Heroes give us Confidence that We Can be Agents of Change.
Rapid advancement in communication technology and mushrooming of media houses around the globe in the last two to three decades have ensured that news reports and journalistic writings reach the public domain much faster than one would have imagined earlier. We are flooded with information almost in real-time. Media has a significant role in shaping public opinion in any country by exercising its freedom of expression and power to criticise issues judiciously and ethically. The problem arises when it transgresses the boundaries of ethics. In today’s world, media houses function like corporate entities competing with one another for a bigger share of the pie. In this business, a high viewership rating is the sole indicator of an entity’s success and assurance of survival. Hence, many entities cannot resist the temptation to violate ethics if it takes them a few notches higher in the rating.
What is our idea of a hero? Over the years, the general perception has evolved that a hero is perfect and flawless in every aspect of life- someone like an oversimplified cartoon character who flies in and saves the day despite all odds. That is to say, we stop seeing them as a person. But the fact is, a hero has to be one amongst us, like real people - one who is complex and flawed, with conflicting ideas and motivations. They will have their share of sins and vices and yet, will have done something extraordinary. The extraordinariness becomes the defining feature.
Our heroes of the olden days were not without flaws and negative attributes. Martin Luther King Jr. was not a Santa Claus who came down the chimney and delivered civil rights to the Americans. He was a hero but also something more. His political views were unpalatable to many. He had moral failings; many considered him a threat, a villain. The truth is, he was a man like any other who did great things despite everything. Albert Einstein, too, had a controversial side to him. Even today, many of us debate whether it was wise of him to strongly recommend to President Franklin Roosevelt that the U.S. develop an atom bomb (the Manhattan Project, which led to the holocaust) at the beginning of World War II. He was also criticised by many in Germany for being a pacifist. Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation of India, also had follies which he narrated in his autobiography “My Experiments with the Truth”.
Having described the prevailing media environment and our flawed perception of a hero, we need to examine whether we can regard someone as a hero. In fact, the question we should ask ourselves is, is it possible for us to “recognise” our heroes?. Irrespective of whether the story run by the media is positive or negative, it serves the media in either case to increase its rating. Hence, the media is as prompt in glorifying a hero as it would be prompt in tearing them down. In fact, negative reporting gets across as sensational. Media does not hesitate to run deliberately distorted coverage (negatives and positives covered disproportionately), incomplete coverage (selective omission) or wrong coverage (infecting news with flawed logic) if it pays dividends. The challenge before us is to recognise the truth about somebody in the face of media bias and its degeneration.
And yes, it is possible for us to recognise our heroes. We should learn to winnow the grains from the chaff. We should not miss the woods for the trees, as the saying goes. The truth cannot be hidden for long.
All of us need heroes in our life. Heroes give us something to aspire to. They tell us that in a world of depravity, chaos, selfishness, ignorance and wickedness, there are people who are better. They make us believe that we can be in control despite everything happening around us. They give us hope and confidence that we can be agents of change. The world around us is not so big that it cannot be changed. They prove that heroism is possible, and heroism means standing up when you are afraid to stand up; and making a difference when the whole world says you will never make a difference.
Do you have a hero? Or, don’t you think you could be a hero? :)
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