Tuesday, September 25, 2012

All News Planted?

Vasu Reddy From Chicago

If you read any of the web based news it is nothing short of unbelievable and often sensational.  Typically the level of believability is often tested, and the reader has to interpret the reality verses fabrication or imagination of the writer.  As there is little protection for the receiver, and the ability of the writer to simply name unnamed sources, there is little to lose for the writer.  Just about any speculation can be made and corrections can be posted on an ongoing basis, and by the time the story gets told, it can be exactly the opposite of what was originally reported.

From movie reviews to personal stories, news columns to financial reports; all of them come out first and then get verified.  All the time unnamed sources are quoted as the real source of information, and anyone and anything can be targeted for negative news.  All the stories typically when flashing will get corrected over the days that follow and each of them have a disclaimer that they are still evolving and unnamed sources.

From not so important story such as Rahul Gandhi’s private life to massive coal or telecom scams get sensationalized first and then as the reality or facts come out in the open the story will be retold with new information, and typically the life of a story completely gets changed over the real life of the story.  From sensational news of reporting breaking news to a final report on the facts of the matter is really very different, as different as day and night.

From real reporting of the news papers that had real reporters with sources that fed them proper information, and did real reporting on the breaking news, we have become a society that feeds on sensationalizing the issues rather than the worthiness of the report.

Just that there are too many channels and web based reporting that are all trying to wyes for the eye balls of the readers or listeners, all of them simply trying to have as many people as possible paying attention even for a short span, thereby enhancing the survivability of the channel.   I still remember reading Illustrated Weekly and waiting to read Kushwant Singh would write, or waiting for Hindu to catch-up on daily dose of the news, read Veerendranath’s Telugu weekly and sensational writings of the time or such wonderful magazines and news papers before the advent of the TV and Internet.  For a fact I have read the same stories and books many a times and I still read them regularly, and never get tired of them, and they continue to be exciting and interesting read even after a generation of time passing away.  I am in no way trying to belittle writers of today or the abilities of the writers, as I myself in my own small way write all most every week and try to take pride in original writing and unbiased views of my India.

The problem is with reading so much with almost all of them sensationalizing every aspect of the daily reporting; simply to attract more eyeballs is overbearing and often tiring.  A reader or viewer want to get real information and facts of what is transpiring in the world, and want very little sensationalizing with the reporting.  Life by itself provides daily dose of sensation so there is no need for so much biased stuff pushed at people 24/7/365, as reality often gets blurred with what we see or read.

Going back and reading the literature of yesteryear, or trying to weed through the barrage of reports that are from all kinds of unknown sources and making sense out of what you hear, and being able to keep a track of what is actually happening is an art by itself.  Much can be said about the agencies that report as they do invest heavily into the happenings around the world, and are trying to be ahead of the others who are competing for the same audience.

The audience is quite loyal to a channel, news paper or periodicals and seldom tries to waver from their regular sources for their daily dose of news or reading, and the channels can be realistic and true in reporting to keep their audience interested, and also provide factual and real reporting.  Perhaps it is asking too much from one or the other channels as they are all of the belief that creating sensation is what keeps the audience glued to them, rather than the facts and reality.  The problem lies in so much speculation on reporting which is far from facts, rather unnamed sources to make up for airtime.  Perhaps a bit of trying to get the facts right might allow people to see what is real, rather than wonder what really is happening?

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Depending on the Government?

Vasu Reddy From Chicago
vasureddy@aol.com

Be it democracies or communist countries or dictatorships, the value of the government is in planning the process of education, success and enterprise which dictate the daily habits and life of the citizens.  Prosperity is not a relative term to a country or a class of people; rather it is the way of life for organized and hard working folks.

Each country has its own share of unemployment, poverty and desperation, which is not a choice of those who face it, rather circumstantial to the conditions they are forced to be in.  There is no denying that some portion of the people will always choose to not to work and hang on to the programs that are afforded to the public by the governments.

In general majority of the population of the earth would like their families to live in dignity and comfort.  People would like their children well educated, live a life of cause and goodness, and almost all the time a better life than their own.  The world has become more mobile with people moving from place to place and sometimes from country to country, and trying to look at the best possible place for them to work and also raise a family.

The western countries which for the better part of the last 100 or so years have been places where people would want to migrate to, looking for professional growth and greener pastures continue to still be attractive for countries with limited opportunity for education and professional advancement.  In fact last 20 years or so have been witnessing a portion of the migrants wanting to go back to their roots and contributing to their ancestral communities.

Migration from place to place is not a new phenomenon nor will it become passé, as people since human inception have always moved from place to place in search of opportunity and advancement, and also better weather and living conditions.  No one should claim to stop or start this process as it as a normal process as human evolution.  There are political issues and national issues that at times drive people from their natural surrounding and forced to move from where they are comfortable, but when they move they quickly adapt to the new surrounding and build a new life.  There have been extra ordinary circumstances where brutal regimes have displaced millions of people, who at first face the tyranny and brutality of an individual’s desire to enforce conditions that are inhuman on them, and move on to safe guard their families and rebuild a life anew.  These brutal circumstances have been witnessed quite often in the past century and continue to be so even in this age and time.  Most of the world when it has to receive people who are forced to evacuate their own homes, embraces the misfortunate who are forced to leave all their worldly belongings and go somewhere new.

No country, no people and no community would like to have a government dictate the life or what they should do next.  The politics of a nation or a state might influence the living standards of the people, but there is no real reason for them to depend on the government, rather they become victims of the politics.  The desire for politicians to retain their seat of power as long as they can, and remain empowered to dictate the political and policy of the state often dictates their political ethics and policy making, which in turn reflect on the community they represent.  Seldom people want hand me downs, rather they are forced to making political choices that best suit the politicians.

Communities and people in general want to be independent of any government or politicians, and also want to make independent decisions relative to their life and families.  Only the politics of a nation that are either imposed on the citizens and force them to make limited choices or have no appropriate choices.  No one on this earth wants to depend on a government, or an individual, or a society; if given a chance to make their own independent decisions.  People like to think for themselves, and live their own life on their own terms, just that the politics impose the difficulties of limited choices on them.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Insulting the Prime Minister?

Vasu Reddy from Chicago

Until he was appointed as the prime minister of India, Dr. Singh was one of the most respected economists and policy makers in the world.  His leadership in leading Indian economic engine to grow and prosper is the story of legend and will forever be remembered for the decisions the finance ministry took and implemented.  There was no question of his decision making and policy implementation in leading India into the new century with astonishing results.

The past week saw him called a few choice names by a US publication, which were quickly rebuffed by the Indians, and asked for an apology of sorts for calling the Prime Minister a do nothing wimp in kind words.  We all know anyone can write anything they want in any country and just get away with it, and even heads of state are not an exception to the sharpness of the language being used by the writers.  The truth of the matter in making a story on Dr. Singh is new to the international media in a negative light, but there are no short stories on him in the Indian media.  There is a constant attention to his style of governing and his inaction on many of the issues that continue to plague India, specially referring to the ongoing and ever expanding scams of the government at the center and in most states.

While no one accuses Dr. Singh of any wrong doing of the nasty kind, he certainly is at the helm of the party that has made India popular for scams, and each passing one getting bigger.  The party identifies the scams and throws a few of the politicians involved into jail for a few months, and profess to be taking action.  In the first place why is the government allowing the elected officials to scam the country?  And only after a massive abuse of people’s resources happen is when you take action.

No money has ever been recovered from the scam leaders yet, although some of them have been sent to jail.  A few have been sent to jail because they no longer want to listen to the government’s prophecy anymore.  Those landing in jail claim total innocence and also claim that they were acting according to the law, and only implemented the policy of the government.

Everyone including babies know that people in power cheat, lie and steal, and only to the degree they do these things once they get elected is for the record.  With each passing election the cost of getting elected gets higher and higher, and once elected the recovery of the investment also is at a massive scale.  Politics has become as if people investing in education and training to get good jobs and get a life of comfort after initial sacrifices.  Politicians have become so used to cheating as much as possible to recover their investment into to getting elected.  There is only one political agenda in India that is to get elected and steal as much as possible as quickly as possible.

While Dr. Singh personally may not be interested in wealth creation, his party certainly has been quite aggressive in scamming and cheating while in power.  No matter how you define his personal qualities, he as the head of the nation has not been able to rub off any of his personal qualities on his fellow party men and women to work for the benefit of the people.  If the US papers call him names, it is difficult not to question Dr. Singh’s abilities rather than the news papers that raise the issue of inaction against corruption.  Judging his personal abilities is no longer important as he is the head of the largest democracy, and he should be responsible for the actions of his party at all levels, and should impose the same standards he has on all of his colleagues.

Cinema and its Magic

Vasu Reddy from Chicago vasureddy@aol.com   While in my college days in India, there was no internet, not much television except single chan...