A Fellow Citizen
The citizen is not a celebrity. Anything but a celebrity, he hasn't even many pictures of himself. But he* knows he works hard. A hard day's work, selling movie tickets at the local mall or debugging that code in time for the deadline, keeps him full, maybe a little proud on the odd day but also tired. Now all he wants is some time away from his mundane work, some time which he owns, in which he is not owned. He turns on the television. "Enough of me" he feels, "What's happening in the rest of the world?" he asks and puts on his favorite news channel. "Breaking News!", it screams back. Somehow all the events in the world are "breaking". Why must events break? Why not build? But for him perhaps, breaking news is "break-in" news, a break from his long day of work.
He knows what is coming next, a Full Panel Discussion, boom! 8 players, each given 2 minutes, the one the anchor deems right wins. What a game, such an escape! And as the anchor and the panelists ride the gravy train, he watches in unbelieving disgust. He isn't sure what is breaking is good or bad, but he knows everyone out there is lying, more or less. The lies, which he knows are to blame for everything wrong about the country. He feels exasperated after a point and would rather watch a reality show. The news served it's purpose, broke his monotony and gave him reason to believe that he is an honest man in a vicious world. Thence, we see the citizen's experience of politics end, in a guilty pleasure.
When I ask him whether he is likely to vote in the coming elections, he elicits two common responses. " How does it matter?" and "I don't think I care". Relegated to the fringes of politics, a mere spectator, he votes more often for reality television shows than policies and parties. To him it is a very distant facade, a farrago of facts and lies, a never ending shit show, far from his everyday reality. It is dirty, vulgar and the very reason for his misfortunes. He wants nothing to do with it, neither does it want anything to do with him.
Such cynicism can be irritating for the hopeful. But cynics find the hopeful laughable, a clear victory. However, cynics like our fellow citizen perhaps, only seek a comfortable wisdom. Unsure of their capacities and too busy to act, they seek comfort in the belief that things are in fact out of their control, no matter how much they try. They barely try though. When out dear citizen retorts, "how does it matter?", he clearly would like to make it matter. When he says "he doesn't care", he only means that he cares for many other things, like his son's education, his wife's health, all matters of national concern.
But is cynicism a democratic sentiment? Is this feeling characteristic of a democracy? Is this the feeling for which our national heroes did strive? Have the rulers, become the ruled, in their own rule? Only pain begets reason, and out collective apathy does seek answers. How can our citizen matter? How can he care better? David Miller agrees when he says, "Democracy... is not an all-or-nothing matter, but a continuing struggle to give the people as a whole final authority over the affairs of the state".
*Wish there was a gender neutral pronoun in English. While she would have been just as apt, I have used he here out of convenience.
He knows what is coming next, a Full Panel Discussion, boom! 8 players, each given 2 minutes, the one the anchor deems right wins. What a game, such an escape! And as the anchor and the panelists ride the gravy train, he watches in unbelieving disgust. He isn't sure what is breaking is good or bad, but he knows everyone out there is lying, more or less. The lies, which he knows are to blame for everything wrong about the country. He feels exasperated after a point and would rather watch a reality show. The news served it's purpose, broke his monotony and gave him reason to believe that he is an honest man in a vicious world. Thence, we see the citizen's experience of politics end, in a guilty pleasure.
When I ask him whether he is likely to vote in the coming elections, he elicits two common responses. " How does it matter?" and "I don't think I care". Relegated to the fringes of politics, a mere spectator, he votes more often for reality television shows than policies and parties. To him it is a very distant facade, a farrago of facts and lies, a never ending shit show, far from his everyday reality. It is dirty, vulgar and the very reason for his misfortunes. He wants nothing to do with it, neither does it want anything to do with him.
Such cynicism can be irritating for the hopeful. But cynics find the hopeful laughable, a clear victory. However, cynics like our fellow citizen perhaps, only seek a comfortable wisdom. Unsure of their capacities and too busy to act, they seek comfort in the belief that things are in fact out of their control, no matter how much they try. They barely try though. When out dear citizen retorts, "how does it matter?", he clearly would like to make it matter. When he says "he doesn't care", he only means that he cares for many other things, like his son's education, his wife's health, all matters of national concern.
But is cynicism a democratic sentiment? Is this feeling characteristic of a democracy? Is this the feeling for which our national heroes did strive? Have the rulers, become the ruled, in their own rule? Only pain begets reason, and out collective apathy does seek answers. How can our citizen matter? How can he care better? David Miller agrees when he says, "Democracy... is not an all-or-nothing matter, but a continuing struggle to give the people as a whole final authority over the affairs of the state".
*Wish there was a gender neutral pronoun in English. While she would have been just as apt, I have used he here out of convenience.
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