Daily Post 1408
RIDING ROUGHSHOD – IS IT DEMOCRATIC?
Delving deep into psychology, Indians per se have a tendency to ride roughshod. There is barely a relationship without a domineering partner. There is hardly any relationship where the receiver is fully satisfied even with the opportunity to express himself. The lip service to democratic behaviour has taken new heights, given the perfection achieved in the game. Even in meetings you are told what to talk and what not to and in which manner. Everything should be done to keep the boss, strong partners or party leaders happy, even go to imaginary levels to cajole them. In the process we have vitiated the atmosphere and riding roughshod has become our DNA.
Capacity to hear no, try to grasp all parts of the issues, take a reasoned approach, be empathic to the issue, have humility / service in power, and understanding that position does not make one great, what you deliver does, are critical to our democratic existence. In reality, the opposite is in vogue. The capability to misuse is today defined power. If you can’t go unchallenged and mainly for wrong things you don’t exist. Riding roughshod is the antithesis of democracy. How can you reach a consensus then, one of the cardinal principles of democracy. Dissent is the bedrock on which our politics and governance exists. If you are not able to ride roughshod in your own party, you will never be able to become a leader.
Riding roughshod presupposes a core group or coterie on which you function. They spread the aura of your negative behaviour. There are parties and organisations which are born and survive on this philosophy, have also been extremely successful. Even in the investigation of a case, two investigative agencies are riding roughshod against each other. How with one law / one country there can be such a wide difference in its interpretation and both parties are able to get away with their roughshod behaviour. The heart and mind of not getting impacted while using this tool is a blot on the democratic grooming of its citizens. The media provides the ideal platform to practice this behaviour. Look for people around you, and you will find a vast majority fall in this category amongst the ones, who can afford to do so.
In every family you will find at least one fellow who is serious practitioner of this tool. Instead to chiding him or her, the whole family is out to placate him. Irrational peace has become the established principle of both Indian families and communities. When your blood does not boil at this attitude, that is the end of democracy. You are ready to misused. Each one at his / her level, having this mindset, has contributed to the spread of COVID-19 and has created an existential crisis, we are struggling with. The urge to ride roughshod is a mental disease and has to be treated that way, in its place it is treated as a positive behavioural trait, is the ultimate tragedy of our democratic existence. This in no way connotes a bold or a courageous person.
RIDING ROUGHSHOD FOR NO REASON IS A BEHAVIOURAL ANOMALY.