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| Here, hold my liberal hand |
So Donald Trump finally won. The
prolonged campaign and bitter verbal duels between Clinton and Trump are behind
us and the fact is sinking in slowly, for many people. But is Trump’s win
really shocking? Yes, because we were made to believe that it is impossible.
Because we were told for months together that Clinton is everything that
America stands for, all the liberal ideas and egalitarian ideology that America
represents. Trump on the other hand is a capitalist, has evaded taxes, is
misogynist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, racist, etc. All this was told to us by
the so called “respected” and “neutral” media. The CNNs and NYTs of the world
rallied behind Clinton. Even our own media outlets were found sharing photo
frames with Clinton. So yes, the people on the street actually believed that
Trump is going to lose. So much so that Indians, many of whom who may not even
have a passport, are angry at his win. They are outraged and shudder in
disbelief.
As the postmortem of Clinton’s
defeat or Trump’s win unfolds in news studios in the next days, one of the
facts that will stand out is the adverse impact of the extreme negative
campaigns that the media together with Clinton ran against Trump. It was all
about how bad trump is. It was never about what Clinton will do to bring back
jobs and growth to America. Even if there were things that Clinton said about
jobs and growth, they were drowned by the reports of what Trump said.
A prolonged negative campaign always
backfires. No matter how undeserving the target is. We saw it in Lok Sabha
elections in 2014 and we saw it this week in America. The lesson: common people
on street are not bothered about how bad someone is. In desperate times the
people worry more about jobs and economic security more than the self-actualization
goals like social equality and immigration. The point was completely lost by
the “liberal” media and the Champagne/Limousine socialists who feed them
content.
The Indian media is increasingly
looking like the out of touch American media. We are constantly fed with
opinions in the name of news and debates. We are made see things from a thick
coloured glass. The glass, which is dipped and let to soak in the “liberal”
coulours by the m
edia. Be it anti-terrorist operations in Kashmir or shooting
down of a suspected terror boat near our maritime borders or demonetizing of
high value currency to tackle the black money problem. We are always fed with
biased views. We are told why the government is wrong. Glorification of
hardened terrorists, candle light vigils for condemned terrorists and shooting
from the shoulders of daily wagers to counter the demonetizing drive is all
passed as news and freedom of speech. Of course with a liberal sprinkling of
cries of “stifling press freedom”.
The media has crossed the line
between news and opinion. What they don’t realise is that in this age of social
media and alternate platforms to access news, their biased opinions are falling
flat. What they also fail to realise is that extreme forms of hate against a
group or individual is always counterproductive. As Devdutt Pattanaik in his
recent post
wrote that hatred leads to reverse devotion. What it also leads to is awakening
of the masses. People start thinking. This is where the game ends for the
media.
Once a seed of thought is planted
it quickly grows into a tree, which bears fruits of realisations. People see
the double standards behind which the elite and Champagne socialists or private
jet socialists (as the case of Clinton is) hide. The Indian media should
realise that they are not catering to a country of snake charmers. We have left
those days behind us. It is now time for them to wake up and redraw the line
between news and opinion. Let people know what the media house stands for and
which way it leans.
