Friday, December 30, 2005

Who is spreading the terror?

Before I go ahead with this seemingly insensitive post, I must convey my heartfelt condolences to the slain professor in the dastardly attack on IISc. These are not hollow words. My house is about five minutes from the institute. It has made for a serene and sylvan setting for many a morning jog. Some of my close friends study there, many of them having been taught by one of the professors who were injured.

Lets look at the facts that happened at IISc a couple of days ago.
Fatalities: One
Injuries: Five
Yes, these were pre-eminent scientists who probably figured higher in middle class India’s conscience just like Shanmugham and Satyendra Dubey. One of “us” had been killed instead of the lakhs of labor class and other construction workers who routinely die in India due to reasons like natural calamities, work related injuries, lack of healthcare and sometimes even just hunger.

So in terms of just causalities Bangalore’s attacks were pretty insignificant. So what were the attackers hoping for? The point of attack, heart of middle class India-main consumers of the print and electronic media, the education fraternity’s power in the mainstream media and Bangalore’s brand image would help the rather very simple act of killing one professor blow up in the face of the entire country.

But sometimes I wonder which is the real source of terror. Lets take a look at some of the headlines.

“Terror Strikes Bangalore”

Ok, Iike mentioned above, I stay 5 minutes from IISc. Infact I was at the hospital for some medical treatment on both days when the media was all over the place.
Believe me, NOBODY…. NOBODY …is the least bit scared or afraid. Life goes on as normal can be. A couple of more policemen lazily standing at my street corner symbolizes the “High Alert” that Bangalore is supposed be under. At the hospital, all the policemen do is fight jostling news cameramen everyday whenever a dignitary visits. The entire police force in and around IISc and MSRamiah hospital is involved in only one thing - Media Management. Shoving reporters, keeping at bay curious onlookers with everyone basking in the most obvious truth that stares everyone in the face –that the attackers will not come back to the same place the next day when they have achieved what they wanted in the first place – publicity.

“Blood on the streets of Bangalore”

As TV news cameras continuously focused on a small puddle of blood inside the campus of IISc, one reporter bravely said, “Blood on the streets of Bangalore”. Well, if it helps, Bangalore’s roads are as jammed as ever, the one-ways are as clogged and pollution is as bad. There is no change in any routine and most certainly no blood anywhere that I can see.

Act 1 Scene 1
Rookie Reporter: So what will you do now?
IISc geek: Well, I guess today we won’t go to the lab, but tomorrow morning we will. (Today we will sit glued to the television and watch the tamasha and tomorrow we will get back to the labs)
Rookie Reporter: So, there Rajdeep lies the indomitable spirit of the science community. A sense of shock but a deep resolve to get ahead with life in the face of this terrorizing event.
IISc geek: Yawns
Reporter: So what are you feeling now? What are your emotions?
Geek: Er…um…shocked, I guess???
Reporter: So there we have an entire community stunned, a city appalled and a nation waking up to a new wave of terror. Back to the studios

The point I am trying to make is very simple. India’s is marching towards a better tomorrow. There will always be attacks such as these. And like the millions of untold accidents in the country people will lose their lives tragically. But to say that the country is under siege or that we feel unsafe is a ludicrous media creation. It has its genesis in a fundamental western media philosophy starved of any issues in boring, well-developed countries –Terror sells.

That’s what American media runs on. High-speed police chases aired all day, Cops and Robbers shows, Talk Shows about Homeland Freedom Security, and constant and continuous reminder from the media to all the people – YOU ARE UNSAFE. One just has to see Bowling for Columbine to understand this truth that Michael Moore unravels with clinical precision.

In a particular period in New York City, when the crime rate went down by half, the reported crimes on television (high speed police chases, shoot-outs on TV, etc) went up by a whopping 600%!!!! Thereby giving everyone the impression that the city had become more unsafe.
In another interview with a news channel reporter, Michael Moore asks a cameraman whether he would like to do a story on the dangerous smog covering LA probably killing more people than wait at an intersection for some “action” to erupt.
The reporter looks at him coldly and says, “Always go with the gun”

Unfortunately, a rather competitive media business that has ensured a lot of positives like deeper coverage of issues and fast news also spawns cutthroat competition and the never-ending search for TRPs. With a fair bit of inside knowledge of how the media works, I know that the entire consciousness in the media is driven by a single motivation that in itself is a dead giveaway - To sell a story. Whatever it takes.

Story –
a fictitious literary composition in prose or poetry, shorter than a novel; narrative; tale; specif., SHORT STORY b) the form of literature represented by such compositions

I don’t see the word truth anywhere here. Do you?

1 Comments:

Blogger Ramakanth said...

To an extent true.
But I beg to differ with the argument as such.
That we are unsafe is a fact and trying to stay oblivious would be foolish. The recent incident in bangalore admist the pristine surroundings of IISC is a proof that terror can get "up close and very personal".
Prof. Puri, may his soul rest in peace, would have never imagined such an event would occur, atleast not with him. But it did. So, though the probability may be very minimal(thanks to our population), it may repeat, and this time it could be me or you.

1/03/2006 11:22 PM  

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