The Dangers We Don’t See

I’d like to introduce to you a concept that you might have not come across. It is the power of words, and how they impact our brains in ways that we can hardly even begin to understand. Now, I shall make five statements about this image: STATEMENT 1: A delectable dessert, a creamy delight for young and old!STATEMENT 2: A tasty way to end a meal, with a rich, sweet flavour. STATEMENT 3: A milk-based dessert with great taste but certain hindrances to health. STATEMENT 4: An unhealthy option to end a meal, with several preservatives and processed ingredients that cause harm to the human body. STATEMENT 5: A repulsive piece of processed junk, with nothing good for the body in it. As you read through the five statements, you will find that they become increasingly opposed to ice cream. The first statement praises ice cream as though it is the noblest of creations known to man. The second also supports ice cream, but with less conviction or strength. The third is objective in its tone, and the fourth and fifth are opposed to the ice cream, with the fifth one being very vehemently so. This is a simple illustration of the subtle impact that words have on the human psyche. All the statements are true - ice cream is indeed palatable, but its adverse effects on health are undeniable. Now, consider five children who see this ice cream for the first time. They sit down at the restaurant table and are served this with each of the five statements given to one child. The child that receives the first statement will develop, assumably, a fervent passion for the ice cream that may persist well into his adulthood, whereas the child that receives the fifth statement will likely fling his next bowl of ice cream into the local dumpster, with little regard for the taste. This example is a simple means of understanding the power of words - the same reality, conveyed differently, produces a different mental reaction in each case. However, like all powers in the world, it is a force that can be used for good and evil. We can simply mull upon this colourful experiment and let it go at that. But the truth is that this entire scenario is merely an allegory for a very serious problem that plagues the Bhartiya youth of today, a problem that could potentially herald the downfall of our civilization. Let’s pull back the curtains of the allegory for a moment, so we may glimpse the reality within. The ice cream is, in fact, our own Bhartiya culture. The restaurant table is the world, and the five children are none other than our own - the next generation of scientists, artists, leaders and educators that will move the nation forward. The statements, instead of speaking of the ice cream, will now speak instead of Bhartiya culture. To illustrate this, I shall conjure another set of five statements, or rather, headlines of media outlets. .HEADLINE 1: Bharat’s culture hailed as the world’s richest, celebrated for immense contributions to the global landscape.HEADLINE 2: Another heap of praise for Bharat’s cultural heritage, called ‘ancient but beautiful’ by world leaders.HEADLINE 3: ‘Culture of Bharat is valuable, but has minor tarnishes on history’, says minister of a foreign country. HEADLINE 4: ‘Not inclusive of others’: How India seeks to dominate fellow culturesHEADLINE 5: India’s oppressive culture is not just impacting its own people, but those across its borders as well. Please note that all of these headlines are entirely fictional. Now think of an impressionable little boy in a small village in some corner of the nation, who hardly has more than a brief introduction to Bharat’s culture. If he reads the first headline, he is bound to be enamored by it, while the fifth would bring to him nothing but revulsion and resentment. Therefore, the fifth child will grow up with a mild tilt away from his civilisational identity. As he devours more and more of such vicious, vindictive mirages parading as the truth, he shall turn from a once-rooted young boy into an ideologically twisted shell of himself. These are the adults that one might see roaming the nation in the present day, believing themselves to be heightened intellectuals while they are little more than the sum-products of the various misinformations and crooked media narratives that they have so voraciously consumed. This all sounds rather far-fetched. Our elders never teach us to hate our own culture. But other people do. In the global cultural landscape, there are those that wish nothing more than to see the fall of Bharatiya civilization, and the easiest manner to execute this would be to extricate her people from their distinct national identity. It therefore becomes our duty as citizens of our nation and torchbearers of our civilization to educate ourselves and future generations of these threats to our continuity as a collective. The problem is not that we are ignorant, it is that we stay ignorant. The world is no longer a place where we can close our eyes and continue to mind only our business. There is a particular reason that I chose to write on this particular topic this time. I am aware that parents and elders will constitute a significant portion of this edition’s readership. It is my humble request to you all to pursue a sound grasp of this reality. It is termed ‘ideological conversion’ and has come to be one of the foremost blights on the mental nourishment of our youth. We must identify its sources, alert ourselves and others to them, and remain ever rooted in the culture that we call ours.

The Dangers We Don’t See

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