Yug-Tales Episode 2 – Left & Right & Over & Under

Speaker: – Eltibium.

Please watch episode 2 of Yug Tales and read the transcript here.

Namaste wonderful person, and thanks for dropping by

For more than a decade now

Journalist everywhere have been lamenting

the rise of the global right

Apparently, no one sitting on their ivory towers

on the corner of 4th estate and holier than thou avenue

is able to BEGIN to wrap their heads around

Why The Evil right wingers keep handing the righteous left their behinds on a platter

..election after election…

In every corner of the world

Now…social media… seems to be their favorite scapegoat;

All those millions of naïve, gullible proletariat

must surely be getting hoodwinked by the deluge of fake news…

But what the old media might want to consider…

Is that new technology is disrupting their world

just like ride sharing is disrupting automobile industry

just like the automobile disrupted the horse and buggy

Now I don’t know for a FACT!

That people are turning their backs on journalism today

For the same reasons

that people turned their back on equestrianism a century ago

I just know it true though

That everyone is sick and tired of the mountains of horse shit

And on the question of why the world seems to be making a right turn..

SRM would tell them that the answer can never be found

because the question is framed…. Incorrectly!

Part 2 – Watch out for the Fruit-bat!

SRM would tell anyone

That analyzing global politics today with a rigid Right Vs left framework

is akin to classifying every known fruit as either the proverbial apple or orange

It’s bound to be a fruitless exercise

But if we must do so… for purely academic reason.. These folks are clearly apples

Because they started off advertising for everyone to “ Think different “

Oddly enough though…. they can’t seem to stand anyone.. who thinks  differently

Here is a bit of trivia…

the first time someone was tempted into biting into this forbidden fruit,

they unleashed unimagined mayhem & suffering

that the world is still dealing with today 

It’s surprising how people still wear that apple badge proudly though

for no other reason, than to let everyone know

just how special their little club is and just how clever they all must be

Now..Trump…. just like everything else, Trump makes step 2 uncomplicated

because he defaults to the orange in EVERY analogy

but that’s where the comparisons end

The others are neither apple nor orange

By all measures, Erdogan’s is the dirty rotten tomato

Modi by his own admission is an Aam Admi

Bolsonaro is either cacao or cocoa, depending on who in South America you ask

And MBS seems to be of the opinion that Putin is a pear,

but you can’t really tell because of his thick Arab accent

and I can go on and on

but the point is…

Painting this basket of fruit with one brush, is clearly FAAAr  from optimal

And the  only time it comes close to being efficient, is when u are

trying to reduce global politics…. into a series of clickbait-y  headlines

Part 3 – Is it wrong to be ‘RIGHT’?

Etymologically left wing and right wing, first came to us after the French revolution

when the old nobles sat on the right side of parliament

And the new peasant and working class leaders just happened to sit on the left

the nobles, having deep roots in the old order

Tended to be elitist..

tended to be conservative in their outlook

And tended to favour policy that protected the elite family’s interests

the left wing on the other hand had tasted blood on guillotine

and their lust for revolution has not been satiated even after 4 centuries

Today the left seem to want revolution for revolution’s sake

not caring about whether their actions are actually in the interest of the people

they profess to be REVOLTING for…

In the west….. this system of classification still holds some water today

In America, for example

the republican leaders come from old money

Tend to be more devoutly religious

and tend to support the policies which favour a capitalistic free for all

The democrats on the other hand,  challenge the status quo

by espousing new ideas

like LGBTQ rights, climate activism, the legalization of cannabis

And the establishment of a social welfare state

But the demarcations get less water tight

when we use the framework in an Indian context

Now like most places in the world…

In India, the far left has not managed to make any significant dent at the ballot box

you might be surprised to learn

that Sitaram Yechury .. has never won a single public election

in a political career spanning 5 decades

and yet seems to hold a disproportionately large share of voice

Now I speculate, but if it’s not votes that he brings to the table

it must the resources that his comrades to the east are only happy to pump in

other elements like this,

seem to have found innovative ways to hijack the discourse in India ,

by taking advantage of the fractured mandates produced by a diverse electorate

And a seven decade long commitment to democracy

Coalition governments without a single dominant party   

Have tended to be more opportunist rather than “left” or “right” 

Unfortunately, observers in the west

lazily assume that the Indian left and right align perfectly with their own

not realizing that in India the so called right wing, do not come from old money

And they would surprise western journalists, who care to listen

with their opinions on issues like LGBTQ rights, climate activism, the legalization of cannabis

or the establishment of a social welfare state

What western media also fail to recognize

Is that what is labeled as left in India, have gone full on animal farm

And just like George Orwell’s pigs

Are happy to ship every last boxer off to the glue factory

If it secures them or their children…. A seat in the house of people

What the global media houses are doing

Is lazy and superficial at best

And deliberately disingenuous and criminal at at-worst

On the original question, about why voters everywhere seem to have their right indicators on….

Somebody should tell the journalists

Sitting on their ivory towers,  On the corner of “4th estate” and “Holier than thou” avenue

….That a monolithic…. global right is a figment of their imaginations

And that voters are just running as far away as they can

from an increasingly inscrutable left

Part 4 – Do the ‘RIGHT’ thing!

Wonderful person…

it has always been my contention that it does not matter if your left or right

or over or under… what matters is the context

Beautifully captured by our very own Desi concept of Dharma..

do the right thing demanded by the situation, do your duty, and do it well

Be aware that self-identifying as right wing, comes with a lot of baggage

Like xenophobia, homophobia and religious zealotism

that none of us really endorse or even tolerate

The political fault lines in India are not drawn left to right

It has boiled down to whether someone recognizes…..

and is proud of our culture’s contribution to humanity

or whether they want to let the past be lost forever

Just so they can make a political meal out of it

and while we are stuck with global media mislabeling us as either left or right

the remedy can only be… to carry on with our dharma

and ensuring that our culture,

which has been “LEFT –  buried” for so long

is made known to the whole world

Each of us is an ambassador for Indian culture

And as ambassadors, it behooves us

to first be fully aware of new evidence

that pushes THE ROOTS OF our civilization well before 10000 years BCE

and then letting the world know,

that we may not be the greatest or the mostest civilization

but we can certainly lay claim, to being among the oldest

We will meet again in the next episode

Until then

Shanti Shanti..Shanti..

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