"Cogito Ergo Sum" - I think, therefore I exist
If we go by the words of Rene Descartes, most of us don't exist. Yes we live perfectly proper lives, get up in the morning, go to office, do our work, come back, watch TV, surf the net and a lot of other stuff. But when was the last time we thought objectively.
Most of us these days don't have our individual opinions. In farmer parlance, we are sheep supposed to choose between Choice A and Choice B, both of which have been carefully thought of and provided by a 3rd party out to influence us.
Our opinion on various subjects these days is rarely formed because we passionately believe in a cause or because we have objectively analyzed a particular situation to find out its various pros and cons to arrive at an opinion. Given the paucity of time, in our lives due to our preoccupation with social media, most of our opinion is formed on these platforms. And here is where a particular psychological phenomenon kicks in.
The "Theory of Cultivation" was originally a theory used to explain the effect of television on our image of the world. This theory was hypothesized in the 1970s and worked well with television as the "central cultural arm of the society". It hypothesized that programs in television can leave seeds of a thought in a viewer’s mind which given its repetitive pattern of mass produced messages forms a sort of an overarching symbol; in effect an opinion over time.
With time "Social Media" has replaced Television as the primary medium of dissemination of information. Especially in India, the different political parties and interest groups have established powerful propaganda arms whose primary aim seem to be opinion formation in the minds of the common men. There has been a mushrooming of Facebook pages like "Rajnikant Vs CID”, TFI, "Unofficial Subramaniam Swamy" and websites like "Scoop Whoop" on the lighter side and openly political pages like "Swarajya Mag" and "Janta Ki Adalat".
These pages and websites have a now well-known pattern. They mostly come up with articles discussing various existing issues which come up on daily discussions, thereby creating a resonance. Sometimes they even come up with issues for discussion, say to publicize a new movie, or to get validation for public policies. Once such an issue is set up, these websites repeatedly bombard the social media with various facts on the same. Some of these facts are verifiable; some are absolute works of fiction. However the common reader facing such an information overload rarely has the time or the inclination to verify these. These articles and the accompanying figures masquerading as facts, slowly create the germ of an idea on the average readers mind. Repeated bombardment of the same facts and figures from various social media websites aided by Facebook and WhatsApp shares in anonymous groups then creates an illusion of truth. What was a germ of an idea then becomes an opinion in the reader’s mind who is then "encultured" to believe in a particular portrayal of reality as envisioned by the people behind these articles. But then how does all this lead to a show of patriotism?
Most of these pages have a “crude but effective” thought process. They create a divide of "Us Vs Them" with the implications being that the side supported by the website is superior to the other. And it’s not just superiority that is implied, but Doubting Thomases are trolled and branded unpatriotic and harmful to the society on the net.
It’s the perfect ploy and works every time. Most people spend time online in order to connect to people and have a sense of camaraderie. Especially NRIs are vulnerable to this as social media is one of their best methods to connect to people back home. Given this background most people wouldn't want to be alienated in their social circles and thus hang on to popular mainstream opinions. Over time this has a network effect forming large groups of people forming similar opinions on a certain subject which further reinforces the opinion. Finally this leads to the phenomenon that we see on the net with various people declaring their ever-dying allegiance of patriotism on social media.
How do you tackle this? The French critic Antoine Leonard Thomas actually came up with a better form of Descartes' phrase one that may help you choose the more unconventional path
"Dubito, ergo Cogito, ergo Sum"
"I doubt, therefore I think, and therefore I exist.”
If we go by the words of Rene Descartes, most of us don't exist. Yes we live perfectly proper lives, get up in the morning, go to office, do our work, come back, watch TV, surf the net and a lot of other stuff. But when was the last time we thought objectively.
Most of us these days don't have our individual opinions. In farmer parlance, we are sheep supposed to choose between Choice A and Choice B, both of which have been carefully thought of and provided by a 3rd party out to influence us.
Our opinion on various subjects these days is rarely formed because we passionately believe in a cause or because we have objectively analyzed a particular situation to find out its various pros and cons to arrive at an opinion. Given the paucity of time, in our lives due to our preoccupation with social media, most of our opinion is formed on these platforms. And here is where a particular psychological phenomenon kicks in.
The "Theory of Cultivation" was originally a theory used to explain the effect of television on our image of the world. This theory was hypothesized in the 1970s and worked well with television as the "central cultural arm of the society". It hypothesized that programs in television can leave seeds of a thought in a viewer’s mind which given its repetitive pattern of mass produced messages forms a sort of an overarching symbol; in effect an opinion over time.
With time "Social Media" has replaced Television as the primary medium of dissemination of information. Especially in India, the different political parties and interest groups have established powerful propaganda arms whose primary aim seem to be opinion formation in the minds of the common men. There has been a mushrooming of Facebook pages like "Rajnikant Vs CID”, TFI, "Unofficial Subramaniam Swamy" and websites like "Scoop Whoop" on the lighter side and openly political pages like "Swarajya Mag" and "Janta Ki Adalat".
These pages and websites have a now well-known pattern. They mostly come up with articles discussing various existing issues which come up on daily discussions, thereby creating a resonance. Sometimes they even come up with issues for discussion, say to publicize a new movie, or to get validation for public policies. Once such an issue is set up, these websites repeatedly bombard the social media with various facts on the same. Some of these facts are verifiable; some are absolute works of fiction. However the common reader facing such an information overload rarely has the time or the inclination to verify these. These articles and the accompanying figures masquerading as facts, slowly create the germ of an idea on the average readers mind. Repeated bombardment of the same facts and figures from various social media websites aided by Facebook and WhatsApp shares in anonymous groups then creates an illusion of truth. What was a germ of an idea then becomes an opinion in the reader’s mind who is then "encultured" to believe in a particular portrayal of reality as envisioned by the people behind these articles. But then how does all this lead to a show of patriotism?
Most of these pages have a “crude but effective” thought process. They create a divide of "Us Vs Them" with the implications being that the side supported by the website is superior to the other. And it’s not just superiority that is implied, but Doubting Thomases are trolled and branded unpatriotic and harmful to the society on the net.
It’s the perfect ploy and works every time. Most people spend time online in order to connect to people and have a sense of camaraderie. Especially NRIs are vulnerable to this as social media is one of their best methods to connect to people back home. Given this background most people wouldn't want to be alienated in their social circles and thus hang on to popular mainstream opinions. Over time this has a network effect forming large groups of people forming similar opinions on a certain subject which further reinforces the opinion. Finally this leads to the phenomenon that we see on the net with various people declaring their ever-dying allegiance of patriotism on social media.
How do you tackle this? The French critic Antoine Leonard Thomas actually came up with a better form of Descartes' phrase one that may help you choose the more unconventional path
"Dubito, ergo Cogito, ergo Sum"
"I doubt, therefore I think, and therefore I exist.”
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