Skip to main content

An invisible pledge of allegiance


It would be foolish to discredit the power of an idea (or ideas) that is vehemently acknowledged and ingrained in the minds of a collective group. Bloodied pages of history have shown us time and again, the incredible power that ideas wield. Ideas themselves are powerless. They are objective, unbiased and detached of all moral and ideological inclination.

Only when the idea is acted upon, do we get the kind of explosive reaction that is capable of disrupting the very foundation upon which a civilized society rests. Only when an idea is passionately cradled, nurtured and moulded under the thin veil of biased false intellectualism does it transform itself into a weapon, whose prowess is directed by the strong allegiance of a dedicated group of followers.

It is however, hard to get a group of people to pledge their allegiance to an idea. Ideas are invisible. Hard to see, hard to feel and hard to acknowledge.

Only when you give the idea a tangible face to be acknowledged with will the idea begin to develop a musculoskeletal system of its own. The voice that represents the central idea grows gradually until it is loud enough to drown out any murmurs of scepticism at its roots.

At this point, the idea risks undergoing a slow metamorphosis where false interpretations twists the core entity resulting in a dichotomy of sorts.


Glancing through the rise of the most dangerous, ideologically driven entities, we find that they follow a very similar road map. Be it the Nazis misinterpreting Nietzsche, or the religiously driven terror outfits rehashing their own religious teachings to fit their ideological narrative, we have ample examples in modern history to give us a glimpse at what ideas are capable of when backed by a charismatic leader- the face of the idea. The Hitler oath pledges a Nazi party member’s allegiance to Hitler himself and not the party; similarly, the Al Qaeda member pledged their allegiance to a cause through their oath to Osama Bin Laden.

The journey of the idea from a faceless, objective entity to the projection of a person as the harbinger of the idea, soon transforms into something more dangerous when it leaves the confines of a singular person and assumes the subsistence of the mental capacity of a collective group.

This creates a highly polarizing echo chamber, which for some reason, fogs the boundary that separates the idea itself and the person- the voice of the idea.
Looking at it closely, there is no reason why this should happen, but it does. The idea quickly begins to lose its prominence to the person preaching it. Remember, ideas themselves are worthless if they do not have a suitable propagator.

Now imagine hundreds and thousands of such propagators. Each bound by the central idea (which would have invariably turned vague by then, thanks to personal interpretations), forming a brotherhood- a highly polarizing echo chamber.

At this point, it becomes impossible for individuals to think of themselves as anything other than a part of the clique that they so desperately cling to. Every time there is an attack on the associated idea, it invariably seems like a personalized attack on the individuals, who respond accordingly with personal taunts. The lack of debate among themselves regarding the right interpretation is also another baffling phenomenon.

This only strengthens their resolve to stay loyal to the ideas, and slowly strips them of their objective individuality and limits their identity to a mere moniker that they so welcome wholeheartedly.

A lost face in the sea of crowd, whose rational voices, if any are drowned down by the shouts of the majority, which in time transforms any rational, radical thought process to fit the collective agenda. The once bodiless, lifeless idea completes its transformation into a force to be reckoned with.

Blinded by the light of ideology, it masks out any substance of objective rationalism, as the idea drives itself to the farther sides of polarization, assisting in achieving personal agendas and selfish goals, even if the path it takes is far removed from the shackles of morality and civility.


When that happens, and it does all so often, the faith in humanity begins to crumble, giving rise to a newfound cynicism, which in itself is an ideological apparatus that is powerful enough to kick start the cycle all over again.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Peter Principle and the (Middle) Managerial Trap

If you are in any managerial position (thanks to promotions) and this is the first time you’re hearing of the Peter Principle, then you are already a lost cause.  Close this tab and go back to scrolling Instagram reels. Bye-bye. According to Wikipedia (remember that old relic, before ChatGPT became the de facto encyclopedia? Remember encyclopedia? Never mind). According to Wikipedia, the Peter Principle “observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to 'a level of respective incompetence’”, which means your promotions are based on how good you are at your current role. You continue to rise the rungs of corporate till you reach a position where you, and you will, suck at your job. At some point in your career, you will end up rotting away at a level you are least competent at; some place where you barely scrape by, unsure of where you’re faltering because the barometer for quality is hidden behind a thick veil of your own incompetence. Hence, the burnout.  And the desperate ...

Clubhouse. CoWin. China.

If you feel an odd sense of deja vu while reading this piece, then you've spent too much time switching between Facebook and Clubhouse. Unless you've been living underground or in a home with ACT broadband, you know what Clubhouse is - it is where many people can have their Mann ki Baat at once. And Facebook has turned into a platform to critique, analyse and make fun of discussions that happen on Clubouse. Congrats Clubhouse, you just replaced the Indian Government, at least as far as Facebook discourses go. Clubhouse is more or less an impulsive, live podcast session - an open space where everyone is made to feel like Joe Rogan. But no one talks about DMT or shaved gorillas or MMA or shaved gorillas doing MMA while on DMT. But it always does sound like everyone is on something stronger than the devil's lettuce. Maybe you need that to hear your own thoughts over the din of uncomprehensive ramblings and mouth-breathing noises. Speaking of noises, Saudi Arabia restricted the...

The Shadow of a Dead Hound

I was at my desk trying very hard to not pass out from the sweltering Bangalore summer heat when trouble came knocking at my door. She was wearing a wide brimmed hat and a pair of big sunglasses, which obscured her face just as much as the long, black woollen poncho obscured her figure. Just looking at her made me sweat a little more. "I need you to find a man." she said in a thick, raspy voice. She was no stranger to whiskey and cigarettes. "The marriage bureau is in the next road, lady" I said, knowing very well what she meant. But it's not every day that a poor, private dick gets to chat up a pretty lass. I wanted to make this last as long as possible. "Please mister, this is no time for jokes." she said, nervousness slipping past her sandpapery voice. Maybe it was the way she said it, but I immediately cut the crap and up straight. "Does this man have a name?" She fished out a glossy eight by ten from her purse and slid it acro...