COLLECTIVISM AND MOBOCRACY – HOW THEY RELATE AND ON WHAT THEY DIVERGE

One of the chief hallmarks of a healthy society is the ingredient of collectivism. It is a sense of bonding, a feeling of oneness, a commitment to the common good and indeed is the flow that directs the onward march of human progress. It is necessary to be collectivist, but this should not crush the individualities – this premise lies at the core of the most appropriate (closest to truth) equation between micro-entity and the macro whole.  

Strange is the relationship between the micro and the macro. Macro is made up of many micros. But macro can’t be called just a simple sum of all it’s parts. Macro is not merely the combined impact of all the micros. But often it is sometimes much more, or much less, or simply put something radically different from what it straightforwardly ought to be.

So is the case with the whole gamut of issues related to social good and individual choice, and perhaps it is even more complicated, as this deals with highly unpredictable and the most complicated entities encountered so far – the human beings. 

Society is a collection of individuals or better put the sum aggregate of all people living together. It is a sort of collective agreement. It requires sacrifices to be made, it provides fruits for these sacrifices. This contract is a highly complicated one. While it is necessary that the individual take advantage of this collective canvas for his personal, social, cultural, psychological evolution ;  it also important that this ‘collectivity’ does not make him a slave of a group or groups or groupism. There is a very delicate, and often seemingly ‘indistinct’ dividing line that links the parts to the whole and the parts to each other, and this divide and link of inter relationship, if is not clearly and purely defined, and understood, in society or in the minds of individuals, leads to various social and psychological problems.

Individuals need to gel, where they got to gel. And they need to be distinct, where ever the need be so. The ideas of individualism, collectivism, free choice and adherence to authority or some central tenet, is the most challenging of all the issues that impact mankind in his well being. It’s not that each one has to be at the cost of the other. Free will is the most precious possession of an individual. But this free will finds it’s fullest of force only when a man doesn’t exercise it merely superficially. There has to be a depth. And this depth can’t discount his filial and social responsibility. 

It can be said that a person needs to be a part of the whole. This connotes indivisible collectivism. But at the same time, his individuality must be always retained. He must be socially integrated, yet individually distinct. This sounds more than a paradox, but ideally ought to be the case. If the flow of time and the world is like a mighty river, then it’s rich diversity should be expressed in myriads of ways.  We have had many revolutions in the world, so many wars, so many diverse intellectual theories, all have impacted the world in more than several ways. The efforts to create a better world will never cease.

But certainly, we need more intellectuals, more and more learned people, more and more people who can think and reason by themselves, and their clout should be made to increase. The impact of evil and destruction is always more than that of goodness and construction. Thus we see Gandhi’s Satyagraha look puny before Hitler’s holocaust, in terms of magnamity and impact. Knowledge should never be lost. And it should be applied. Sense of discrimination should be used. 

What is bad is bad at all costs. We have anti-Jewish pogrom of Hitler, Hindu-Muslim slaughter of the Indian subcontinent, apartheid in South Africa, anti-Dalit discrimination in India, and there is a long list. These are clear examples of mobocracy, where man is blinded by group (mass) beliefs. However things got to be seen in their totality. For Eg – No one can justify the mass murders of Muslims in Gujarat immediately after the Godhra incident, but the Hindu-Muslim relationship in India is a product of several other complicated factors, the natural docility of Hinduism and the simultaneous zeal of Islam, is a factor which can’t be discounted. If politicians in India make laws which encourage secularism among Muslims, and take them to education, enlightenment and upliftmment only that would be the right approach.

A mob is a misguided, disorderly, faceless and senseless group that is out to destroy anything and everything. While collectivism is for a mission, for progress, for development, for upliftment. Collectivism is ultimately liberating, it collects people for strength, for power, for magnitude of movement. The anti-corruption movement being led by the Gandhian social crusader is an apt example of collectivism.  Collectivism is unification, mobocracy is division, it brings together people for communal riots, for terrorism, for the ultimate divide. 

Only with a sense of discrimination, with knowledge, with uprightness can mobocracy be defeated and collectivism triumphed.

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THIS DANGEROUS WORLD AND THE VISION OF 'THE RIGHT MAN'

THIS DANGEROUS WORLD AND THE VISION OF 'THE RIGHT MAN'

Despite all the talks of godness of human nature and emphasis on maxims such as ‘Truth alone triumphs’, the fact of matter is that world is a very dangerous place, where simple, straight and different persons are always at risk of being taken for a ride and getting exploited.

Evil survives even the most lethal attack, it thrives and flourishes in this world, and has destroyed goodness and the lives and destinies of good people, time and again, since time immemorial and will continue this way for eternity. Indeed, it’s very tough to be good and much easier to be bad. And most of the people choose the softer option. Examples to prove this fact are umpteen.

Out of 196 countries in the world, there are only a handful which have a fair democratic-egalitarian form of government and where the economic affluence has reached a high level and thus certain types of ‘systematic oppression’ have been minimised. But even in these countries, income inequalities, serious anti-social crimes, racial hatred against the minoritites, complicated intra family problems due to deficit of personalised sense of sacrifice among the members and other types of problems abound, which impact the lives of millions of people negatively. But things are much worse in the third world and even middle income economies. To look at this from a micro level - we have the instances of young couples being brutally murdered for marrying "on their own"; a common, helpless, poor girl being raped and killed by goons and anti-social criminals even as helpless relatives, cry foul, and then are forced to move on with life due to ‘police inaction/inability’; a young man being stabbed to death because he protesed eve-teasing of his sister/relative/friend ; greedy parents-in laws burn to death the new bride as they didn’t get the dowry that ‘they wanted’ ; selfish and ill-charactered children (Son and daughter in law) ill treat their parents and force them into suicide or sub-human living ; complete subjugation and oppression of religious minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh ; murderous attacks by Hindu mobs on innocent muslims in Mumbai and Gujarat. These are some of the most glaring and major events of evil triumphing over good. But there are bad things happening at a much more subtle level.

Thus we have people passing exams using unfair means, corporates making profits by twisting the laws as per thier needs, numerous cases of adultery/sexual immorality and so on. And the most impacting fact is that people who are sincere, simple and ‘on the track’ are ridiculed socially. These things happen because, as said earlier, following the wrong path is always easier. Man’s psychology is easily attracted by the bad and the evil. This makes human sociology very complicated, puzzling and at times dampenining.

However the intelligent way to deal with these things is to understand them properly. It is evil which enrichens the world. It provides spice and flavour. Negativity has been created to serve positivity. The richness of experience entails the co-existence of the positive and negative. God’s world is only then beautified.

The right man follows the right approach. He is ever vigilant in society. He will never let himself get befooled. He is not unduly emotional. He knows to differentiate between good persons and bad persons. He treats them differntly. He is simple but never vulnerable, he is straightforward but not naive. He uses wrong means sometimes situationally as that is the practical necessity of life. He is balanced, and does not involve himself into brainless acts of ‘violence/fighting’, he is not inordinately proud. He is highly practical, goes deeper into things, and never follows straght line approach IN solving problems. Indeed, he sees world as a reflection of GOD, but one which is as coarse and bad as much it is good.

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