In the face of media firestorm

Recently, I received a message on my mobile phone. It reads: “The Bihar results came out on the 8th of November. Since then not one award has been returned, there has been no controversy over any religious commitments, no talks about beef or any other kind of meat anymore. Just sit back and think how media and Congress(?) manipulated the minds of the nation in the run up to the elections over those six weeks.”
While this might be a bit too clever and the sudden absence of hostility in the air could well be public indifference or exhaustion with the subjects (after all, look how little reaction there has been to the arrest of Peter Mukherjea on a charge of murder) the thought that mass communications can be used as a mechanism to create an atmosphere for or against an individual or an institution or even an event will not disappear.
In an essay by journalist John Perry on the power of “mass communications” to generate and feed a mob mentality the possibility of this mobile message being reality finds some form...or at least a pause for thought.
He writes of an American election in which the two-party system’s candidates are manufactured out of cardboard and smoke and mirrors and sculpted by media. The gap between what they are and what is projected is made irrelevant.
“Newspaper chains, clutter of segmented magazines, motion picture studios, television channels, even the cacophony of music and radio and TV anchors, the innumerable channels, the Internet providers, the smart phones, the endless inescapable presence of news and opinion outlets, including social media of every imaginable stripe and stain...”
They make for a massive machine to brainwash the human mind. Mass communications gives any innovation the green signal or junks it. It promotes harmony or encourages backdoor rage and suspicion. It determines who will win and who will lose.
Perry says: “In the age of mass communications, the new president of the US will be ‘printed’ out by mass communications, he will be an unreal alien whose persona will be totally scripted.”
Not possible? Why not. As technology advances thought becomes submissive and subjugated. Add to the social media platforms the froth and boil brought to an issue by the thousands of trolls who use the veneer of anonymity to foment rage, fury and venom with so much dedication that they add to the image or detract from it. If enough trolls are put on the job to create a mural and throw upon it lashings of vividly poisonous color you will end up with a canvas in prejudice.
Money is spent creating a hi-octane sense of fear, which is predicated entirely to communal suspicion that being the one issue guaranteed to ignite passion in a country where even rapists get a free pass.
Gradually, in incremental steps the pressure is increased and the target audience fed a certain diet drenched in bigotry. Every incident is magnified into a nationwide epidemic. The media is signposted and led like sheep to the scenes of the crimes. The atmosphere is seeded with doubt and fear. The “them” and “us” divide is pulled apart and everyone, regardless of color or creed, begins to believe they are under threat.
After a volley of half lies comes the second part. A thousand individuals, much like a call center are co-opted to begin trolling canned and homogenized hatred. They feed websites and social media platforms with endless programming against a specific individual... in this case, Prime Minister Modi himself.
In the beginning there are few takers for the aggressive campaign. But with every display of evidence in the truth “window” disbelief begins to melt like a heated candle.
In its panic the BJP frontline feeds the frenzy by being clumsy and giving ammunition to the plotters. Its frontline motormouths make stupid knee-jerk comments. These comments are ballooned into major indictments.
The election is over and the crimson tide rolls back. Suddenly, there is peace in the valley and normality has returned. Is this a coincidence? Will mass communications continue to rule and choose our leaders by controlling our decisions in the future...by telling us how and what we should think? Possible? Probable? Already happening.
When the media juggernaut begins to move it is unstoppable and has a work blueprint that is deadly. If the target responds, his answer is mocked. If he stays silent he is called a coward. If he tries to explain the explanation is shot full of holes. If he underplays the incident, he is ducking the issue. If he hits back hard, he is on the run and been hurt by the accusation. Ergo, he is guilty.
If he allows one of his top-flight executives to take the question he is sidestepping his responsibility. If he says he will have the matter investigated the media falls over with laughter and accuses him of shielding the guilty. The whole trick for the media is that it doesn’t care for anything except the trampling of the target’s image. He can do no right and over a period that imagery is sent over the airwaves and the rumbling print machines. The guy has not kept his promise to the people.