The joke landed but only just. Part of the crowd laughed a bit and the rest smiled; amused with the clever wordplay but annoyed with the undertone. There was this unmistakable sense of smug superiority underneath the jovial demeanor of the performer.
Intellectual racism; is when the speaker assumes and awards oneself a higher moral pedestal and looks down on the audience, instantly declaring them inferior. There has been a period and a rather long one when the audience didn’t realize this relationship, didn’t understand the imposition of this intellectual segregation. Not anymore, not everyone as yet, but many do recognize this angle and it is being rejected and rightly so. The prime reason for this state of awakening is the access to diverse opinion, which is in stark contrast to the monotone that they were subjected to and hammered with earlier.
So when a comedian or a poet or a newsreader or the excessively celebrated social media influencer preaches something, there is this storm of comments that one has to confront with. This is a global phenomenon and in that sense humanity has indeed become a seamless village. But where broader issues like conservatism vs liberalism or capitalism vs socialism remain largely similar, every society has its own peculiar characteristic.
Closer home, these peculiar traits emerge from an instrument which is bigger than the biggest influencer. History! It affects the psyche like nothing else does. We are bestowed with a long, very long history. The west boasts of having a recorded history and mocks the east for not being able to substantiate their claims with documents. True as it may, out here history is engraved in the minds and passed on from generation to generation and hence unlike the west, it is retrieved faster and it manifests in public behavior quicker than expected.
Given this complexity, communication of ideas has become much tougher and only a handful have been able to evolve their style and truly master the art. That a person has a million accounts following his handle doesn’t necessarily mean that his or her opinion is valued. We often see a person with million followers ending up doing more harm to his ideological cause with one careless remark. While someone with only a handful of followers ends up reaching and influencing the thoughts and behaviors of people way beyond her geographical and ideological boundaries.
Why does that happen and is there a pattern to it? I see one and it is the opposite of what the smug superior performer does.
Those who communicate well and make a lasting impact are seen stepping down from this moral pedestal and merging with the audience. This pedestal I so often speak isn’t physical, it is intellectual and emotional. Hence we sometimes see a person speaking from the dais and yet feels as if she is one of the us whereas we see people physically mingling with the crowd and yet he seems distant.
Language, attire and everything else can be adopted, empathy has to be real, if it isn’t the fakery is noticed. Sometimes in our daily life, we meet someone and his smile alone spreads a kind warmth in us and we loosen up, our inhibitions melt away. And sometimes we meet someone who hugs us and instead of feeling warm and comfortable we feel like pushing back, it happens instinctively. Human body and mind irrespective of the person’s measured intelligence detects fakery and resonates accordingly. This is hard wired in our cells, call it a sixth sense if you like.
The only way to create a lasting and usable influence is to develop empathy and it cannot happen unless one strips down.
Stripping down to the level of those one is communicating with doesn’t mean dumbing things down. It means understanding their lived experience, learning their history, their triggers and recomposing the thoughts such that they still remain valid but aren’t abrasive anymore. If one chooses to mock the audience like it has happened by and large the possibility of thoughts resonating with the masses remain low.
This year we witness the manifestation of the suppressed emotions of millions. One can choose to stand at a distance and ridicule the events with that familiar old sense of smug superiority. One can label it as majoritarian tyranny and dismiss the masses as barbarian hoards. Alternatively, one can choose to reflect, reread the history, understand counter-views, appreciate lived experiences and see reason. One can still choose to disagree with the emotions and events but that disagreement has to be with a state of awareness not with in a state of denial.
There is noise, enormous noise, so much of it that no matter how much one shouts, the voices will not reach, they will be ignored. If you wish to be heard, then strip down, step down and lower your frequency and whisper. Maybe, maybe your whispers will be heard and valued and then your voice will travel further.
Aisle Seat Stories 