There are two ways in which to fight an ideological battle.
- Be extremely confident in your ideology, put it down on paper, tell it to the world, and make sure that every step you take will take you closer to the ideal you dream of achieving.
- Look at what the others are doing, and do exactly that, and tell yourself that you are ‘beating the other at his own game’ and that ‘you have to use a thorn to remove a thorn’.
History has never been kind to the latter. All our tales of valour, examples we are told to emulate, icons we are inspired by, all of them come from the first kind of fight. They are driven by an ideology which they firmly believe will do good for the people, and are consumed by the urge to do the right thing, even if the rest of the world is going in another direction. Sooner or later, they win. Sometimes it happens in a few months or years, and sometimes it may take generations. Sometimes it may not even win. But it will never lose. And that ideal makes for a fulfilling life and puts them on a pedestal which is worshipped by history.
In our world of today, there is just one level at which everyone wants to fight their battles. In politics, if the opposition comes down to sling mud at candidates personal lives, we will do the exact same thing — with more viciousness. If the media wants to resort to morphing videos to hurt our image, we will do the same thing with even better technology. Look at the fake news barrage! The world over, whoever screams the loudest gets the most attention. We don’t care whether it is for real. It is like WWE’s Royal Rumble. Everyone is in the ring at the same time, and there are no friendships, no tag teams, no loyalties, no rules. Whoever you can lay your hands on, in whichever way, just plonk him on the floor outside, however possible.
Stooping to a level beneath ours and call it ‘levelling the playing field’ is rather foolish. Hitler sent millions of Jews to gas chambers. So would it make any sense for the allied forces to send millions of Germans to gas chambers of their own? Khilji’s army raped and plundered wherever they went. To defeat him, should the opposing forces also take away his womenfolk and do the same thing? Ravana took away Rama’s wife. So would Rama say he should fly Mandodari away and call it an even field?
There is a reason we call them villains. Because they do something beneath what we would even consider as fair. It is war. And each battle is fought from a different standpoint. Nothing is sacred any longer. The floor keeps falling out from beneath us and no one is saying ‘enough is enough, let me not stoop any further’. Every day is a new low.
This is probably because there is no strong ideology remaining anymore. Nothing is sacred even there. Manifesto core items are regularly ignored during the term they’re in power, and even the biggest supporters take it in their stride. Much damage is actually done by these same supporters who fall into romanticism of revolution. Revolting against something gives us a high, and creates a self-image that is bigger than ourselves. Thanks to a collective lack of identity in much of our society, people prefer to wallow in this false image they perceive. Sadly, even our leaders fall into the same trap. When a company has a strong vision, mission, and purpose statement, why don’t our political parties have them? In annual general body meetings, if there is an announcement of something radically different from the vision and mission statements, shareholders and analysts immediately question the management on the need for such a move. In politics, there is no ideology, stuff gets done haphazardly, and no one questions! Forget about questioning, they actually applaud and immediately move into the new image! How is that fair?
We’ve gotten to a stage where foul language has become commonplace on live TV and in public meetings. There is no accountability left with the speakers. They just say stuff and move on. To counter that, the other side resorts to the exact same strategies and finds choicer words to use in their rebuttal. Then come images. The response to crude images is cruder images! Videos are even worse. We do the exact same thing and expect different results? And our icons in this battle are the grand old men of a past age who remained steadfast to their ideal and carved a path for others to follow. We use their example and quote them while diving deeper into an abyss of our own creation.
Staying true to an ideal requires tremendous strength of character. When someone actually stands up tall and stays true to his ideal, the whole world will sit up and notice. No words need to be spoken. No press conferences need to be organized. The ideal itself will become bigger than the man and that will make all the difference. In politics as well as in our society.
Every now and then, someone comes along and there is a glimmer of promise. All us rats follow the piper in the hope of a change. Along the way, we realise there is not much difference between where we were and where we’re headed. We can neither turn back nor move forward. And the pied piper has changed into exactly what we were running away from.
Yet, we continue to stay hopeful. That some day, we will realize that an ideal is greater than a man. That not succumbing to petty instigations makes us bigger. That change cannot be wrought in a day. That it takes continuous, tireless efforts towards a lofty ideology for a prolonged period of time, to see that change happen. And that it is all worth it.
