Democracy for sale
Politics in recent times has boiled down to money and power. One can argue it has been the case for loooong time. It’s kind of true. But politicians have access to data about people now more than anytime in human history. There are good politicians too. But I think they are outnumbered by those who are hungry for power. We can easily feel the intense fear mongering in politics recently. Getting thrown out of office is the last thing a politician want. In order to stay in office, they have to understand what people want. Hmmmm wait more than understanding people its about manipulating them. Yes you are thinking right. Politicians turned to consulting firms to help them get elected. Consulting firms analyze billions of data records in social media to come up with slogans and speeches that people like to hear.
Evidently, if politicians get to understand the needs of people they can serve them better. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Psychologically, humans as individuals are rational thinkers but as a group we follow the popular idea. And the popular idea is not necessarily the sensible/right one. For example, when emergency alarm goes off in a building, we tend to follow the majority. If the group runs towards the emergency exit, we are lucky or else sorry!. Based on this psychological fact, political campaigns are designed to instill fear and convince people to believe in the popular fear mongering ideas. Fear of change is the right sentence to use here. Change is inevitable.
Most of us would have read the news about privacy violation by campaign consulting firm. The firm has acquired millions of user data illegally from social media to provide insights for political campaigns. These insights are aimed at polarizing people. It is a sad truth in today’s politics. If we take a moment to pause and analyze, we can observe a pattern. Political campaigns instigate human emotions. Mostly, the emotions of fear and anger. Its not by chance or accident.
Having lived in the two biggest democracies of this planet, I observed different geographical and cultural strategies adopted during political campaigns. Both India and US have bipartisan politics. In India, religion and caste play the major roles. Indian politicians try to spread hatred amongst people belonging to different religion and caste. Now with social media and its readily accessible information(both fake and real), the extent of spreading hatred has increased exponentially. The tools used in US politics are race, religion and immigration. Fear mongering plays an important role in getting elected in both the countries. Outsourcing these strategies to a third party consulting firm is scary. They seem to care only about a successful campaign, no matter what it takes.
There are not much differences between the online shopping ads and political campaigns. They are designed to trick you into buying products and political agendas respectively. Democracy has become an asset that can be acquired just by hiring competent analytics firm. The campaign consulting firms and the politicians are not the only ones to be blamed. Social media corporations and individuals also have the responsibility to support and improve democracy.
How many of us believe voting is a duty?
How many of us have tried talking to our elected representative about issues?
How many social media companies prefer better democracy over daily active users?
I bet few is the answer for all the above questions. Social media has enabled us to make our voice reach targeted audience. If we use that power responsibly, we can improve the life of several fellow beings. Predominantly social media is not used for the greater good.
Disclaimer: I don’t represent any political agenda or belong to any political party. This article is solely based on my research and perspective.
