This post is for all Indians- those rejoicing or grieving for a President’s Trumping victory.
The million dollar question is, why should we even bother to be influenced by the hyper nationalism and grand eloquence of a leader from another country?
Especially since all his rhetoric is always so outrageous, so outlandish, so sexist and so e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g that it puts even the devil to shame! How can someone speak like this, act like this and yet end up becoming the President of a country?
If there are millions of moral codes for citizens, shouldn’t there be at least a few for someone holding such a high position? Especially when things like ‘They are eating the dogs, eating the cats and eating the pets’ are uttered in campaign speechifying. Although that does remind me of similar things back home where ‘they’ are accused of stealing the Gold, Mangalsutra, Bulls, Maati, Roti and Betis.
We are all witness to the media revolution. We are all familiar with the crazy advertising world. We all know what a reality show is. But ‘someone’ understood social media, the broadcasting sphere and reality television like no one else.
The ‘Bigg Boss’ of America was fully aware that the only star in any reality show is not the silent and dignified hero but the boorish and loudmouthed villain. Not the ‘Nayak’ but the ‘Khalnayak’. He knew that his outrageously reprehensible remarks, his shameful racist insults and his degrading sexist quips might get him a few vociferous critics. But, it would also attract millions of dumb followers. And this crazy fan following would become his ultimate Trump card.
He was also very perceptive. He recognized the trauma of the common American being sidetracked by the flourishing ‘immigrants’ in his own soil. Never mind the fact that because of a misguided discovery, the Natives were actually the ones denied and deprived of their American dream.
Even if he did get on the very last nerve of the rest of the intellectual world, he somehow managed to tap into the raw ones of the overlooked citizens. He gave voice to their pent up frustrations and methodically capitalized the media. Whatever he said, whatever he did, the media would jump all over themselves to trumpet him. Does any of this sound familiar to you?
Anyway, since Donald has triumphed (once again), I can’t help but wonder if the Statue of Liberty, the poise that is synonymous with the Lady will be at stake. I wonder if this Green Goddess of Libertas, that timeless figure of great dignity, the awe-inspiring poetry in stillness, the ‘Old Collosus’ will have to forego her long flowing graceful garment and opt for something more befitting for a Modern Collosus. Especially since she stands not in the busy streets of New York but in the midst of an island surrounded by the sea. That should be reason enough to garb her in anything but a loose fitting attire. If back home we are okay with ‘opening the eyes’ of our Lady of Justice, anything is possible.
But that’s not all. With such a thumping majority, this time probably the monument itself will be at stake. For not only does the ‘Lady’ symbolize friendship between two nations, not only does it represent freedom from oppression; it also exemplifies the many hopes and dreams that immigrants harbored as they debarked at Ellis Island.
If you don’t believe me, read the plaque, where at the base of the sculpture the truth is inscribed in bold and bright:
‘Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore….’
These lines serve as a statutory warning to the people of America, underlying the factor that the poem and the Lady are inseparable. The truth is that even though the statue was intended as an emblem of enlightenment for Europeans battling oppression at home, with this poem, Lady Liberty was also transformed into something more.
She became a beacon of hope for immigrants leaving those very countries. And now she stands with her torch, enlightening the world with her serene and steady gaze, speaking a silent language- a language that translates the imagery of the torch as a light in the darkness, and a guide offering opportunities to those who seek them.
She stands calm and collected telling the world that she is not only a symbol of freedom from shackles and servitude, but she also denotes a mother figure evoking hospitality and security for all those arriving in the ‘land of opportunities’. Therefore, I fail to understand, how can a President, who is hell bent on deporting all immigrants from his country, even consider retaining this Pall of Shame?
I am proud to be an Indian. Today I’m also glad I’m anything but an American. For they were left with the Hobson’s choice and they probably did what they thought was best. And yet, I am willing to discount a few things and give credit to all those who deserve it.
To be fair to the Natives of America, the ‘Injuns’ as they were so called- not only was their land taken, their minerals stolen, their treaties broken, but one by one, the faces of all Presidents were also blasted on their sacred mountains. Perhaps as a permanent reminder that they were the immigrants now!
To be fair to New America, the one I grew up hearing about, the one that was associated with the ‘American Dream’. It was an America that had welcomed people from all over the world with open arms. And everyone went there, not to steal the American jobs but to help it become what it is today-a country that everyone in the world can’t help but look up to. A country that everyone can’t help but get embroiled in. For even if it means keeping the politics out, in more ways than one, whether through family or through economics, it also involves each and every one of us.
To be fair to the Mexicans, when you have a neighbour that is not only rich and flourishing, who would want to let go of the golden opportunity of casually strolling in? After all, the neighbouring ‘Park’ not only had an invisible wall, it was also more than willing to allow them to stealthily climb it. Especially to fill in their blanks of cheap labour!
To be fair to the present America, let us try to understand their psychology of this outrageous outcome. In the land of opportunities, with a tsunami of people flooding in from here, there and everywhere, the average American was probably left in the lurch. Due to lack of proper skills and expensive higher education, it must have been a daily struggle for its Middle Class workers. Probably it was also humiliating to try to make their presence felt, even in their very own industries. With this sudden colonization of foreigners, they undoubtedly began to feel exactly like what the Natives might have felt years ago. It wasn’t a good feeling.
To be fair to Mr. Trump, he not only understood this ‘feeling’ but also gave fuel to it. He watered their deep rooted problem. He nourished their inner dissatisfaction. And now that he has joined office, instead of strengthening the American roots he wants to prune its burgeoning branches.
Instead of doing the hard work of making the average American capable, he has found the easy way out. He blames it all on the foreigners. He propagates Isolationism as the new patriotism. Eventually, he wants to shut the doors and windows of opportunity for all the ‘others’. Little realising that the well being of any chamber lies not in total darkness but in the rays of the sunshine that is filtered from the outside.
And all of us are aware of how difficult it is to argue when you wrap a flag around any policy- whether it is religious, economic or social!
It may be a great insult to human nature not to understand why Mr. Trump does what he does. But it would also be a greater outrage to mankind for the world to tolerate all his nonsensical acts. Just because one man put a bomb in his shoe, the whole world has to now tiptoe across airports. Fine. But let’s leave it at that. Let us not make another man dictate to us where one is entitled to settle down. Or which land is rightfully theirs. Or who belongs where. Or when wars should be started or stopped. Or how the world should be run!