Insightful newsletter of Drishtikone - Issue #9 - Truth and Subversion of voices

A lot of things happened during the COVID-19 lockdown in India. An entire group became the largest single vector. And yet, we were fed falsehoods about this group - the Tablighi Jamaat. Here is a deep-dive on this group and its work globally. Read, digest and share for better awareness.

There was a great hue and cry since PM Modi’s government came. One of the most popular slogan thrown at India was - “Freedom of Expression is at risk”.

Even when no one has been indicted for abusing the PM or anyone in BJP.

The real problem was not that those who were of the “old order” had lost their freedom to express. The real issue was that others, whose voices had been silenced by the eco-system all these years because they had an alternative viewpoint, now had a voice.

It was providing this “untouchable group” a voice that was really rattling the ecosystem that ruled the country since 1947!

It is exactly the same sentiment that is behind the hounding of these “Muslim anchors”. Shamelessly communal as it is, where the writer cannot go beyond the journalists’ religion, this article is more importantly about demonizing anyone who doesn’t agree with your compartmentalizing bigotry.

Rubika Liyaquat - one of the “BJP anchors” - hit back on this crap. And quite rightly so.

McCombs and Shaw pointed out in 1972 that the “mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of items on their news agendas to the public agenda”. - Methods of Misinformation / Propaganda

“Once accession to Pakistan appeared unlikely, the British instituted Operations Gulmarg and Datta Khel  respectively to foil possible accession to India.‘”- How the British schemed to give Kashmir to Pakistan

“The food system we have is not the result of the free market. (There hasn’t been a free market in food since at least the Great Depression.) No, our food system is the product of agricultural and antitrust policies—political choices—that, as has suddenly become plain, stand in urgent need of reform.” - The Sickness in Our Food Supply

“… the phrases and themes which characterise official pronouncements are nothing new; they speak to centuries of reactions to epidemics, none of which is more vivid than plague. Indeed, strategies to cope with plague in pre-industrial Europe have formed the basis for later policies and are mirrored in current public health initiatives.” What can History tell us about Epidemics

Post COVID-19, handshake may be gone. So what are its alternatives? USA today article shares its perspective

Which option is the most elegant? Which will you go for?