DailyPost 2475
POLITICAL DEEP FAKE
Deep Fake what we talk about in video, audio, images and the like and making a mess of the world pales into insignificance, when we talk of Political Deep Fake, a terminology that would ideally fit the politically scenario of this country as it has been evolving over years. It is becoming more acute with every passing year. The tech deep fake is transactional, it can certainly do some damage, but cannot throw the system our of gear. Political deep fake firstly eats into the system, so meticulously created out of hard wort, toil and sacrifice of so many, and secondly, it changes your perception of the world, of reality and throws you into a political distorted reality field for a long time.
It is rare that you can come out of it. Quite some time back, large number of politicians were known be wearing masks for life, or at least need based. Duality was where it all began and slowly proceeded to outright hypocrisy. The rot did not stop there, the success of earlier two stages were so emboldening that being fake openly became the name of the game. There were no controls within in political parties or within the political executive and unfortunately none in the public domain. The ease with which you could fake and get away was seen to be believed.
And thus, we came to the next stage, that is of Political Deep Fake. We will start with a very vivid example from last year, throwing anti-defection law to the winds; has been the sordid saga within the Shiv Sena, and the government that came into existence in the process. We still don’t which of the two factions is fake. Deciphering a political party when rules are in place to the minutest details is the ultimate art of political deep fake. The Election Commission tries its hand at deciphering it. No one how successful they were. The Supreme Court had to get into its constitutional avatar to decipher this deep fake, still the government continues to this day. Political Deep Fake is an exercise or activity or process or propaganda which has the capability to force the defined system to work on its head.
At least in case of Shiv Sena, founder and creator was no more. The battle was in the next generation. While this fake still challenges the system to be correctly deciphered, there is a new one in NCP. It is bizarre to say the least. The founder and the creator is live and kicking and having the reins of his party. And someone else declares himself non-fake, while carrying his picture on his head. Fake and Non-Fake are descriptions now, not legal or illegal or true or false, moral or immoral. These are extreme examples but there innumerable others to prove that we live the world of Political Deep Fake. We have a chief minister who keep changing the supporting parties. When did we last have a public oriented debate within or outside the legislatures. Deep Fake is an environment which allows no real business to happen. De-facto democracy has fake its electorate.
NOW THE CHOICE IS BETWEEN FAKE AND DEEP FAKE. WHERE DOES DEMOCRACY GO FROM HERE?
Sanjay Sahay