Liberalism and the Challenge of Polarisation

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18qwRftuXoc Duration: 439.8s

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan (00:05): I think it’s a challenge, as of that. I would not like to minimize the challenge. I’m a great optimist. But a good optimist is also a realist, while an optimist is is fundamentally a believer that things can improve, and after all, history is constant struggle for improvement with success. But we must not underestimate the challenges ahead, and it’s a global challenge. It’s not merely Indian. We are also part of the decline in public discourse, unfortunately. But, unfortunately, many other countries are seeing a very similar pattern, so we should not underestimate that. And if anything, the social media, which are actually liberating instrument and empowering instrument, have also become a very polarizing instrument. So we have a challenge. I think we can do some things to make it better. I I don’t have any prescriptions as to how to handle social media. I don’t know much about it, the technology stuff. I only can, come out with examples of what we can do as individuals, and hopefully, if enough people do it, things will improve because people realize the value of it for their personal lives. The first is, and this is important, particularly for a country like India with so many caste, regions, religions, languages, sub caste. No. Everything is about identity, sub identity, sub sub identity, all kinds of things. I think the most important principle that we have ignored in India in fighting polarization is that ultimately individuation politics of individuation. Look at what matters to people. The the elevator, whether it functions well or not, the electricity that you get at home or not, the school your kids go to, the hospital your family needs, the road in front of your house, the potholes there, or the drainage or the stormwater drainage are in Hyderabad City. I am in Hyderabad City right now. And the two, three days of heavy rain and even moderate rain, the the the the roads are flooded. These are the things that matter. If you focus on those, then that is the best way people can forget their alleged differences, their perceived differences of caste, religion, religion, etcetera. Individuation, a lesson that we all forget. That is the art of democratic politics. You know? As behavioral economists tell us, the the great book of Daniel Kahneman, for instance, Thinking, Fast and Slow, and many other behavioral economists got a few got Nobel Prizes in recent past. They told us that human beings are tribal by nature. There is a clash between our technology and our mind power on the one hand, our instinct and tribalism on the other hand, the old brain and the new brains. Oftentimes, if you don’t give enough time and if you don’t reflect carefully, the old brain, the instinct kicks in. That is the nature of things. Otherwise, imagine the kind of support Donald Trump gets, not for the economic policies or some of the more rational things that he argues for, but for the irrational outbursts and for the very uncivil behavior because of tribalism. I’m not talking of party politics. I’m talking of human behavior. And we can only counter that when we make people realize what’s important for their families, not by telling them how wonderfully important it is to look at all mankind. I know what I’m saying is not very romantic, but I would urge you to consider that. And if that is the case, then focus again as individual on individuals on issues, not individuals and parties. And therefore, on a certain issue, the individuals and parties can be right. Another issue, they can be wrong. And be consistent, be truthful. Do not doctor the information, the data, or do not pervert the logic to suit your conditions, be consistent about it. Then over time, people will listen because they realize their self interest, not because they are the most logical people, but because they understand their self interest. And in all political parties, in all movements, there are good people. Do not categorize them and brand them and say they’re all bad, or they’re deplorable, or they’re bad, but nothing of the kind. There are good people in in Indian conditions, BJP, in Congress, in TDP, in regional parties, in TRS, in any party, DMK, any party. And there are people who are out for their own personal gain in any formation. Recognize the people of value and respect them and encourage them. Do not brand them just because they happen to have, in a broad sense, a different point of view or belong to a different formation. And then have faith in technology. While technology is in some ways a problem today, the social media are actually creating more and more of this, this polarization and this hatred. The same technology, if you persevere and if you innovate, and if you stick to truth consistently with certain safeguards, can also propagate the the right message. We have to have faith in that. Sometimes in the short term, there may be some hard knocks. But unless we have faith and unless we look at the human history and that’s where our deeper understanding of human history. I think as any serious student of public life and politics in the world must also be a serious student of anthropology. What happened to human societies over over millennia and how we have actually matured. Remember, not too long ago by by the by the standards of geological age, if somebody said that earth revolved around the sun, they would have been hanged or crucified or shot to death. Not too long ago. Today, it’s an absurd proposition that you would oppose that. Not too long ago, people argued that earth is flat. Today, it’s a ridiculous thing. It’s an object of ridicule. If somebody says that, it’s an object of ridicule. Remember. So human beings do change, but not immediately. They change generationally. A few individuals, they see the truth, they have the smartness, they have the goodness, they have the decency. They lead, but they pay the price oftentimes. But eventually, as most people realize what’s important for them and how it’s beneficial to them, they change their beliefs. And we must have the patience and perseverance, and we must have the optimism. And finally, we must be willing to constantly innovate. Don’t be dogmatic. Do not make liberalism or your principle a dogma which is unchanging. Be more empirical. Be more humble. Recognize that you are prone to error as well, recognize that no philosophy works in all times, be the first to recognize so that they recognize that this philosophy also has strengths. Instead, if you only harp on your basic orthodoxy, then they harp on their own basic orthodoxy, and there’s no meeting point. Be nimble. Be innovative. Be flexible. I don’t know if more can be done, but at least if these we practice individually and collectively, I’m sure things will get better.