Thursday, May 21, 2009

Identity Complex

What better place to rant than your own blog. I was just reading an article in the Times on the Indian Peace Keeping Force. It was an interesting article and it details the problems India faced in Sri Lanka during the time the forces were deployed there [1987-1990] with the objective of ending the ensuing civil war. The relevance of the article was that just a couple of days the Sri Lankan army informed the media about the death of LTTE leader Prabhakaran. Now I don't particularly have a problem with the analysis. It was nice and succinct. What ticked me off was the title "India's Vietnam".

Why is it that we cannot see ourselves and introspect without comparing ourselves to other? In the past few months I have seen similar headlines and somehow I feel resentful when I see such headlines.

India's 9/11 – In reference to the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Both were acts of terrorism but forgive me if I think of it as India's 26/11 and not as India's 9/11.

India's Josef Fritzl - In reference to a father being questioned by the police for raping his daughter. Now Josef Fritzl is surely not the first father to commit such unspeakable crimes, neither is the Indian the first such low life scum in India. The headline is a pitiful attempt to draw out the viewer or the reader's attention.

There are far too many issues with the Indian media these days. The satellite era has seen the emergence of many news channels each one competing for the viewer's attention. As a result, they have resorted to sensationalizing issues to hold on the view's attention. The quality of the print media has also gone down steadily. Some of our most circulated newspapers are no better than tabloids.


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