Saturday, August 14, 2004
Rhetoric Busting
It is very easy to become patriotic on the eve of our independence day. The local temple I visited today had a separate shrine for Bharatha Thaai (Mother India). When actresses can get temples, can�t Mother India? The idol was majestically clad, loose hair, with a flag in its hand and a lion standing as its vaahanam (vehicle). Along with the flowers and coconuts, temple shopkeepers also sold plastic tricolours.
To celebrate our independence is fine, but I guess we have a tendency to deify anything we love or respect. Plus, to overtly link patriotism with religious devotion is pushing it too far. By deifying the things we cherish most, we simply force them away from common understanding; more dangerously, we force them away from common scrutiny. I am very proud of my country because it is a democracy, so I consider nothing to be unquestionable. Deification makes things infallible and remote.
Deification also allows for a lot of bullshit to be spoken that actually may mean nothing. This or that potri potri! So and so potri potri! I said it, so me potri potri! In the name of my dead (hence exonerated of corruption) leader potri potri! Look I am a visionary thinker so, for my two paisa thoughts potri potri! Etcetera. (potri potri is a Tamil devotional utterance roughly translating into Praise be to� or Glory be to�)
So let�s start busting some rhetoric to commemorate the annual event.
First, let us start right at the top�APJ. After all, we have to start questioning this business of Igniting young minds. Think of it; it is actually very sadistic to incinerate children�s thoughts. Children�s brains are not internal combustion engines that need to be sparked into action. They only have to be allowed to think on their own, which they are very much capable of. Only by stifling, modifying, moulding, and setting fire to, do we adults make them in our own image�corrupt, garrulous, violent and intolerant.
Rhetoric busting is an exercise in identifying and cutting out the crap from the everyday speech of our leaders. Can you think of more rhetorical phrases to bust?
Comments to Rhetoric Busting
How about starting with ignoring the stupidity called Independence day
posted by 
Nilu
The worst rhetoric I've come across is the so called "Middle Class mentality" and it's implied mediocrity and ambition killing.
Plus, I hate the term - "Young people are the future of this country"; How friggin obvious!!!
posted by Ravages/CC
Try Karunanidhi's speeches, his tamil skills comes into play in his speeches. In tamil, most of the politicians used, "adukku mozhi". It is good to hear such speeches from those who really mean it, but they seem hollow coming from the lowly politicians.
posted by 
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