Politics, uninterrupted
Last week, Roger Federer accomplished what would be spoken of for decades to come. At the age of 35, he reminded us once again why he’s not…
Last week, Roger Federer accomplished what would be spoken of for decades to come. At the age of 35, he reminded us once again why he’s not a pushover yet. By capturing Wimbledon for the record 8th time in his career, the Swiss-born global phenomena set into motion some tears of joy on Sunday night too. It’s not everyday a hero gets to come undone, especially when he’s secretly expected to walk into the sunset. By lifting that golden trophy, Federer made even his darnedest critics admire him while his worshipers fell in love with him all over again.
Now, it’s easy to track online influence of a towering personality—the word is klout — but what about the offline world? How are we going to surmise the number of children who picked up a tennis racquet thanks to Federer’s endless feats? Moreover, how are we quantify his exact influence on the sport he hails from? Across the board, it’s easy to understand why he is so beloved. There are no controversies to his name — on or off the court — leaving little to no room for rumours. He’s a proper family guy with a doting wife and angelic four kids. Ridiculously successful and filthy rich, he somehow maintains an aspirational profile by sticking out for those in need. In other words, he seems to have it all.
But, a big JLo-inspired but, he’s a rarity even in the field of sports entertainment adorned by giants like Messi, Ronaldo, Ronda, Curry, Mayweather, etc. who force you take sides. Hence, the ubiquitous respect Federer commands across the globe cements his uniqueness. One can only wonder whether a sport can possibly have a better ambassador.
Which brings us to the very subject of this blog post. Imagine the world we’d be living in if politics had what tennis has via athletes like Federer or Serena. Could you possibly think of political mavens who’d inspire school kids to join politics in the future? It’s sad if you take in to consideration the number of centuries prime politics has existed on this planet regardless of geography. Despite its perennial nature, politics produced abominable figures, more often than not. Words like debauchery, depravity, evil, crazy, stupid… spring to mind. Why so? The general assumption suggest that all politicians exist merely to fill their pockets and pull their necks up in the pecking order. Yes, not everybody is corrupt but it’s acutely difficult to find politicians who won’t impinge the line of decency if their interests dictated to do so.
Although it appears like politicians suffer from an ethical disorder, what’s really suffering is politics. Politicians come and go. What’s deteriorating is the standards of politics thanks to people who can’t stand up for the most basic of principles. To add assault to carnage, more and more scandals/scams tend to boost its downward spiral. Amid such a dismal setting, it’s easy to pin the blame on the actors on stage. After all, they are the ones maligning the institutions they run for and breaking the trust of the public they claim to represent.
But, a big Minaj-inspired but here, it’s not entirely their fault. They are just us stepping over the fence and looking back at us. They aren’t aliens. They are simply people who don’t care about people anymore. And that’s why the focus should fall back on the masses. People like you and me. Maybe it’s our cue to examine what we’ve been up to while politics termited our world; one country at a time or one city at a time or one village at a time. What about our responsibilities as citizens? Or are we supposed to depend entirely on the sincerity of a few select individuals who will decide our fate?
To a large extent, our allergy to mainstream politics is to be blamed. People love to proclaim their disdain for politics as if it’s a badge of honour, conveniently forgetting that politics is an innate quality. We are social animals who enjoy being antisocial. Similarly, we are political animals who pretend to be apolitical. A majority of our personal decisions has political traits embalmed in them. Just that we assume we are too tiny a unit to have anything to do with politics. Well, we are grossly wrong. Go to a school playground and witness how politics orchestrates which kid plays with whom and which group s/he belongs to. We never lived in utopia where everybody is genial to everybody else. Never happened, will never happen. We are stuck with us and politics plays a major role in who behaves how and when.
Despite all these features, we still hear people screaming “I hate politics” because in their head, they are thinking of crude politicians who happen to be patrons of corruption. We can broaden our horizon and understand what’s going on. There is a design to the madness in place. A few crooks are manipulating the system all thanks to the availability of mass ignorance. This ignorant attitude had only enabled things to turn worse for us. Particularly when you consider those who are educated and in a position to make a difference throw their hands up with the usual cowardly refrain: “I stay away from politics!” Well, bro, had you been more aware, you might have helped in bettering the condition instead of turning a blind eye to the ongoing decay; just because you could afford to. You’ve caused great damage with your abstinence. Politics is suffering because the politicians prefer the literate lot to stay ignorant. The poor trust politicians, and by extension, the very rot of politics, by pinning their redemption on people they’ll never be able to turn accountable. Whereas the rest of us bask in our privileges arrogantly presuming that politicians are never going to change. Hmm, how about we changed a bit for the future’s sake?