R A Shiekh
In an era of post- truth, it is difficult to desilt truth from lies. Politicians hit emotions of the target audience to gain their sympathies and avoid telling them facts. A polarized society is ideal ground for propaganda. Bias of one group helps to spread fake news against other group. It is a chain reaction which results into chaos in a society. Chaos help the defeated echelon of politics.
EU DisinfoLab recently revealed in by exposing Indian propaganda against Pakistan since last one and a half decade. Indian are hitting soft power of Pakistan for global political gains. Populist demagogue all over the world will hit emotions and disguise the fact to influence their voters and no amount of fact checking will reduce their appeal. It is only when people feel alienated from a political system that they accept lies from a politician who claims to be a champion of the “people” against the “establishment” or “elite”.
This practice is prevalent in other parts of the world as well. Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Asif Ali Zardari, Modi (India), Kim Jong-Yun (N Korea), Trump (US), Johnson( UK), Duterte (Philippine), Bolsonaro (Brazil) believes in blatant disregard of facts. But they don’t know this type of behavior only gets approval in front of their supporters, nobody else. The immediate use of story for political use clearly manifest the people behind fake story.
Last four decade of politics in Pakistan has given nothing to masses except mistrust on the political system. Pakistani politics is marred with cloudy deals with external and internal power brokers, massive corruption, political vengeance, maligning and weakening of institutions. Only two families have ruled Pakistan except one semi military rule in which alternative political leadership was part of the government. Hence there is no ideological politics in the country. Major political parties are outcome of the necessity of that particular time and frame and created for vested interests by internal and external players. Those in politics are in politics only to increase their wealth and power. This inward approach of politicians has left institutions at the mercy of Bureaucracy. The civil servants couldn’t have got more ideal environment to play their own games. Thus, this jigsaw puzzle has ultimately made a mockery of itself.
An international survey found that former US President trump shook the global trust on US leadership. Chinese leadership has 34% approval rating globally as compared with 31% of the US. Joe Biden will have to work at home and abroad to redo the image and enhance the influence of superpower in global politics.
Modi has earned disrepute for himself as well as his party to ignite Hinduism through lies put India in a bumpy ride. India is no more a secular state, it is now established Hindu state with no room for minority.There is no quick and easy recipe for this process. It is not surprising that inequality has been identified as one of the variables that has compromised the legitimacy of democracy in the eyes of so many people. To defang demagogues, and to make lying unacceptable again, requires that voters regain trust in the political system. A research showed that when people consider a political system to be legitimate and fair, they reject politicians who tell untruths and they resent being lied to. So the key to moving on involves pursuing politics that reduce the appeal of populist demagogues and that create incentives for politicians to be more honest.
It is encouraging to note that in other countries with different political structures and policies, voters do not tolerate politicians’ lies. In Australia voters reduce their endorsement of politicians if they are revealed to be dishonest. In Australia, voting is mandatory and preferential. Everyone must vote or risk being fined, and voters rank their preferences among all parties. These measures help contain political polarization, underscoring how the design of a political system can determine a country’s welfare.
