Stupidity is never a handicap in Politics

Raju Korti
Propagating a thought process or promoting political views on a social networking site comes with its ancillary risks. Not that there is anything wrong in it but I have long since realized the abiding futility of engaging myself in raging debates that are seldom conclusive and nobody is none the wiser. In the end -- if there is any -- nothing changes and no one who is a fierce participant cedes an inch for reasons ranging from personal ego to political steadfastness. It is just some steam let off and maybe some brownie points scored on each side.
Political conviction is an individual belief and choice. It is more often than not bereft of objectivity which again is left to personal interpretation. But having spent decades in the Media and watched political personalities and events unfold in the most unexpected and quirkiest of ways, it has come to my perceptive comprehension that politics only divides people and makes them self-righteous. Those two create crevasses that are bridged only in expedient circumstances. Politics per se may not be fickle, but politicians and their loyalist admirers are.
I studiously avoid taking part in political discourses which degenerate into nasty altercations at the drop of a hat. With a few exceptions -- that only prove the rule -- most end up in bitterness and break in friendships. There is of course no disputing an individual's understanding of political issues as no one is any less informed.
There is a certain vulnerability at the bottom-line of this considered belief that some "ism" or "logy" is superior than others. The internet teems with trolls who sow seeds of discord by posting inflammatory statuses provoking "friends" into an emotional response. And then all hell breaks lose with cuss words and profanity in spate. The "friend" whose status you "liked" barely a minute ago becomes a persona non grata in your estimate in much lesser time.
For instance, the debates on Modi (and his 'bhakts'), 'AAPtards', 'sickulars", leftists, rightists, right of centrists and what have you, come without an expiry date. "Pheku" Modi's extravagant pinstripes, Kejriwal's matching extravagant manifesto, the decline of Gandhis, the virtues or otherwise of secularism and the pre-meditated hypothesis that womanhood alone should be respected (and by default men be despised) guarantee you an endless slang match. Even if granted that debates are a healthy sign of democracy, the results are not. The much trumpeted Freedom of Speech and Expression is itself a subject of nasty debate. I recall a Washington Post journalist once telling me "freedom of Press, whatever that means, is freedom of the Press." I guess it applies to all those who tempestuously advocate their political thinking on the social network.
I am well aware that my not subscribing to any particular political thought process is also open to fierce criticism but that puts me at a distinct advantage. Being unattached allows me to train my guns with objective crosswires though at times I am also sniped at by "friends" for being pro or anti something at that juncture.
Let me cap this with a small story. Once a prince, soon to be crowned as king, sets out on world tour to gain some experience in administration. Tired, in the night he decides to halt in a jungle. When he is fast asleep, a cobra emerges from the nearby furrow and is thrilled to find someone it could bite. Meanwhile another cobra emerges and feels the same way. There ensues a fight between the two on who will bite the prince first. Hearing the two quarrel, the prince wakes up and kills both with his sword.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. I would rather be a prince on wisdom tour than a cobra fighting for a bite. Politics, they say, is the second oldest profession but it also bears a striking resemblance to the first. Now don't pan me for this. Hope you are all "liberal" enough to take this in your stride.