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Random Thoughts
Status: Nemesis of Fools,
Smarts and Nations
by
Gaurang Bhatt, MD
 Advertisements
in America often show scantily clad attractive buxom women draped over
cars, rushing towards men wearing designer clothes, using certain
cosmetic products or drinking specific beverages. The idea is to convey
that the use or ownership of such products will have good looking
persons of the opposite sex irresistibly drawn towards you. The hormone
dominated and driven young, fall for this to their detriment and to the
profit of the manufacturers. It is this mistaken belief that the use of,
or ownership of the product will confer a privileged status, that makes
the buyer forget that the blonde or hunk does not come with the car,
toothpaste, aftershave, perfume or the car.
Another strategy in ads is some prominent personality endorsing the
product. The ad watcher, who by close attention to the ad has already
acknowledged temporary if not permanent lack of discerning ability, is
made to function under the misapprehension that the product will put him
in the same status or looks as the film star. There is a normally
prevalent tendency in human beings for hero worship, as various temples
and web-sites to film personalities and the popularity of film magazines
attest. Wearing specially designed expensive sneakers or saris does not
make the average person into a basketball, cricket player or beauty
queen like Michael Jordan, Tendulkar or Aishwarya Rai respectively.
This obsessive and pervasive desire for status leads to behavior that
ranges from mildly detrimental to profoundly destructive. Organizations
and nations are not immune from this fad. The US is the world’s
preeminent military power, unmatched in human history. After the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, the world became unipolar. The US has
nearly 4000 modern aircraft unmatched in quality or quantity by any
other nation. In spite of this it still spends 500 billion dollars for
defense and invested over ten billion dollars to develop the F22 Raptor
attack aircraft. It has purchased hundreds of such aircraft at a unit
price of over 250 million dollars each. These resources could have been
better spent on education, healthcare or reducing its budget or medicare
deficits. The planes will not significantly strengthen its security and
as the debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan and the firing of Defense
Secretary Rumsfeld show, military might alone does not guarantee victory
or security. There are currently over 45 million Americans (nearly 15%
of the 300 million) without health insurance and a large number of high
school graduates who are technically illiterate because of the dismal
quality of inner city schools.
India has a similar problem with public primary schools, potable water
supply, sewage systems, electricity and healthcare, as I wrote in one of
my previous articles. A sensible policy demands that defense of the
nation may need to take priority over important social policies. India’s
history and conquest by Islamic, European Christian conquerors and
recent Chinese invasion prove that. This still does not justify spending
over three billion dollars for a manned moon landing in fifteen years. I
am not against scientific progress, but an unmanned lunar probe or
landing could and should be done for a tenth of the price. All the
benefits do not justify the extra investment at present. The moon has
minerals and Helium 3 which may be useful but would not be cost
effective. Mining minerals can be done a lot cheaper from the ocean
floor. The money has better use for reconnaissance satellites,
developing satellite killers or even better missiles, nuclear submarines
and conventional arms not to mention health care clinics, schools,
electric grids, sewage and water systems. ISRO, an organization of smart
people is falling into the status trap. As the Hindi adage goes, ”Kisikaa
mahal dekh kar apni jhopdi ko aag nahin lagaani chaahiye”.
On a final note, let me talk about the media. I mean radio, television,
newspapers and magazines. These were meant to inform the public and
debate vital issues. The present concentration of media in large
corporate hands subverts this process. In America, the media have become
the mouthpiece of the administration and vested interests. The owners
are afraid to challenge the government for fear of losing their licenses
or access. They are afraid of losing the ad revenue sources and thus
avoid offending the advertisers. In America, they are large corporations
and in India they are corporations and the government. The owners are
often wealthy and thus they are reluctant to go against their own
interest, which dovetails with the wealthy. This is why it is critical
to glean information from multiple sources and discount their bias. The
English press in India is often blindly secular and afraid of offending
the minorities. The vernacular press is often rabidly parochial and we
have some that are obediently communist leaning oblivious of national
interest. The Internet helps but much of it is filled with
misinformation, conspiracy theories and one needs to review it
critically and carefully.
The limited literacy or education of the electorate together with time
constraints of earning a living and spending some time with the family,
puts severe constraints on the people. Tired and harried persons seek
passive pastimes like television and often prefer mindless entertainment
to civic education. The latter is rarely available even from newspapers
and magazines and much less from passive media like radio and
television. The above mentioned problems are what make democracy often a
failed form of government. The problem is not unique to underdeveloped
and poor India but equally prevalent in rich and developed America.
November 12,
2006
Image under license with
Gettyimages.com
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Random Thoughts
The Week of November 12, 2006
Ekla Chalo: Any Point Talking to President Hu?
by Rajinder Puri
Chinese President's Visit to India: Much Ado
about Nothing by Dr. Subhash Kapila
History grants Nitish Kumar an opportunity in
Bihar by Ramesh Menon
Pakistan's Military Dictator Besieged by Dr.
Subhash Kapila
Status: Nemesis of Fools, Smarts and Nations by
Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Reaping the Peace Dividend in India's North East
by Col. Rahul K. Bhonsle
A Panoply of Orchestrated Fraud by V.
Sundaram
Buddhism and Quantum Physics by Christian
Thomas Kohl
Are We Really Civilized? by TA Ramesh
Anger of Varunavrat by VK Joshi
Shaking up the Structure by Zofeen T Ebrahim
Wanderlust by Attreyee Roy Chowdhury
Khat e Kabuliwala: Inside an ancient temple near
Mazar-e-Sharif by Rajesh Talwar
Following the Coast by Naiya Sivaraj
Pachmarhi, Nature's Gift to Madhya Pradesh by
Anil Gulati
If You Can't Slap 'Em, Snap 'Em by Elayne Clift
Women Presidents Pack a Punch by Ambujam
Anantharaman
The Politics of Hair by Nilanjana Biswas
Murky Meat Factories by Alka Arya
Sex Workers' Bank - Healthy Returns by
Nilanjana Bhowmick
A Louder Voice by Rodrick Mukumbira
Reneging the Blue Billion by Priyadarsi Dutta
Strange are the Ways of God by Arya Bhushan
The Witty Side by Melvin Durai
How to Deal With - Analytical Physiologist Disorder
by Michael Levy
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