Politicians, ‘Taste Your Words before You Spit Them Out’?
Mangaluru: The need of the hour right now is that all leaders of political parties should think twice before speaking, with patience, to pass on a message to the world that the whole nation is united over certain issues. I fully support what MLC Ivan D’Souza said during a press meet that Politicians irrespective of any parties should think twice before they utter”. It would be difficult these days to find a leader or a member not concerned about acrimony in politics spurring a few crazies to commit blunders while giving speeches or during interactions. But some of the very people whose denunciations of unwanted rhetoric are loudest should be looking in the mirror. Mentioning no names — in this context, that would be hypocritical — some politicians/leaders of various political parties or saffron organizations have provided plenty of fuel for the fire.
Hyperbole has come to be seen as essential to effective political rhetoric. Simply letting the facts speak for themselves no longer seems to suffice. But accusing one’s political foes of dastardly motives — not just of being wrong, but also of being evil — is no way to end the dangerous incivility that has hijacked politics today. More than a few politicians should think about that before they open their mouths in front of a microphone or without a microphone. Because they are watched and their acts are captured on mobile smart phones or video cameras- and have gone viral.
But it looks like the politicians here have yet to fully recognize that the world has changed: they should be careful of what they say today if they do not want to issue denials tomorrow once their chattering gets leaked. Beware of Modern talking: Politicians must think before they speak. What they need to do is try and acquire an enlightened mindset before telling others what to do, what not to do- when they themselves are not PERFECT! There is a saying that “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” which means that you should not criticize other people for bad qualities in their character that you have yourself.
Modern talk by politicians is going out of control these days- and it has been creating lots of controversies and unrest due to it. Talk is cheap but gratuitous advice is even cheaper it would seem and leading the way in doling it out are some of our elected representatives. Also if the ministers have to advise or correct law enforcement officers, can’t they do it in private in their chamber personally-than blabber out loud and insult them in front of the gathering, media and cameras. This is really ignorant on the part of any politician to behave rudely to a police officer, who is doing his duty with transparency. Police officers should be left alone to do their respective job without political pressure.
While in the past we have experienced many incidents due to bad mouth of politicians, then why can’t our politicians straighten up their acts/behaviour. A few months ago we had a politician warning that ‘Dakshina Kannada district would be set on fire’- pertaining to a murder issue, and his statements got a backlash from the opposite party members stepping into protests and what not. Recently due to a statement made by a minister to arrest a saffron leader, once again created communal disharmony and tension all around the district. But is it worth? Look at all the inconveniences faced by the commuters; expenses on security; business loss in crores etc- all because of a silly talk/statement.
I couldn’t help thinking while these politicians utter how wonderful it would be if our current political culture could be reflective of the words they were saying and not just “to win by any means possible.” The current political culture seems to be to lie, tell half-truths, skirt around the truth, anything but to tell the citizens how and what they will do to solve our problems. They never seem to talk to each other; they talk at each other. It appears the current political thinking is that the Indian public wouldn’t understand anyway. I wonder where are our political leaders who were elected to lead us united? Do they even believe in India or Karnataka state or just their political party? Do they care about the people? I don’t think so.
Why the public can’t stand today’s politicians, because they’re indecisive, lacking real-world experience, afraid of speaking their minds and devoid of colourful personal lives – no wonder we don’t like politicians anymore. The lack of quality in our political top tier is weird if you think about it – because politicians are actually very important to us. Our daily lives are more affected by politics than they’ve been at any point since the 70s. Moreover, we all have opinions about politics. Politics saturates our media, fills our Twitter feeds and animates our pub discussions. Politics is like Big Brother for people who can read without moving their lips.
Politics is like Big Brother in another important way too. Many of us have nothing but contempt for those in Government cabinet. Most of the people hate the politician. It’s not tribal anymore either. We might not agree on much else but we can all agree that mos of them are lazy, overpaid, corrupt, self-interested and inept. But why is this? Why can’t we have good politicians? Why can’t we have another Jawaharlal Nehru or another Mahatma Gandhi or another Vajpayee or Abdul Kalam even another Indira Gandhi?
Most of them can’t empathize with or relate to the people they represent. It is also why none of them are like the old-fashioned leaders we remember. Theirs is a world where you can never say it as it is, you never use common sense, and you hedge everything just in case the weak position you’ve half-committed yourself to proves somewhat unpopular. So are there any solutions? Well as members of the public we need to stop expecting our leaders to paragons of virtue in every sphere of their lives. We need to remind them that they should speak out what is important and necessary, and watch their words before they spit it out.
