Eyes wide shut?

Sonal Shah, a member of President Obama's transition team, has 'renounced' her links to the VHP and it's affiliate in the USA, the VHP-A. Those who have been following this controversy that began immediately after she was appointed to the transition team and picked up steam after Vijay Parshad's powerful article in Counterpunch will be all the more confused with this seemingly contrite statement. Ms Shah has the gall to say :

"Had I been able to foresee the role of the VHP in India in these heinous events, or anticipate that the VHP of America could possibly stand by silently in the face of its Indian counterpart's complicity in the events of Gujarat in 2002 -- thereby undermining the American group's cultural and humanitarian efforts with which I was involved -- I would not have associated with the VHP of America."

meh! duh??

I am still confused as to what/who she is talking to here. Here we have somebody who has worked with the Clinton administration and Goldman Sachs telling is that she did not do even a most simple background check while associating with an organization! So we have the Disney princess-like well-intentioned Sonal Shah lending her name to the VHP-A because they were being charitable? A bit of a stretch isn't it? I mean you cannot really ascend the corporate ladder and actually work with the government if you are so wide-eyed innocent can you?

But of course that's not all to it. Ms Shah conveniently brushes aside the fact that her family ties to the VHP-A precede the work she did with the organization. The association with the VHP-A was a very natural thing for her to do. The key point is that she chose to, conscious or unconscious of the "rich" legacy of the VHP in contributing to India's communal fabric. So she's either a closet fundamentalist or a incompetent moron of the highest order(somehow that seems unlikely).

It's possible of course that Ms. Shah, in the best traditions of American insensitivity, just did not bother. However that's not an excuse. Those who are in the public sphere carry bigger burdens. That's a universal reality. Sonal Shah got caught. She better leave if she wants to save her already battered reputation in the USA.

Ps. Of course the joke in this is that things started heating up for Shah when former Republican senator Rick Santorum wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Enquirer criticizing her appointment. What was merely a 'lefty' fad suddenly became a 'bi-partisan' critique. Ms Shah's statement and her email to her 'supporters'(" I need to moblize [sic] people against the leftists and the right wing.") are merely desperate attempts to save her job. For some reason I keep getting reminded of Bill Clinton.

You Know What.

H.L.Mencken on "you-know-what"

"The larger the mob,the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man effectively fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the battle is waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre--the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum."

“The Presidency tends,year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move towards a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Haha.

ie. aside from the pitting of intelligence/forcefulness personality/character against dumbness/moron/devious/mediocre. Doesn't always work that way but what's a little exaggeration in humour!

The King is Dead!Long Live the King

The Hindu today has an editorial,a leader page article and an opinion page article on the US primaries/elections and the accompanying hullabaloo

While the leading campaigner against the evils of L P & G would like us to believe that this is nothing but a reflection of the importance of these elections to the world at large, methinks The Hindu too has been seduced by the sheer drama that this election has brought with it to the living rooms and offices of a lot of us.

(It's my responsibility at this point to admit that yours truly was seduced a very long time ago by the abovementioned sheer drama)

Its very rarely that one will one find such extensive and intensive coverage of a foreign nation's pre-electoral hungama.If anything, it once again indicates the admirable genius of the American nation in dramatizing and hence commodifying everything under the sun.In fact the very act of conducting primaries for over a year and spending those insane amounts itself indicates a flair for self- absorption and self-obsession and a determination to ensure that others too are caught up in it.

The only parallel I can think of is the arranged marriage where the bride and the groom are excuses for a grand feudal ritual.

The whole world and half of America knows by now that Iraq,Iran,Global warming and host of other issues will still be in the headlines in 2012 when the whole process will be repeated again.It is also to be noted that the powers of the President of The US are actually considerably restricted by Congress.Yet the soundbyte-driven fest just goes on and on(the latest soundbyte is the appeal for an end to soundbyte driven politics).

Of course one can argue that the involvement of so many people in a nation's politics is a sign of a healthy democracy.Hey we are talking about the nation which elected George Bush twice,still esteems Bill Clinton and has established a pretty amazing record of dynasty politics(and what dynasties!)

At the end of the day the politics of a nation is dominated by large scale productions of images and this is why the mere participation of people alone does not a "healthy democracy" make.It's a cyclical process-the people make the images which dupe people to strengthen them and make more of them thus establishing a narrative beyond which the politics of that society will not move irrespective of the quantum of people's participation.At its most literal, we saw an example of this process in the Narendra Modi masks.In the US, it's just that more money is spent and the media used are both more direct and subtle at the same time.

So what do we do? As the educated intelligentsia aren't we supposed to be resisting the imposition of this foreign agenda tooth and claw and nail? Aren't we supposed to focussing on the manifold issues that are haunting our society? The only catch:navigate(with great difficulty) away from the US primaries/elections and th next thing you get to watch is the IPL.So you see-its Catch-1000..crores