Political discourses, today, are turning rabid, vexing and testing a citizen’s psyche. New depths seem to be explored all the time. Leaders of all kinds of parties seem to be in an unholy race to beat each other at the game. This is profane from a country’s perspective and must change course. A discourse is a formal way of thinking that can be expressed through language and its limits are created by social boundaries that define what can be said about a certain topic. Political discourses, which most of the time affect public, need to explore the possible, be analytical of self-achievements and critical of others and be civil at all times. An average Indian who knows at least three languages most of the times, has a rich repertoire of vocabulary and can engage in a multi lingual verbal duel that results in a slanging match most of the times. If he shares a fair following among citizens, then he could wittingly or unwittingly, be the genesis of trouble. A fair share of responsibility to keep it civil depends on the environment, statesmanship of the individuals and a respect for all ideologies, all colours, all hues and all religions. In the current social milieu, the social boundaries are being stretched beyond endurance limits and by consequence, the discourses are changing colour, and becoming acerbic resulting in caustic rhetoric where charges are traded leading to stress within groups and people. The attacks are anything but impersonal, the content is unadulterated mudslinging, and the style being one of utter disdain for acceptable behavioural norms and open challenging. In the process, the glaring eyes, raised hands and fists and the gestures are used to convey a sinister mojo. The entire body language conveys an itching for battle. A consequent fatigue failure of the social fabric can prove too difficult to mend.
The social media which has an unprecedented reach to reach the unreached, can be the catalyst in an exothermic reaction that may be waiting to happen. The leaders, world over, wishing to influence the neighbourhood or larger precincts are technology savvy, are active on all social media platforms, use high end data analytics tools and use all modes of discourse like narrative, descriptive, persuasive, argumentative and expository to achieve their goals. The strife within a society, now depends on the way the discourses are shaped. It is time sanity prevails within our discourses before the stress manifests in ways that cannot be either mitigated or culled.
The objects of discourse analysis like writing, conversation, communicative events are variously defined in terms of coherent sequences of sentences, propositions and speech. Further it aims at revealing socio-psychological characteristics of persons and hence is a very powerful tool. A cursory discourse analysis, or discourse studies, that gives a number of approaches to analyse written, vocal, or sign language use, or any significant semiotic event would show the abyss that we are falling in, through the discourses that we are privy to, in a modern world, be it political, religious or any other.
Discourse analysis anchored in humanities, social sciences, including linguistics, education, sociology, anthropology, social work, cognitive psychology, social psychology, area studies, cultural studies, international relations, human geography, communication studies, biblical studies, and translation studies, each of which with its own assumptions, dimensions of analysis, and methodologies can be a very potent weapon when coupled with AI technics and data analytics tools. Today, almost all social media texts that an ordinary citizen would post without a bother, is analysed for a social profiling that acts as primary and secondary data for political parties to use. Oracle, IBM and a host of others offering powerful data analytics tools, provide ways of exploiting the data for intelligent pattern recognition. The discourses for the leaders are generated out of this.
Speeches are a crucial vehicle for forging a delicate, emotional bond between the leader and the people. Most effective speeches are in some way related to storytelling. An effective story is one which connects the common people and anecdotes that extol their virtues. Speeches do something that other communications strategies cannot do. At their best, they forge human connections through an extended, emotionally resonant engagement with a subject. Obviously, tweets cannot achieve the same impact. However, a combination of both will have a telling effect on the psyche of a subject.
A cross section of people are simple, gullible and god fearing across societies. They are not interested in conflicts that disturb their daily routine. They would rather be happy, working honestly, for “roti kapda aur makan” and making friends. The lack of opportunities to do so in blatantly competitive environments, not always fair that they have to negotiate each day, push them to look for any activity that fetches them a living. Important leaders, and activists motivated for a cause, world over, are consummate orators and would target precisely this section of the population for meeting their ends by methods that are similar to suggestions to the conscious and the sub conscious mind. A discourse or a speech or a tweet that peddles half-truths or appeals to baser instincts can transform a peaceful populace to become a volatile entity.
Without realising, we have probably been using auto suggestion techniques our whole life. Most of the times we tell ourselves to wake up at a certain time, “relax,” “sleep,” “concentrate,” “smile,” “breathe,” or whatever, we are actually auto suggesting. Politicians and religious leaders also use similar technics through their oratory or persuasive skills camouflaged in issues that concern a spread of their thinking, their ideology or their beliefs. Auto suggestion is now replaced by subtle persuasive suggestion methods. Social media seems to be complementing, sometimes even peddling falsehoods. The speech writers and the orators must guard against potential hazard of polarising thought processes.
In his State of the Union speech 2018, Mr. Trump said “Over the last year, the world has seen what we always knew: that no people on Earth are so fearless, or daring, or determined as Americans. If there is a mountain, we climb it. If there’s a frontier, we cross it. If there’s a challenge, we tame it. If there’s an opportunity, we seize it” The ability to reach out to people is all pervasive. People naturally would follow a great patriot and would now take on to his twitter posts like fish would, to water. But the “Independent” reports that he weaponised Twitter, using it not just to reach the masses but to control the news agenda through bluster and distraction. Are not all our politicians doing the same?
But politicians’ performances aren’t just embellishments or distractions from more serious business. Politics in representative democracies cannot be reduced to the trivial details of policy. Because politicians are entrusted to work on their constituents’ behalf, they have to strike some sort of affective connection with them, yet the nation and states are vast, and we’re unlikely to be personally acquainted with our senior political representatives.
That said, the leaders must have a pleasant demeanour, be above board in their behaviour, be statesman like, be considerate and be compassionate. The information and ability to convert the same to knowledge that aids in growth and peace, both within the precincts and outside, with an effective discourse in policy is an attribute a passionate leader must possess. A great Statesman, Mikhail Gorbachev, after explaining the concepts of Perestroika and Glasnost to an international audience, shocked delegates by announcing the withdrawal of tank divisions from East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary and a unilateral cut of 500,000 soldiers from the Soviet military. He further said, “Today we have entered an era when progress will be based on the interests of all mankind. Force and the threat of force can no longer and should not be instruments of policy.”
Progress is the key. Leaders must strive to prevent strife both inside and outside the country. Their discourses, wherever they are made, by whichever media they are made, must connect with people. That makes all the difference for the rulers and the ruled.