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Paradox of Information: wising up to the pandemic
--Dhritiman Kakati
Adolf Hitler in ‘Mein Kampf’ noted down a theory which the leaders are said to have
been using to manipulate the masses from time immemorial. He writes, “If you tell a
big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” Popularly known as
the ‘Big Lie’ propaganda method, Hitler accused the Jews of using it to put the blame
of Germany’s defeat in World War I on Ludendorff. Coming to the context of India,
this is the same theory which the conservatives accuse the secular liberals of;
whereby a native Indian identity is suppressed under the expressions of pluralism
and unity amongst diversity, in order to provide a record of legitimate assimilation to
foreign invaders and colonialists. However, one needs to rethink that minus the anti-
Semitism, what worth does ‘Mein Kampf’ carry? What if under the guise of a
nationalist agenda and blame game, Hitler himself used the very sword he had been
accusing of being cursed? Similarly, there are still regions in India which
conspicuously reflect the possibility of social mergers in the present social status
quo, excluding the notion of nativism as a recurring bone of contention.
Generalisation of a specific case with fallaciously consistent arguments is
undoubtedly a potential threat to what actually should be the truth of an era in view of
social as well as civilisational prosperity across the board.
This leads us to the necessity of demarcation between a ‘perspective’ and a ‘truth’.
Often we like to consider ‘truth’ as a personalised or customised element or more
accurately, a subterfuge, which may be the reason for supercilious human opinions
and end up feasibly believing in something until an undeniable, factual, or
reasonable mending of perception occurs. In statistical language one usually
encounters the terms called ‘Type I’ and ‘Type II’ errors, the latter being more or less
synonymous to the infamous ‘Illusory Truth Effect’ that theorises the tendency to
believe false information to be true but as a result of repeated exposure to it.
Needless to say, the modern socio-political life of any individual, among other effects
of a similar kind, is already under its grave manipulation. Yet, like democracy, the
need for freedom of anything is realised only when it is felt to have been taken away.
The information age has slowly turned into a paradox of choice in search of the truth;
or, if we believe in the already mentioned differentiation, a quest for the most
appropriate among available alternative perspectives in an existing reality.
As one of the many reflections that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has projected
to us, a similar ailment has been discerned to be on rise recently. In case of Assam,
liberated locally with the statement of a doctor on a media platform, an alternative
viewpoint of the pandemic being a hoax went viral; and it contributed to the
unshackling of the already bored and frustrated public by their invisible and illusory
enemy. However, it would not be something new to say that no matter whether it is a
virus or a sensational homicide, behaviour of Indian audiences has always been
such that a fever never lasts long. Knowing well, the profit-motivated media houses
always seek to avail themselves of this; and thus, the issue which kept burning the
television screen a couple of months back is now minimised to mere updates on
infection, recovery rates, and death tolls at one corner of it.
Designing news to feed the minds of the people with the very dishes they want to
hog on is, however, not novel. But with profuse information sources available for a
single mind these days, the most probable outcome of any such multiplicity or
change, appears to be a wave of confusion that seldom can be expected to land on
the safe shore. For example, let us take a hypothetical case of a common man
struggling to carry out his day to day deeds in the lockdown period, who was
suddenly proffered two contradictory pieces of news-- one stated the pandemic to be
deadly, while the other claimed it to be a hoax. Which one a frustrated family man
who was not even being able to shop the essentials for his family was likely to
believe? Having said this, let us now leave alone the same case for daily wage
workers who were not even able to earn their bread during the period. Although not
inferential, this unequivocally seems to provide a partial explanation to the huge
mass migrations the nation witnessed during the lockdown period. People always
follow the information most suitable for them to follow in a given situation. Even if a
message is not intended to incite any desired action, creation of a ripple is inevitable.
The present situation of Assam is in the nature of this same information maelstrom.
On one hand, the political rivals of the state government are accusing it of running
illegal lobbies in the name of treatment of COVID-19, while the pandemic death tolls
are continually on the rise on the other; leaving the masses in an environment of
confusion about what to believe. Had there been no alternative news sources or
social media, the prime channel shows would have been the generally accepted
truth, as the BBC during World War II. But in presence of more than one perspective,
each of them claiming to be substantiated properly, the truth becomes invalid; and
conclusion is only left as a matter of one’s guesstimate and reasoning abilities to
take the stance least harmful. No need to say, in a state like Assam where issues
like ‘witch-hunting’ still pop up every now and then, we cannot rely upon the public
ability of judgement on such a matter. Even if we do, that would be devastating, as is
testified by the worsening condition of the current pandemic.
We live in an age where ‘Social Media Live’ sessions are more important than family
unions or community get-togethers. The phenomenon of virtual existence has
evolved to such heights that people feel personalised advertisements to be
convenient choice makers instead of uncomfortable breach of privacy. Under such a
social lattice contrived, it is not very hard to comprehend the nominal veracity of any
‘truth’ one encounters. Even if someone seeks to be free, the swamp transmogrifies
into a maze of thin ice floor, and choice simply comes out to be an illusion.
The case of the pandemic in this context is however resolvable if one treads carefully
along the seemingly less dangerous way. To paraphrase Pascal’s Wager, if we
believe the virus to exist we may not have as much to lose as if we believe it does
not. Nevertheless, the dreadful picture of the open cage we have chosen to live in
never stops to show up. COVID-19 has taught us many lessons. Now it depends on
our will whether to head them or take the ‘blue pill’ of blissful ignorance.
(The article is originally published in The Gapeseed Journal)

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Paradox of Information: wising up to the pandemic

(The article is originally published in The Gapeseed Journal)

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