Youth political extremism and woke culture in India

I watched The Kashmir Files movie some days ago, an Indian movie on the tragedy faced by Kashmiri Pandits due to Islamic terrorists in the state in 1990. Given the long history of Kashmir and the current political scenario where religions, cultures, and history have become frequent forefront players, I or even most Indians for that matter, irrespective of whether or not they are in constant touch with the political climate of the country, knew what polarizing responses the movie would get. Personally, I liked the movie; it depicts a heartbreaking and horrendous part of history that was silenced mercilessly.

YOUTH AND POLITICAL NEWS

That being said I pondered over the one recurring subject of the movie. The ones who are claimed to be the future of any country, who should keep their eyes and mind both equally open to better interpretations and logically proven facts- The youth. The youth as in us. Who are we and what do we know about our country and where do we find ourselves in the midst of flying opinions on politics, nationalism, secularism, communism. We, the youth, stuck in a rut of finding stable jobs, still try to garner as much information as we can about the situations that happen in the country and keep ourselves updated. And where do we find our resources of facts? On the internet of course. In our newspapers, exasperating news debates and books too, sure, but a wide majority would choose the internet. None of us can deny it. Because it is much easier and less time consuming.

WOKE AND HOW

A lot of us today are conflicted about our political standpoint but there is also a huge chunk that is dead sure about which political party, which ideology, which propaganda they are against. Because we believe in what meets our eyes and what meets our eyes is a reconfirmation of what we already WANT to believe. We look for influencers, social media active journalists, youtubers who voice our opinions and we cement our beliefs as facts based on them. So mostly, for this category of woke youth, their opinions are a reflection of a totally not self-researched, biased mixture of someone else’s thought process. That results in misinformation, hatred, misguided actions, polarization of thought to name a few conclusions. I always believe it is better to be ignorant about something than be misinformed.

THE HYPOCRISY BEHIND USING THE TERM 'PROPAGANDA'

The faith we have over our sources of facts is the same faith that blind people have over that one person who helps them cross the street only to later rob them. Everyone likes to talk about statistics to prove their point and we think that the ideology we are against is the only one riddled in hypocrisy and bathing in propaganda. Well let me lead you to open the gates of some information here. Everything you read, hear, watch, has some or the other propaganda in it. Positive or negative, big or small in impact. It still can be very much present. The stats and facts you read by top media networks from India or abroad are open grounds to rile up the public or initiate controversy.

If you are a right wing supporter, constantly seeking validation for your opinions through Zee News, Times of India or channels like the Republic is a vehement restriction of your outlook on politics. Your left leaning mindset is going to go further down the rabbit hole of extremism if you solely believe statistics by New York Times for news from our own country, if you only look up news in Wire, the Quint or Aljazeera, a mouthpiece of the Qatari monarchy.

WHAT YOU BELIEVE VS WHAT YOU WANT TO BELIEVE

Just take up any political news and go in search of what actually took place and you’ll find news agencies and their articles that are purveyors of some hidden value system served to us as factual statements. And if you research further you’ll realize why they do it. Everyone gets paid for some article, for propagating an opinion. It is never just about a minority community’s welfare, or about the country’s nationalism, or just the hijab, or just the Kashmiri Pandits. It is always associated with a larger propaganda and the cycle is most possibly perpetual. There are two extremes to everything and most believe they are right in the middle of it, open to understanding opposing circumstances but no that isn’t the case. It is like the flat earth believers in America, you start out with a thought and then go in search for information that further proves your idea as being the ultimate truth. Politics as much as it is dirty it also isn’t black and white and kind of omnipresent.

SUGGESTIONS

I am no expert but if I could suggest something pragmatic this is what it would be. To not jump on to the bandwagon of being too woke and just go around beating drums of some one line opinion you read on the internet. If you really care about an issue, read it about, from different sources, try to know more perspectives and then come to your own conclusion. And if you don’t know something, just admit it. It’s okay to not know every political scandal and trace it back to its history.

Finding out the ground reality of everything that happens has become increasingly difficult. Chasing the truth isn’t always the option but being willing to not come to a downright inference is. Willing to surround yourself with different types of people is. Willing to change your opinion when proven wrong is, no matter how unpalatable the truth is for you. That is what we, the youth, should do. Because we can’t expect our parents’ generation to entirely give up on their rigid tendencies. But we surely can. That is the real change we need.