Opinion
The Obsession!
When we observe, Indian newspapers, internet and news channels give us a lot of information about the United States of America and The Great Britain or United Kingdom as it is also known. I many times wonder why it is so. Is it because, both are English speaking countries and we are comfortable with that aspect? But Australia, Canada and South Africa are also equally Anglicized and English speaking. But our interest remains focused to events in the two countries, the USA and the UK. Is it also because we are still mentally colonized though physically free?
It might be that many of our main stream English newspapers are clients of Western News Agencies. Naturally these agencies give news which they feel is important. We have great countries with great cultures both in the eastern and western hemisphere but we are glued to America and Britain. I have never observed more coverage given to the election of Indian president than the coverage being given to the election of American President. We are actually celebrating the election process of American president and are having a heavy dose of articles on that election.
Also the wars initiated by the USA and the UK, namely wars associated with Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan and now Syria, the viewpoints of American and British journalists take prominence than any other journalists. There are German, French, Italian etc. journalists who also cover the wars. And definitely their viewpoints will be different from those of the American and the British.
We all know that the Americans and the British have thrust more wars on the world than any country after the second- world war. The war in Georgia, Libya just happened and is over, we not knowing much of what actually happened. America is now taking us back to the cold war days with its obsession of free economy or democracy or the like as interpreted by it and not necessarily with their original meanings.
It is America which pampered and helped the most number of dictators since second- world war. They are the people behind the division of Indian sub-continent as India and Pakistan. They divided Germany, Korea, Vietnam, Yemen, Palestine-, creating Israel. They are behind, every strife going on any where on the globe. Rather they start strives across the globe in one or the other name. Their culture, especially, that of America is consumerist. We are unfortunately aping it currently with necessary consequences.
There are cultures in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Other European countries, Japan, China, South East Asian countries, Latin American countries. But our newspapers or news channels almost never cover them. We are always told about escapades of the “celebrates” from film, entertainment, fashion, sport or such glamorous fields and fill their columns and special features about these happenings in America or Britain. I many times wonder why we should know about them so much.
The Oscar, the Booker Prize, the Olympics, and the kind are marketed more than the significance they possess. We all mourning about our lack luster performance in the Olympics is one such marketing influence on us. We all know that our genes, diet habits and training programs and conditions are different from others. And any one noticed that we also do not perform well in tennis. It is because tennis needs great stamina, which we do not possess by virtue of our genetic buildup and diet habits. We need not bother about it. Let us highlight what we can shine in.
Most of the Europeans learn more than one European language other than their mother tongue. They not only integrate with other Europeans easily but also convert such knowledge of foreign languages into livelihood by entering the field of translation. We too have so many languages. But we do not venture to learn other than our mother tongue thanks to chauvinist regional leaders. We never know we are under the grip of selfish politicians and sing and dance to their tunes. We are comfortable and satisfied by being vote banks to some selfish politicians. We have politicians who want to shine by our divisions but not by integrating us. The result is inefficient governance and our lives are not safe any where any time.
The politicians who can divide us for their selfishness and aggrandizement do not and cannot unite us against terror or themselves fight terror with commitment and confidence. We are left to our karma.
On our part we respect white skin more than fellow dark skin. Our politicians are polite to foreigners and not to citizens of our own country just because they do not belong to their state or territory as if these selfish dynastic leaders own the states and territories.
We can get a job in a foreign country even government but we cannot get a government job in another state why in another district. All this is happening because we, even the elite and educated, are not able to love our fellow Indians but are enamored by aping the west especially, America and Britain. We must free ourselves from these and welcome all cultures of the world and also our own from different regions of our great country.
Let our obsession with America and Britain be replaced with love and regard for our own people and cultures. Let our newspapers and news channels release themselves and us from the over- dose reporting about the USA and Britain and stop dumping unnecessary information on us.
17-Feb-2012
More by :
Dr. Varanasi Ramabrahmam
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