Over the years, public life has seen a drastic decline in terms of standards and practices. The atmosphere has often been contaminated by vicious and repulsive language and sound bites. In today’s era of 24 hour news channels and readership touting news paper, this has become all the more louder and vicious.
In the last two decades Kerala has seen more than its fair share of verbal contamination. The Congress factional feud with ‘the Leader’ on one side and the rest on the other contributed a lot to this. The ascendancy of K.Muraleedharan in the party raised the decibel levels by a few notches. The expulsion of some senior leaders like Gowriamma and M.V.Raghavan made sure that the Communists too contributed, though in a much lesser quantity. Back then, the red brigade was more inclined to action than rhetoric. The 1990s also saw an escalation in exchanges among the literary icons and the socio-cultural elite in the state. The squabbles among noted writers and thinkers often grabbed the limelight from the polity.
In the new millennium, the scene got elevated to a new level. We have become a society that likes to argue, argue and keep arguing. The state has not seen even a single meaningful debate that has contributed to any improvement in the lives of the common man. Almost all spheres of life in mallu land, right from the film field, literature, culture, arts, caste and religion, media, beurocracy, judiciary, administration, law and order, education and of course politics, are immersed in fierce and vicious arguments and struggles. The discourse has increasingly incorporated physical violence and attacks on the homes and family of the involved personalities.
The current LDF leadership has contributed quite a few gems to the art of swearing. We have ministers who specialise in making at least one uncivilised comment a week. Other leaders have also been enthusiastic in conferring even the revered religious leaders and respected personalities with derogatory adjectives. The view that many of the literary and socio-cultural luminaries in the state have become pawns in the hands of the CPI(M) has gained credence over the last five years.
Now, we have the ill-fate to witness the veteran orator and respected teacher Sukumar Azhikode stooping to the level of the rogue-next-street in his public discourses.
I still remember the excitement and awe that I had when I watched the gifted orator in the early 90s at a function in my brother’s school. Though I was too young to grasp the bulk of his discourse, I was struck by the logic and force fullness of his soft, unoffending language.
I am deeply saddened by the change in his tone and vocabulary. In a democracy, meaningful and constructive debate is an absolute necessity and everyone has the right to express their opinion. But, these need to be done in a mutually respectful manner. The lack of respect for everyone while seeking respect for oneself is the bane of Malayali psyche.
As a small child I was impatient when I watched my brother read the newspapers. I often asked him to read the articles loudly so that I could at least listen to it. Often we used to have a good fight when he put on a show by refusing to read aloud.As a result, I became impatient to learn how to read and as soon as I had mastered the art from my kind teachers, a new routine started. This time the fight was about who got the news paper first.
These are common happenings in almost all the Malayali families since we are a society addicted to news papers. I can only feel sorry about the children who would have started reading the news paper in recent times.For all the child would come across is poisonous vocabulary, foul language and non-constructive, self serving and never ending argument.
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