Yuletide greetings

For those that believe in Santa and those that don't; for the atheists, the traditionalists and those that live by faith; for those naughty and nice; for the skeptics, the certain and the ignorant: no matter what the belief...it is always exhilarating to give unconditionally. And the joy that stems from it is indescribable. I hope the next few days revives that spirit. Merry Christmas!

Media Social Responsibility

There seems to be a growing, urgent need for true awareness. Awareness whose only propaganda is to stimulate peace and not fuel cross-border politics, fanaticism or holy killings. An awareness that empowers every living soul to discern for themselves the merits of every racial, political, caste or societal issue that s/he is subjected to.

The media has failed miserably in this regard, choosing to swarm incidents with a multitude of opinions and reasoning, rather than breaking down, fundamentally, the root of every inter-personal problem – tutored misunderstanding. Different people live in different realities, and I think the sooner the world learns and accepts this, the better of we will all be. Acceptance being the key.

Across the globe, we are conditioned into thinking a certain way about religions and cultures other than our own. I find it extremely hard to believe that this conditioning is provided by those that are truly aware. In most cases, the conditioning is offered by highly opinionated people the media like to call “leaders” or “experts”.

Fair-skinned Caucasians were taught to believe that African-Americans formed the lowest class in America. Akin to Dalits in India. African-Americans as a result were forced into loathing White Americans. Revolutionary leaders fought with their lives to demand and defend their rights, to blur those colours, and while we can see some of those sown seeds bloom today, the problem still persists. And it exists everywhere. No country, whether constitutionally neutral or not, can claim that it harbors no racism. For some Asian countries, segregation of classes and castes is an equal evil.

Education is a powerful tool, but unfortunately it has its limitations too. In India, an educated Brahmin (the highest Indian caste) who has studied abroad and returned to India will still choose to marry within his caste, because it is sacrilegious to do otherwise. Doesn’t he know that his caste also demanded that he never leave his own soil? Similar elements of hypocrisy exist across the globe. But what good is pointing out the defects and apparent short comings of other’s beliefs? It only sheds more blood and breeds more fear, hatred and misunderstanding. I believe this is where awareness which fuels acceptance is effective.

In a world influenced by the media, I believe that it is them that should be held accountable for their short sightedness in affecting change. While they squeeze the last drop out of every issue, no matter how miniscule, they fail to lead responsible opinion. This is a media of reaction not initiation. Some media companies have made their political leanings known; with others their underlying intent or lineage is evident. Most media bosses argue that theirs is a business and as such flirting with activism may split their audiences and result in losses. Others like Fox News in the U.S. unapologetically and blatantly turn huge profits by echoing, mobilising and/or influencing just one end of the political spectrum.

But let me pose this: If enabling every citizen of the world with unbiased, factual awareness of all cultures and religions can hopefully bring more understanding, if not peace, is that wrong? Does it qualify as activism? What is it against? Yes, it may hopefully push some governments towards reform. It could inspire some leaders to rethink their wars. It could turn the global arms race into one of prevention rather than violence. It would result in a prosperous society that would gladly support and follow its media. And it could only happen if masses, mobilised by the entire media world, stood up for peace.

While those possibilities maybe the underlying intent of my call for awareness, it is not the direct intent. The intent here is to arm every living person with a fundamental knowledge of this world. In the event that any heinous crime does affect his/her surrounding, this knowledge would prevent a person from being quick to judge and/or accusing another race or culture.

Instead, one will be better equipped to understand the cause of such action and with that knowledge be better placed to defend any resulting rationale. As I mentioned earlier, the understanding and acceptance of the simple, fundamental fact that different realities do exist will build a solid foundation for the peace process. After all, agreeing to disagree - once the heated, non-violent debate has concluded - still is a peaceful agreement.

I can only hope that today’s world is tired of living in fear and is longing for solutions. As such, a coordinated, international media drive to break myths, propagated conditioning and misunderstandings of lives not our own, would only draw more viewers and readers.

Corporates from across the globe would fund such an initiative, even if it were under the aegis of corporate social responsibility, thus ensuring revenue. A powerful movement that introduces the need and availability of awareness could very realistically have a domino effect across the globe. It could sweep modern thought and force better judgments, given that judgments are inevitable.

Quintessentially, this is education in a new avatar. The media is the only tool that can effectively, through its local and global products, reach the masses. If segments were dedicated to introducing the history, struggles and issues of different races, cultures and religions, it would serve as recommended viewing across demographics. Call it current affairs education if you like.

Such a coordinated movement would ensure that people could no longer afford to be ignorant about different elements of society, since being aware would be the new mantra. If media houses actually do embrace such a movement, they would for once, be motivating positive thought directly, rather than relying on talk show experts who very rarely offer any meaningful, tangible insight. Most information dispensed is always fleeting, always reactionary, seldom with depth and rarely settles in viewers’ minds.

In short, I feel that awareness through media will enable people to assess situations far more responsibly than is done today. Today’s media allows people to form quick, irrational views based on very limited knowledge. And perpetrators of violence are well aware of this. Let’s face it. Media absence would render the purpose of most terror attacks useless. No coverage would mean no impact.

Yes, every incident will draw ire and irresponsible reactions. But as long as you don’t doubt your next door Muslim every time an Islamic extremist group attacks, or don’t hate every Jew for Palestine, or maliciously target every citizen of a rival country, the world will be a better place.

Let’s understand that governments should be held responsible for their actions and inactions, and not the people of those countries. And whatever the format – democracy, socialism, communism, anyism – the agonising truth is people have very little say in the politics of their own governments. Unfortunately, the same applies to the media.

So while governments justify their wars and accusations, let the people, let us, be made aware of the fundamentals. And let’s stick to those facts, if only to be able to embrace everyone we meet with equal heart; regardless of colour, race, religion or culture.