen to the lyrics.
I do not like western music and my ears are not used to their lyrics. But even I couldn't miss that word - F***. In the song being played, the singer wanted to f*** the woman he was singing for.
Those who know me won't have any problem in guessing what must have happened after that. In no time I found myself standing up and snapping my left-hand fingers and ordering them to stop that nonsense "NOW".
They stopped that nonsense "now". But my peace of mind had gone by then.
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A few days later, a visit to a Levi-Strauss showroom exposed me to another hyper-western atmosphere - which consisted of topless models on the wall posters, F-Tv models parading half-naked on the TVs, and maniquins with their nipples popping out of their clothes.
I fail to understand why somebody must open his fly to sell something as simple as jeans. Needless to say, I found that atmosphere vulgar and distasteful. But more than that, I found it ridiculously out-of-place. "Why these people - these models and these maniquins - have been brought to half-Muslim, and full-orthodox, Hyderabad?", I wondered.
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The instances are multifold, but the question is singular- How do I confront soft power without resorting to rudeness/crudeness?
Though I hate the methods adopted by the fundamentalists like RSS and Sena, I do share their angst. It is easy to hate the fundamentalists since they are loud and crude. They make noise and wake you up. They alienate you from them and their cause. But not all our enemies are idiots like them. In fact, most of them are not - they lull us to sleep by soft hands and then...
To begin with, it's hard to see the soft power - the silent, the slow, the subtle, and the sophisticated power - the cultural power, and it's harder to hate it. Its apparent innocence and innocuousness only makes it more effective in its execution. The cultural weapons inflict cultural wounds (and cultural wounds don't even bleed) and the victims die a cultural death; a quiet, unconscious, cultural death.
"I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation." - Lord Macaulay (British Parliament, 1835)
I do not want to sound paranoid and xenophobic. We have to be open and outgoing. But we can not allow ourselves to be driven by others. So hate we must no matter how hard it is to hate the soft power.
Or may be we can love ourselves rather than hating them. After all, cultural power can not be defeated by brute physical force.
2. Our daughter - a perfect blend of traditional and modern values.
That's a matrimony cliché - which amuses me often, and sometimes irritates me to no end. Worst - it reminds me of hypocrisy at its best - a hideous woman (in a hideous movie) wearing short skirt and singing "Om Jai Jagadish Hare" in front of the most hideous man who has ever walked on silver screen.
Let's skip that horrible experience. Let me ask you a few questions. Let us see if we even understand the meaning of the words that we speak beyond what is superficial and what is kitschy.
What does tradition mean for us? To what extent it pervades our thought, our behavior, our decision-making process in our everyday life? Or is it just another word, just another idea, just another ideal, which is only to be worshiped in temples but not to be welcomed in homes? How many of us know or even try to know what is tradition beyond wearing ethnic clothes and lighting candles on Diwali?
What makes modern modern? How many of us know (or even try to know) what is modernity beyond what they show in M-Tv? Is it just an urban phenomenon, or something more? Does it have values only? Or does it have anti-values as well? Is it an alternative or is it a socioeconomic imperative?
Both wage a war in our minds to occupy our mental space. Do we ever stop and think about the areas of conflict between tradition and modernity, if there exists any? Perhaps those who claim to have blended the two successfully might explain how they achieved the reconciliation. Or did that happen automatically, unconsciously?
3. We should try everything*.
And everything* typically consists of things they sell in discs and pubs. As far as I know, urban India is not famous for producing rock climbers. Correct me* if I am wrong, but I have been to many cities and I have not met too many rock climbers.
*Spare me if you are one of those suckers who believe that reality shows like M-Tv Roadies are really real.
What's all this fuss over trying? What's there to try anyway in doing something that doesn't need any effort? Do you see any effort involved in drinking? I do not. I see indulgence.
Well, all you dudes and dudettes, wake up and splash your face with cool water - and remember - there is nothing bold in shedding clothes, and there is nothing to try in gulping tequila shots. Any jerk can do that. And every jerk does that.
Perhaps taste would be a better word there - we should taste everything*, if only the lack of taste would not have been so evident in the context we are talking about.
30 comments:
Loved your Blog in the first read itself..
This is indeed written from your heart..
One of the best ones..
:)
If you were connected to RSS and would have writen anything closer to this, you would have got hundreds of pink chaddis in reply.
There has been a systematic plan to make Indians believe that whatever is Western is BEST. Though what Sri Ram Sene activists did was not at all defendable but can someone answer what these teenage girls from respectable families doing in the pub in the afternoon? And Why to counter the extreamism of Sri Ram Sene, we have to accept another extream of "Pub Bharo Andolan" or "Pink Chaddi Campaign"
Most of those who are associated with institutions have bartered their loyalty for their ambition. Whenever they open their mouth, they further their institutional agenda. They and their gimmicks can not be taken seriously.
The ridiculous slogans like "Pink Chaddi Campaign" and "Pub Bharo Aandolan" only show their mental bankrupcy. :p
These people seek attention, and they should be denied that.
The idea is to understand the very concept of soft power, identify its modus operandi, and defeat its purpose.
Oye AD,
Firing away polemics, eh. Writing is such a nice way to release all the angst. Reminds me of a verse from Quran: Recite that the Lord is Most Generous, who taught man by the pen, taught him that which he did not know.
I am really yearning to see you praise something. Why is say this is: Once a follower of Hazrat Ali was asked by a follower of Mauwiyah (who had instituted a custom of ritually cursing Ali in public) about what he felt about cursing the unbelievers back. He said, true to his faith, that instead of badmouthing Mauwiyah, he would rather praise the virtues of Imam Hussain.
This is my suggestion: You contradict soft power with soft power. If someone praises jeans with open flies, you praise jans with closed flies; or whichever way you see the opposites. You are the warrior blogger in shining armour saving the damsel of language in distress. I am sure you will do well. I am with you.
SAS
SAS
Believe me, I do admire things. It's just that admiration do not drive me. Unfortunately, I thrive on anger.
For your kind attention - "Or may be we can love ourselves rather than hating them. After all, cultural power can not be defeated by brute physical force."
But dear friend, their force is institutional and organized. Can such force be successfully countered by discrete, individual, forces?
Abhishek*
Why has your writing become so non-descript lately?
Less non-descript than your comment, I guess. :p
I wish you were more descriptive in your criticism.
Abhishek*
You have become too ordinary... The ideas seem very mundane so does your style of writing...It wasn't so earlier. Creatively you seem to have hit a rough patch.
Abhisehk*
I would partly agree with the criticism of the Anonymous wellwisher. I think it could be the influence of romance in your life; your wits have become sleepy. :)
Of course, indiviidual people can make a difference. Does not Akshaya make change in his surroundings. Do not you? You should see the amount of understanding I have created in my workspace abour Islam and Muslims. Not that it is anything great, but I know I have contributed towards the kind of language people use to express anger. Small change. But it is contagious. You have give yourself a chance. You ahve to believe in people. I know you do. You may not believe in God, but you certainly believe in humanity.
However, coming back to the anonymous criticism... I think what he/she meant was you could have been angry in a more effective way; this one is impotent. You can be labelled and written off on the basis of your wording. You have to be more thorough, so that none should dare to write you off without bruising themselves. I hope you get the drift. Some people did refer to you in the same sentence and paragraph as RSS. Uff! Injustice.
Sanket
p.s. I am NOT the Anonymous critic. I don't like anonymity too much.
Sanket
Thanks for your feedback. This was one of the rare occasions when you sounded sincere to me. Thanks for sparing me your subtle slapsticks.
Well, on second thought, I guess I should read your comment again to find out the subtle ones. :)
Though I respect and sympathize individual effort, I do not attach too much importance to it. It is significant only when we see it as a seed, which has a future, a potential, a promise to grow and become big. In the modern world, small may be beautiful, but it is not powerful.
You believe in the efficacy of discrete efforts, I do not. And I am agnostic about something called humanity. Does humanity includes those things that men do to one another? Perhaps it does not. Then how come it is called humanity?
Anyways, I hope people like Akshaya and you grow in your power. The biggest fear is - people often achieve power after they have ceased to deserve it.
As far as being written off is concerned, that's acceptable to me because I never invest too much of expectation in blog as a medium of change. My blog has always been what it claims to be, in its title and subtitle.
And Sanket, I never suspected you to be that anonymous critic. You are the one who takes ownership of what he says.
Dear #27
Well, well, my sincerity is thrice borne, and an ever increasing challenge to myself. But anyways, coming back to your indifference about being written off...
Bhaijan, why should being written off be acceptable to you? This time the blame of insincerity lies on you. I think you would mind it very much being written off. And the proof is You try to write Yourself off before anyone else.
This piece was certainly not loo, nor laboratory. You seem to trivialize it as drawing room discourse, and fail. Yet, it does look to me like a confessional.
But why confess, if you do not seek forgiveness (maybe from yourself, if not from what I call God). And why not protest, if forgiveness is held back by That which neither drinks from the eternal spring, nor lets others have a pint or two.
Hazrat Ali approved and exemplified Jihad with speech. Of course, what content to dossolve in which humour is left entirely to your choice and wisdom. Perhaps trivial humour is best suited to talk of the most serious lest one become paranoid with self-importance. Which is why putting knowledge into action is the best way to save oneself from delusion.
And wisdom is not devoid of anger, rather it comes with the spirit of anger upon anger. This reflects in your post. You are chastising unnatural righteousness, because you know the power of anger from up close. You have enjoyed it far too long to be friendly enough with it, I guess, and to know its belly and genitals.
Yours sincerly (ha ha),
#18
@ sanket
If romance be the new thing in Abhishek's life, it's terribly mean of you to say that it has dulled his wits, even if it is true..:P
@ Sanket - you have to explain this one. :p
As far as being written off is concerned, it is inevitable for anyone who asserts something. One can not be touchy about it without being suicidal.
And why do you forget that writing-off is also an assertion, which runs the risk of meeting the same end?
I repeat that my effort in composing my blog is in proportion to my respect for this medium and my respect for the readers. After all, meaning is half-parented by the readers only. And Sanket, remember the old man saying that you can only lead a horse to water, you can not make it drink. :p
You claim about angst and polemics, and then you declare "certainly not loo" only to rush up to your favorite place - pulpit, via confessional of course, from where you explain away Islam to a Kafir. That's all fine if I ignore, but if I do not then it seems to me that your mind is out of condition. :p
Abhishek*
You are not a Kafir. Kya yaar, zabardasti bakwaaas karte rehna hai tumhein. mere saamne nahi, please. Meri baat maan lo.
Tumhari baat to maan-ni hi padegi. Koi doosra option hai mere paas? :p
It wouldn't be improper of me to suggest to you a reading of one of Ashis Nandy's most brilliant essays - Culture, Voice and Development: A Primer for the Unsuspecting.
He begins, "In the global culture of our times "culture" has become an amoeba word. It can take any shape and convey any meaning - from high fashion to obscurantism, from entertain to class satus. This is not particularly surprising. Even within cultural anthopology, a discipline self-consciously engaged in the scientific study of culture, there are now dozens of meanings of the word 'culture'."
Take a moment. It's a bit like reverse-swing. Nobody understands it. Ian Chappell famously decalred he didn't. He said it finally meant either out swing or in swing. That's that. Culture, ironically, like reverse-swing, has a theoritical value which has bizzarely superceded its functional value. Bowlers have always tried to make the ball - new or old - talk through the air and off the deck. Batsmen are always wary of lateral movement both ways. It's simlpe enough for them, not for us.
Traditon has always had its two dimensions - inertia as well as a huge over-spin. The moment it hits the deck, there's bound to be movement either ways, depending on the nature and amount of the spin. You'd perhaps agree that inertia has no functional value, none at all. It is only of academic interest. And the only ones invested in purely academic interests are theoreticians.
If you were to believe me, I'd tell you those who talk about 'culture' are not invested in it, not at all. And those who practice it day in and day out do so rather ignorantly.
The missing link here, that we overlook comfortably, is the survival value of all cultural practices.
Those most 'concerned' about culture and tradition stand totally outside it and those traditions don't mean much to their own survival. It is not to say their concerns are not genuine but it is in this design all the problems of the world are rooted. Left and right both have sufferred for their concerned stand outside and speak on behalf of 'the people'. Which is why there is a strong and rather successful case for liberalism. That it is not without its own problems explains why religion, despite all the problems it has caused, has survived remained revelant.
Oh boy! Do you intend to comment on this post or deliver a general commentary on culture? Your comment is a veritable post in its own right. And first of all I thank you for writing this, since not many can write what you have.
But I must say that the answer exceeds (or ignores) the scope of question. Well that doesn't hurt me, so let's go on with the discussion.
In my words, let me summarize my understanding of your understanding of culture -
1. Word > Meaning :- There are two aspects of culture - static and dynamic. The yin aspect is understood whereas the yang aspect is not. Worse, the yang aspect is mystified by over-theorization, as in case of reverse-swing, which in the end is either in-swing or out-swing for those who play it. For others, it could be a problem of nth degree differential equation for all you care.
2. Those who are invested in culture do not talk about it, and those who talk about culture are not invested in it.
Akshaya, the second point sounds rather simplistic to me. Saying that is saying something like this - "Those who talk about life do not live a life". To some extent, and from a particular perspective, the emotion behind this opinion can be sympathized. But no dear, there is NO one who is NOT invested in culture, whether he is aware of it or not. Everyone is invested in one or other culture, which pulls him, pushes him, permits him, prevents him, shapes him and distorts him. Culture, like air, is everywhere and inescapable. You can condition the air, but you can not escape it.
But not everyone talks about it because not everyone CAN talk about it. Talking, like thinking, is a prerogative of few individuals. And these individuals must realize (or decide) their responsibility towards their community. I will not dwell on it, because Noam Chomsky has already done the talking.
Thankfully, not all cultural practices have survival value and the dead practices (there are many), if they are allowed to speak, will talk about those individuals who killed them, to the relief of their community. Those who kills these practices stood inside, not outside, their cultures.
I believe that those who are aware of their investment in culture can not be indifferent towards it. They may or may not choose to talk about it, as per their sense of responsibility, their sense of integrity, or xyz. For those who choose to talk, the form of commentary could be coldly intellectual but it stems from a sentimental attachment to a past or a future or both. That stems from a Concern.
As far as the ethos of liberalization is concerned - I am FOR it. But I am not to condone those who make a business out of it, because these people will eat it hollow. I wonder how liberals will counter its exploiters without giving up their liberal values. That's why I am confused how to counter soft power without using hard hands.
It is not lack of concern but lack of understanding which has caused the damage. It is what they speak, not their speaking per se, that has made them look out of place. And that's what I said - Do they know what they are talking about?
Well, to begin with, the idea of culture is a difficult thing to grasp and an even more difficult thing to articulate. So are things like tradition and modernity. The point is not to use them gratuitously.
Culture, like identity, has little meaning in isolation. A culture is understood in contrast to other cultures. And contrast often leads to confusion and conflict.
Motivated by the imperatives of either ethics or politics or both, cultures usually trade in a currency called Tolerance. Giving others the tokens of tolerance is considered as being civilized.
However, it must be realized that the reserves of tolerance is not unlimited, and cultures would rather keep the gift of tolerance than have it squandered. In short, tolerance is a social contract which needs to be respected, and not to be exploited. For if tolerance comes without that conditions-apply asterisk, it is not tolerance, it is compromise.
Was going through your blog..what a discovery!
You write so well...please be a little more prolific... :)
Abe AD...
Seduce your muse into giving you another post. Unless you post something, I cannot respond.
O Supreme Possessor of righetous anger, you are the beginning, the middle and the end of all creation; so please oblige your humble servant. Give us another post so that... ummm... Just give us another post, causelessly. Don't keep us waiting like Radha; it makes us jealous and vengeful.
- Mr. Lucidly Insane
You haven't changed.
This post depicts your true nature, your personality
Thought you'd learnt your lessons.But you still are the same.
Still hope that you always have your favorite sub-of-the-day with her (not alone).
In other words hope you have found the perfect girl who will tolerate everything.....,,...
You surprised me. I had not expected this from you.
Anyways, as far as tolerance goes, what is music for one is noise for other. What one can not even tolerate is what other can not stop to enjoy. Hope you got the drift.
Good Bye
Abhishek*
Some people don't deserve any clarification Abhishek. Please don't bother to clarify those who don't matter.
If this anonymous had guts, he/she wouldnt have commented as "anonymous"
So, don't bother clarifying to such frustrated people
Waiting for your next post. Hope that one is as good as this one\
:):):):)
Get unbusy and write something....
Thanks Kanika. No anonymous comments on my blog anymore. Abhivyakti is now read-only for those who can not own their words.
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