Launching vituperative and missile like tirades on an enemy real or imagined may initially generate scornful and dismissive bias towards the perceived enemy. But after patiently dissecting and thoroughly analyzing the statements of self defense and stance of the prospective anarchist and arc devil one would be ashamedly compelled to acknowledge the fact that he either was too hasty to judge or adopted extremely prejudicial and mediocre stance not worthy of a judge. So it behooves a judge or a self appointed arbiter to be discerningly judicious and make sure that before he comes out with a judgment, he has weighed both sides of the story as the old adage continue to remind us before he concludes or comes out with a final judgment. So as to be balanced and impartial. And if there is a negligible blunder or travesty of justice arising from the error of listening to one party alone, it always can be corrected if the missing party clarifies his position.
This unquestionable method of sifting fact from fiction, truth from untruth and removing with out any traces of falsehood, prejudices, biases and wrong notions and perceptions ironically does not apply to the satirist or polemicist or cartoonist. What they do to escape the possible revenge or retaliation of their vulnerable preys is to hit them hard at where it will be impossible to distinguish folly from prudence and to exaggerate their perceived misconducts to the extent that it would be etched on the psyche of the people which would take years to be erased from their minds. This piece of antagonistic tactics is mostly adopted by cartoonists and caricaturists. Where they sketch scandalous deals, bribery and corruption, moral decadence, embezzlement of funds and notorious and nefarious activities of top government officials and other public figures and any event or incident of deep political significance. They are so imaginative in their approach and presentation that one is not only forced to laugh and jeer at the pompous prigs but also to partake in a psychological revenge against the wretched victims. In a vainglorious depiction of an incident, one is immediately captivated and charmed by the beauty and majesty of the pompous and artless sketch and almost compelled to celebrate its daring ribaldry and often distorted and unconventional means of presenting situations, laughing at the foibles and frailties of the self righteous.
This has been the norm and those of us who wants to laugh secretly at the moral narcissism and corrupting egoism of self-centered politicians who eventually may be entangled by their own web of deceit and pretentiousness would hide behind the bawdy and humorous cartoonist to celebrate the ignominious exposure of the dark deeds of the chosen few poised to liberate the people.
So early in the morning we will troop to the newsstand for the express purpose of getting a news paper with either a scandalous or controversial caption with a cartoon version of the story beside it. This act of or obsession with cartoon depiction and caricatures of events continued and I reveled in its triumph until my mysterious friend, the political animal engaged my attention to the fact that where I derive my humor from is limited and I am rather getting the uninspiring ones and if anything they are grossly limited. Instantly I implored him to show me where I can augment my source of entertainment. They are everywhere, the caricaturists. All the people are caricaturist. Take a critical look at the posters of the presidential candidates and the aspiring parliamentarians. The posters or portraits or campain materials of the self ordained power seekers (they paste it arbitrarily to the extent that dust bins, trees, pylons and walls get their fair share of the political mania, out the domain of zoom lion, the city scavengers. They paint the town red with their hypocritical plea to the analphabetic electorates to stamp their thumps beside their ugly and hideous pictures to be catapulted into office to simply abuse it and cripple the economy and engage in graft and corruption, create money out of nothing for properties, for personal and decayed sensual gratification.) The young radicals turned vagabonds and street hooligans by the cruel system and the sheepish display of megalomaniac power by the politicians simply would grab a sharp instrument or a broken pen and staring at the pictures of the hypocrites disfigure it by either creating holes in where their fiery eyes occupy or nose or simply tear off the various pictures of the walls in a ritualistic act of disenchantment with the hypocrites. They are also cartoonist only that theirs are unschooled and unstructured and not too elitist like that of the cartoonist who would enjoy some level of publicity. Yet, these urchins are able to display some of the brilliance of the cartoonist. They intuitively echo the salient themes of the legitimate caricaturist. Distortion for effect.
I was struck by the insight given by the political animal. A form of raw street justice orchestrated by either a youth who is displaced or a fanatic of another political persuasion. It is illegitimate and a serious offence for people to go about town tearing and disfiguring images of political aspirants they don’t like. What is intriguing about such acts is its connectivity to psychology and how politics as a whole is ingrained in a totally negative light in the psyche of the populace. It is viewed increasing in an ethnocentric and tribalistic terms. It is a hostile game. Party fanatics deem it legitimate and right to hurl abuse at their opponents. Personalities are attacked and their dirty linens are washed in public. Any thing obscene unconnected to politics is viewed as a cogent tool and weapon if only it can undermine, defame, destabilize and rain suspicions about the "hated" party.
Such apolitical down streaming of our politics raises serious questions about our global hype of fledgling democracy maturing and soliciting for obsequious praises from the world which laughs at our effort and would even sit on the fence with glee to see the verbal abuses and sycophantic tactics degenerates into physical fights and massacre.
When one tunes his radio to some of the radio stations during a so called morning show on politics, it is the same old story of calculated machinations and craftiness. Polemics and unwarranted insults. Dirty justification of the unjustifiable. People call during the programs to unleash their personal problems on air, biases and prejudices. It is a forum for people to express raw hatred towards a person or a policy they are in disfavor of and at the end of the day the real practical issues affecting the nation is left undiscussed. No concrete and common –sensical solutions offered but baseless arguments to while away time and also satiate the whim of a presenter.
What we always tend to forget and gloss over is the fact that we are faced with numerous insurmountable problems and we need to unite in our bid to seek for solutions and the progress of our land. What good is it to peddle silly and unreasonable polemics against your own brother by the mere fact that he is having a divergent political view?
We have invented our own perceptions about politics making it a dirty game played by Pigs. There is a professional way of going about politics and the earlier we rise to rid it of negativity and bring it to positive realms devoid of abuse and animosity but tolerance and respect for each and every ones view and a common bond of brotherhood infused with positive nationalism and the development of the nation would politics shed its filthy garments of reactionary tool of chaos and anarchy, the evil genius of disunity and strife.
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