DailyPost 1769
WHEN YOU CANNOT ESTABLISH FACTS…
When you cannot establish facts, you can’t run a democracy. When the facts are in disarray, what can you arrive at? If there are different facts put forth for different purposes, what trajectory can be projected? If the source of facts which can used for all purposes, is not known to the world at large, any exercise for any purpose would be an act in futility. The validated sources / institutions / organizations have their own methods of data collection and validating it and over a period of time, it gains acceptability and also currency. Think of a situation when the facts about our population are not taken with finality, then are we left with any alternative. The non-establishment with finality of our numerical facts, what we call data today, can spell doom for any nation.
Facts and data can be used synonymously or differently or separately depending on the context. Facts can translate into data and data can translate into facts depending on the situation. On the interplay of data and facts is dependent the real picture of life in all its dimensions, it clears the smokescreen of bias and partiality and propels objectivity and empirical thought process. It opens up the route for a reasoned debate because the base denominators have already been established, so you are forced to move ahead of it. If we were still confused about the article numbers of the constitution, the stage of interpretation would have never arrived. This clearly shows what we mean by facts.
Hard facts are either shown as opinions today or opinions are being flaunted around as hard facts, is the reality we live in. There is a precursor to a data driven world, that the data should have integrity and that it should have been created in a dynamic manner, real time. Otherwise, it should have gone through the scientific and mathematical validation process. Else, the benefits of today’s existence do not accrue. On the contrary, we cling to trash of facts and data available on the internet and use it for substantiation of an already created narrative. The challenge with this model is very very clear, every narrative turns out to be false. Why make an effort; cook or cull out numbers to suit you, that is where we have reached.
The thought process of bowing down to data and facts is a deciding one. Do you believe in that? Or are we the kingpins of a self-certification industry? There are times when the real facts are shown bereft of the right context, deliberately leaving it to the people to make a positive impression out of a pathetic situation. Or take the facts and data and plant it in comparison, to a time and space, which it cannot be compared with. The fact of the matter is when you decide not to establish facts, you start moving on a very thin sheet of ice and over a period of time, you move from the real to the surreal. An abject situation can be painted rosy. When reality strikes it’s too late for recovery.
PLAYING WITH FACTS AND DATA IS WORSE THAT PLAYING WITH FIRE. IT IS THE BEGINNING OF NEMESIS.
Sanjay Sahay