The context of this article is COVID-19, the death of an Indian actor and the aggression by Chinese army in the Ladakh region of India and the opinionated posts and discussions on the social media in India. But I feel the thoughts in this article apply elsewhere also.
Social media has made us like a herd of sheep. Any issue comes up, the lead sheep decides the direction. And then the whole herd just follows.
Right from COVID-19, the recent death of Sushant Singh and the Chinese aggression in Ladakh, people are just mirroring each other.
As if they are in a frantic race to try to belong. To belong on the social media platforms. To belong at the cost of their intelligence, free thinking and emotional well being.
Nobody does any research, fact finding or any cross checking. They embark on a crusade of eulogising someone or vilifying someone at the drop of the hat.
Why do we need to take sides. Is every issue only two sided?
Every issue be it political, social or economical is usually very complex. It has multiple factors, angles and consequences attached to it.
But we act like the old fable about six blind men and an elephant. And become passionate about the single or the only angle of the issue we see or feel about. And enlarge on it, especially if it conforms with our belief system. In the process conveniently or ignorantly neglecting every other angle of that issue.
May be, most of us in our heart feel that, we need to have an opinion. And if we don’t have any opinion on every current issue, then it may mean that we are not smart enough.
But by echoing the wrong opinions, half truths and sometimes falsehood, we are proving exactly the same. That we may not be smart enough. And that we desperately want to belong. Belong to some group. Belong to some herd.
Life is simple and we don’t need to have nor provide our opinion on every damn thing under the sun. It’s ok if we don’t have any opinion in some matters.
So chill and have fun as much as we can. Life is too beautiful to be destroyed by spreading anger and rage.
P.S.
Everyone is actually an expert in their core field and great as human beings, as family person and as colleagues at their workplaces.
©️Dr Shashikant Dudhgaonkar
