Their latest trick.

And they are at it again. Their latest trick seems like more of the oldest trick in the book, from the time of Yudhishthira to the current Kalyug. Keep things vague, say onething, mean another, and when it is time to confess, remember that offence is the best defence. This is the gist. If you want to read it in detail, here goes:

The playbook goes something like this:

1. Take something that already includes something.
2. Present it as having been included by you now.
3. Claim that you are giving that something as if you thought of it this morning on the pot.
4. Ask why it wasn’t given in the last 70 years.
5. Gloat.
6. When people point out the obvious, tell them they are being negative.
7. Call them anti-national on Twitter and TV.
8. Watch the world burn.

7. Got to 1.

Examples are all around us:
1. Giving your own income tax refund to you and calling it “relief” (which, technically, it is, but you know what I am saying, right?).
2. Offering to pay 6% of the GST already payable to your state and claiming you are giving Rs.1,000 Crore for the cyclone.
3. Falling back on the MNREGA structure to reach money to the poor and telling everyone how you are creating employment like nobody else before you.
4. And now, calculating the subsidy built into the railway ticket and building a case that this is something the central government is paying towards the migrants’ fare.

There is nothing new, of course, in this propaganda (except a bit of Indian-isation):
1. It has cultural sanction: It is the classic, ‘नरो वा कुञ्जरो वा’ gambit. Taught in our epic myths (or historical books, depending on what colour underwear you prefer), it was the defence employed by someone who was supposedly such an epitome of integrity that even the Gods respected his honesty (which, if you have ever heard absolutely any Puranas or even keertans based on those, you will find a pretty low bar to skip over).

2. It has a grain of truth: This is very important because it is a known propaganda technique called Cherry Picking. Richard Crossman, the British Deputy Director of Psychological Warfare Division or the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) during the Second World War said ‘In propaganda truth pays… It is a complete delusion to think of the brilliant propagandist as being a professional liar. The brilliant propagandist is the man who tells the truth, or that selection of the truth which is requisite for his purpose, and tells it in such a way that the recipient does not think he is receiving any propaganda… […] The art of propaganda is not telling lies, but rather selecting the truth you require and giving it mixed up with some truths the audience wants to hear.’

3. It appeals and feeds into audience bias: Every statement touches on the inherent prejudices and social conditioning of the audience, and aligns its meaning to these. That makes it instantly palatable, tasty even.

4. It is simple to repeat: This is important. It takes a clear, unambiguous position (even though the content may be factually ambiguous) on a very sensitive subject and uses very simple language to express the stand of the propagandist. In effect, it does not expect any curiosity, any skepticism, or intellectual lifting on behalf the recipient.
5. It is technically defensible: Remember the grain of truth? Yes, that one. That is held up whenever the statement is challenged. Everything else if obfuscated, every other argument shouted down, every light shined upon anything else shot out.

And because it is ambiguous, with a seed of truth (though surrounded by a ton of cow dung), appeals to the baser instincts as well as pre-conditioning, is simply worded, and technically defensible as long as one is shouting, it becomes difficult to counter even by the most skilled of opposition debaters, specifically if the said opposition is playing by the rules.

There are indeed other kinds of techniques in their playbook. But this one needed a bit of breaking down. Because I actually saw the usually calm, suave, logical, and normally unflappable Pawan Khera on a TV debate, with no less a personality than Srinivasan Jain moderating, lose it when his arguments were simply washing off the other side’s ears like so much water off a duck’s back.

So, what is the counter to this?
The truth. Always the truth. Keep repeating it. Louder and louder. And do not deviate. Do not digress. Do not let them divert your attention.

There really is nothing else you can do. But whatever you choose, do not fall into the trap of engaging with the propagandists or their followers. They cannot be converted. Your best hope is to awaken those who are not yet fully dead inside, or are actually asleep.

For you can awaken a sleeping person. Not one pretending to sleep.

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