Date: 4/5/2006
http://www.panthic.org/news/131/ARTICLE/2373/2006-04-02.html <http://www.panthic.org/news/131/ARTICLE/2373/2006-04-02.html> ////// KHALSA CALLS: Living the `Fear Factor' (Editorial)///// Sunday 2nd April, 2006///// Panthic Weekly Editors///// Editorial///// In this age of overwhelming instant real time media images and persuit of gratification of the senses by escalating challenges to them `Fear Factor' style, brings to mind a world that has learned to disconnect painful images from conscience, real pain and suffering lived daily by other human beings. ///// Undoubtedly various political entities use the various medias without much thought for their impact on real people. Mindlessly, without feeling, consumers, consume and dismiss such imagery just as quickly as it is cranked out. ///// However, the reality is that, in the `largest democracy in the world', with the earth's most blinding veneer of all, India, with its media scrupulously tied to its government's line, unleashes on all its citizenry fear of its own minorities. It is done through large and irresponsible media outfits such as Zee TV and Star TV. An overt culture of fear borne of a vaguely state-run media, perpetuating old ghosts and creating fresh new ones from people struggling to obtain true justice, for example a Sikh struggling for freedom of practice of faith in France comes to mind, fits neatly in a pattern of `BinLadinisation' of such `scary' minorities such as Sikhs, Muslims, Dalits, Indiginous peoples and Christians. Such state sanctioned persecution has been ongoing for many years as apparetly the latter group threaten cohesion of a vision of a `Hindu motherland'. ///// In the Indian media outlet's case, after a calculated rendered offence, it is then typically followed by a meaningless dribbling apology to the affected group in question with no intention to internally redress the vehicle behind the very real injury it has metted to the unsuspecting minority and general consuming publics. It was never meant to be accidental in any case but to coldly stab at its minorities. ///// Long before this state-sanctioned hatemongering of minority occurs, a well time-tested machine has already quietly been set in motion by the police and intelligence communities. Leading individuals, luminaries or simply conveniently located individuals of these various minority communities are singled out, followed and studied carefully. ///// The pattern then ensues, that, shortly after the release of demonizing articles and/or 'TV news reports', a `terrorist' magically materializes, is `captured' usually in a different location then where credible witnesses have reported, that are `armed heavily'. Again these `suspects' were witnessed never to have been armed to start with when picked up, without warrants by the way, by local or distant police. Like the keystone cops then, the so-called media chains, in collusion with central authorities, run around trying to manage the truth when truly independent sources release the real truth about recently reported events. ////// Then there is the follow-up business of tracking down, incarcerating and maybe torturing those pesky interlopers of their state-sponsored `truth'-journalists, activists who don't toe the official line and a few minority politiians. ///// Meanwhile, the innocent consumer either ends up fearing or hating his minority brother and sister. This, among other subtly enacted genocidal practices such as robbing a state's water table among others, meshes in neatly with a societal chain of events that subtly chokes and kills the minority community over several years and, not unlike a python slowly squeezing out its vitality. ////// It is a very old tired game where real decent people bear the brunt of it sometimes their entire lives. The victim is the villain, is the victim. Sadly, the general oblivious public also loses, thinking it is safe because `it does not affect me', however blissfully ignoring that its government acts without conscience and that the next target could be them for whatever state-sanctioned reason.. It loses from being tainted with hatred for his or her fellow man. When a government fails to protect the more vulnerable of its citizens is when it callously makes all and any of its people expendable. It is just that today happens not to be `your' day. ///// Until, those who see and do not act, do act, and till caring leaders of substance and integrity rise to the occasion and raise a hue and cry act to struggle for and enact real humane reform, when truthful voices indeed can be heard, all people tended to compassionately and justly, 'democracy' is in name only in the 'world's largest democracy'. Such a nation thriving on the death of its citizenry is killing itself. ////// Editors can be reached at editors@panthic.org///// <mailto:editors@panthic.org>////// 000000000
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