| Author | Message | ||
Ringo_rangaswamy Side Hero Username: Ringo_rangaswamy Post Number: 4181 Registered: 02-2011 Posted From: 69.120.136.97 Rating: N/A |
TV and News papers chadakunda vunte best yemo?!!! | ||
Teluguhero Comedian Username: Teluguhero Post Number: 1152 Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 24.129.109.137 Rating: N/A |
Same goes For Misrepresentation Of NaMO as RAMBO ⦠First planting a fake story which is literally impossible just to create Image of âFekuâ around Narendra Modi. And in turn trying to attacking the credibility of achievements in Gujrat by NAMO. | ||
Teluguhero Comedian Username: Teluguhero Post Number: 1150 Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 24.129.109.137 Rating: N/A |
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/07/15/how-india%E2%80%99s-el ite-manipulates-your-thoughts-104446.html How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts By Smita Barooah on July 15, 2013 A narrative is a story â a written or oral account of events. It is not static and can be expanded, elaborated and embellished over time. Narratives can be a benign form of entertainment, or a powerful tool in changing the way people make sense of themselves and their world. Narratives are built as people interpret and link together a sequence of events across time. Since humans live in a complex world, multiple stories can occur at the same time, and the same experience can lead to many different conclusions. Political elites know this and, consequently, make sure that they control the narrative-building process. Narratives as political tools Political narratives provide a framework for interpreting the existing political realities. The media and âintellectualâ elites play a key role in shaping these narratives by controlling the means and methods of information generation and dissemination. Moreover, they often use innuendo and selective reporting to author and re-author narratives. An event occurs, the news is reported. Then a new twist is added and echoed by others. Seemingly âinnocentâ details are added to made the new story more vivid. The hope is that eventually the altered story will become the dominant narrative. In the following sections, I will use three case studies to illustrate how this is done systematically: CASE 1: Multiple bomb blasts occur at the Mahabodhi temple in Bihar Despite specific prior warnings by the Intelligence Bureau, security measures were not adequately strengthened to prevent the blasts at the shrine. As the news broke, most responded with shock, while some resorted to spin-doctoring. Initial reporting: How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts A little while later, a narrative began to take form implying that BJP and Narendra Modi were somehow responsible: Step 1: Mention two events âinnocentlyâ in the same breath How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Step 2: Let someone draw more direct links How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Step 3: Certain journalists from the mainstream media echo the view (the journalist cited below example is from Kafila). How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Step 4: Members of the political elite echo the story (Digvijay Singh is a senior leader of the Congress) How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Mr Singh later went on to say that non-BJP States should be on high alert, implying the role of Hindu outfits in the terror attack (see this link). Thus, an âinnocuousâ comment builds up into a full-blown narrative. Even if nothing is ever proven, the subconscious link between Modi and terrorism is created at least in the minds of some people. CASE 2: Hyderabad blasts In the earlier example, one could of course argue that the initial comment by Sagarika Ghose was an innocent remark that should not be over-analysed. However, this is a pattern that is repeated over-and-over again. Here is another example of a similar situation relating to bomb blasts in Dilsukh Nagar, Hyderabad a few months earlier. Coincidence? Step 1: Mention irrelevant detail â in this case meat shops â to subtly suggest that Dilsukh Nagar has a large Muslim population (therefore the possibility that this is a case of Hindu terror). Step 2: Some usual suspects build up direct links: How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Dilsukh Nagar is in fact a Hindu dominated area. Times of India carried an article, which reported that the area had been on the Indian Mujahideen radar since 1999 (see link). The police believed that the initial target was the Sai Baba temple in the area (see link). However, all this information is incidental. The Main questions that are begging to be answered are: What was the need to make any innuendos at a sensitive time? What happened to good old reporting of facts? Who is fanning the flames of communal divide and why? What is the need to bring in religion constantly and poison peopleâs minds when terror has no religion? Case 3: Narendra Modi gives an interview to Reuters In the interview, Modi is asked about his view on the 2002 riots. He used an analogy to the effect that as a human he would feel pain even if his car were to run over a puppy. Therefore, it is but natural for him to feel pain for the loss of human lives that occurred during the riots. Step 1: A rival politician deliberately misrepresents the comment: How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Step 2: A prominent member of the âintellectual eliteâ picks it up and builds up a story in a series of tweets: How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Step 3: The usual suspects take up the chorus and there is a lot of noise How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Step 4: Another prominent member of the âneutralâ media keeps the pot boiling (note the use of quotation marks below) How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Step 5 : Other politicians take up the narrative and score political points (Priyanka Chaturvedi is a Congress spokesperson): How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts But what actually happened in the interview? This is what the Reuters journalist who took the interview had to say on the matter: How Indiaâs elite manipulates your thoughts Conclusion It is quite interesting to see how a narrative is built up and sustained by a small group of people. The examples used above are from twitter, but many of the key players are prominent media persons as well. Thus this story-telling is being reinforced thorough newspaper columns, television debates and academic seminars. While the cited cases are new, this process has been going on for decades. The only way to change this system is to recognise what is happening, and build counter narratives. The alternative stories may not be enough to change a personâs initial opinion. However, these will eventually be catalysts for a more thought-based approach, rather than blindly relying on what is being told to us. |